Big Kids

Most days I cannot wait for the next milestone. Sippy cups, table food, potty training, etc. But sometimes they look so big and I have no idea where the time went. This past year has been one big blur. They look so big at their picnic table, a birthday gift from dear friends. They can all get up and sit down on it all by themselves. For some reason this moment was one of those that you actually stop and think about. I guess because you spend all day making sure they are changed and feed and happy sometimes you forget to stop and look. I am soooooo Blessed. There are definately days when I am not sure if I can do it. But that moment passes and your off to something else. I am not sure why God blessed me with these four beautiful kids but I am so glad he did. On those days when I doubt my ability to care for them I just have to trust in Him, he knew what He was doing, even though many times I DO NOT!!

Sophia's Stunt

Ok, so I did get a little criticism for taking pictures while I knew full well what was about to happen. In my defense I had already told our little angel not to climb on the back of the sofa several times and I was not 100 % sure what was going to happen, I just started snapping picutes. Here we are climbing on the couch. Edith on the left and Sophia on the right.

Ut oh. Be careful Sophi your going to...

Oops! Over the edge.

Mommy's here to save you. Daddy took the picture even though he was telling mommy the whole time that she should not have let her do that. All I can say is, she was still smiling and all was well in the end. What a laugh:) She is alway climbing and getting into everything. Her favorite is the closet in the playroom.

We try very hard to baby proof everything, but they always find a way around it. I mean come on there are four little brains here working against us. We don't have a chance. LOL

The Big Sale continues

Ok, so right now up against the wall, not pictured, are 12 tubs and several boxes of organized clothes all hung, priced and ready. This however is what it looked like just a few short days ago.

And this...

And this...

I struggled with the thought of selling the clothes but I thought maybe we would make a little on some of their stuff to pay for some of their next stage. I am happy to report that I have found another quad mom with two boys and two girls in the oven that I am hopefully going to be able to pass a lot of our things onto. I feel so blessed by all that God had done and provided for us, it is an awsome feeling to be able to pass some helpful things onto another mom embarking on this same journey!!

The BIG Yard Sale

OMG!!! I did not realize this was going to be such a chore. Our closet was over flowing and that is saying a lot considering it is about 8 foot by 10 foot. It has rods for hanging and the wall are lined with shelves for folded clothes. Believe it or not it was so full of tubs of outgrown clothes that you could hardly get to the clothes that we could wear. 15 tubs 8 boxes and countless bags later I am still trying to get it all sorted and hung up for our big sale. Yes, it is all getting hung up on hangers and my husband is going to build me a contraption to hang all 1000 outfits on. That does not include a couple of hundred onsies and socks. Oh and blankets and shirts and pants that never had anything to go with them. My thought was maybe we could make a little money to help with their next clothing purchases. Now I am wondering if it is going to be worth it. I have bought about 700 hangers. CRAZY. I actually do have pictures but I will have to download them later, time is precious at the moment.
Let us not forget the four little ones who are not helpful and cannot understand why there is stuff everywhere and they can't seem to get to it, not for lack of trying. Never a dull moment, that's for sure!!! Someday I will look back on all this craziness but not today and not tomorrow.

Our trip to Dayton, OH Hotel

So some people think we are crazy for taking our kids along everywhere we go...we however think that it is normal. We like to be together as a family and it just feels wrong when we are not all together. So...when Becky asked me to be one of her bridesmaids I was honored. I knew right away we would need to find a hotel that would work for us for four days and four nights. I searched online and found a great deal on a large room with a full kitchen. As you can see four pack and plays and big fence and blankets to protect from the dirty hotel floor. That was the worst part, trying to keep the kids off the floor.

Grandma came along later for the wedding. Thank goodness!!

Sean playing with Grandma.

Daddy playing with Sean and Henry.

What a mess. There is no need to try to imagine what it was like...Four Babies Four days out of our element. There were definate times of stress but it was worth it.

Becky's Rehearsal and Decorating

Here we are in Dayton, Ohio for Becky's wedding. I still cannot believe she is married. She seems soooo young but she is all grown up. After the rehearsal dinner we all stuck around to help decorate for the reception. It was a lot of fun we do not get to see the Chambers family very often. It is funny how you do not realize how much you miss someone until you see them again. They are a great inspiring family. The kind of people that just make life seem much better. At the reception Bobby with Edi, Mommy with Sophia, and Daddy with Sean and Henry.

Men...Bobby with Edi, Daddy with Sean and Henry.

MEN AT WORK. Notice that there are women in the background working and men sitting on the stage NOT. Just kidding. Matt and Chris worked very hard. I was glad it was not my daughter getting married. I am sure it will be here before I know it.

Becky and Fiance John-Philip practicing their first song. They decided to have a first song instead of a first dance. It was beautiful.

I have a few picture of the wedding but not many because I was in it. Chris was late with the kids so I did not get the camera passed over to him.

Boys First Haircuts

The boys were looking a little rough around the edges sooo... I called my sister to see if she would give them a little trim without taking off Sean's cut little curls. Sean with Aunt Christi getting ready for his first haircut.

