FOUR little FULTONS

CHRISTmas 2011...

2011-12-16T14:30:00.002-05:00

CHRISTmas 2011...

MIA in 2011...

2011-12-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

SO much has happened in the Fulton house over the last 4 months or so. The biggest being that we have not had a computer! I know what is a momma to do without a computer right?! I think it bothered me more that everyone else since I had to use my phone to do pretty much everything. sigh... I know that is not an excuse to not blog but it is what it is. So before Momma posted a 2011 CHRISTmas pic she thought she should at least explain where we've been. The tribe started PK4 in October at a new school & in a new town. Since Grandma fell & broke her leg on Father's Day we have basically uprooted our lives to take care of her. It's been an adjustment but we would not have it any other way! The tribe LOVES their new school. Just when we were sort of getting used to a schedule or what one would look like Momma's work changed. She had to go back FULL time a week after they started school. If we did not adjust before we did after that. Arranging people to take them to & from school was CrAzY! Let's just say it truly does take a village to raise a tribe!! We thank all that make that possible! In November we traveled back up to GA to attend their cousin Mikes wedding. Not only did we get to see Mike & April get married but the tribe participated in the wedding! VERY cool! For the first time in what I think was forever we had Thanksgiving away from home & stayed up in GA to celebrate with the GA Mechtly's. It was a real "adventure" not just for us but for them too! These are just a few of the reasons we were...

MIA in 2011...

a kiss on the head before bed...

2011-09-08T21:54:00.000-04:00

I'm sure having three sisters can be quite challenging for anyone & probably even more so when you are the lone brother! Our boy Brendan sure does put up with a lot in that dept. but in the end he has such love for the little ladies, aka sisters, in his life. He has such a