Sean did very well. He did not move very much. She was done in no time.

Sean after his first cut. Soooooo Cute!!

Henry not as calm about this as Sean. He moved all over the place. I am surprised he still has ears.

Henry after his cut. He was not smiling but hey he wasn't crying either.

One more First for our family. Time is flying by. There are days when I cannot wait until they are walking and talking but it is a little sad also that they are growing up so fast.

Wright Patterson Airforce Museum

We were in Dayton, OH for a wedding this past week and we decided to take the kids to the Wright Patterson Airforce Museum. Here we are when we first arrived. Sophia, Edi, Henry, and Sean.

There were a lot of planes hanging from the ceiling. The kids had a lot to look at.

It did make me feel a little nervous, walking under all those planes. You could see the wires they were hanging from.

I am not sure the kids appreciated it as much as we did but we had a really good time.

Edith and Sophia in front of the first women to fly in the United States airforce.

Here we are on our way out. It was very crowded, we did not realize this was the weekend of their big air show.

Overall a big thumbs up. It is only a couple of hours away and it is free. You can't beat that!!

The Ball Pit

This is one of the best investments we have made in the toy room. The kids never seem to get tired of the ball pit. You can often find Edi laying in the pit moving her arms and legs as if she is making a snow angel. Henry on the other hand can be found trowing the balls toward the door where he will later go and throw them out of the playroom.
Sean, Henry, Sophia, and Edi playing in the ball pit.

Oh and how they love to bury toys in the balls. Mommy however is not a fan of this game. I like all the toys in their proper place whenever we leave the room. It takes quite a while to find all the toys.

Edi, Sean, Henry, and Sophia.

Edi, Sean, Henry, and Sophia.

The Indianapolis Zoo Nightmare

Sometimes the best intentions have the worst outcome. I wanted to take the kids to the zoo for the first time. I did not want to spend a lot so...I decided to go on family day. Well...family day at the Zoo offers half price admission. It did not occur to me that have the people on the planet would also take advantage of the cheaper admission.
Here we are getting ready to leave on our zoo adventure. We were soooo happy. Mommy with Sophia, Sean, Edi, and Henry.

Ok so we get the the very over crowded Zoo and there is not parking. The kind security man in the parking lot directs us to another lot where we can shuttle into the zoo. Now because I am a mother of quadruplets I quickly asked him if the shuttle was wheelchair accessable. Why do we need that? Well we have FOUR babies, they cannot walk and we have to take strollers everywhere we go. Anyway it was not and we had to cruise for parking. When we finally go into the zoo the very young lady at the gate asked us if we wanted to see the dolphin show. Once again I had the same question about our strollers. "Oh, she said, there is stroller parking outside the show area. You have to carry the kids in." I looked at her and Chris and said, "we have FOUR babies we cannot carry them into the show they have to stay in their strollers." She looked at me and said, "Ok, I will cancel that."
Now had it not been for the fact that it was time to give the kids their bottle and I did not really care whether we saw the show or not I might have argued. But I let it go, later to find out that Chris had never been to a zoo and really wanted to see the show.

Off to feed. This is were yet another incident happened. We are sitting in the shade on a bench feeding the kids their bottles, there is a cool breeze and we are talking about what a nice day it is and even if the kids don't care about the animials it is nice to be out. I looked down at Sophia in her lovely red and white stripped Tommy Hilfiger dress and a big bird has pooped what appears to be mulberries all over her hair, face, dress, legs, and the stroller. I could not believe it. What a mess. She was stained, the stroller was stained and her dress was stained. YUCK!! After the clean up we made our was around the zoo. It was so crowded and the strollers were not allowed on the train in the dolphin area or in observation dome. Let's just say it wasn't the greatest experince. The line for the Oceans was so long that we never even made it in.

Kids in the petting zoo. They really do not care one little bit.

Big hairy cow and kids.

Big elephant using the bathroom, again kids are totally oblivious.

Sometimes we try so hard to make ourselves feel normal but in the end we are not. There were a ton of babies at the zoo but unless you have walked in our shoes it is really hard to explain all the limitations that we run into on a daily basis. Nevertheless we will not stop trying. We will have our little adventures, they are partly what makes us who we are.:):) In the end we are always glad that we at least try.

Introducing Mr. Sippy Cup

Each time we have to start a new transition Chris and I get very nervous. It is sooo frustrating. Everytime the kids get a good routine going we have to change it. They are now almost 14 months old. The doctor would like to see them off the bottle at 14 months. Well...its not going to happen. I really try hard to add new things into my day but it always throws everything else off. Here are the kids with their new little cups. They of course have no interest in actually drinking from them, instead they are new fun toys that dribble a little bit of juice every now and then. Here is Edi actually considering taking a drink.

Sophia looking at her cup and smacking it, what a great toy.

Henry trying to dump his cup out. There is not such thing as NO SPILL. They all leak.

Sean is chewing on his cup. Hey at least its on the part he is suppose to be drinking out of.

I am trying to get through this phase. I know it will be easier when we are off the bottle but every little change makes my life quite a bit harder, at least for a while. Wish me luck.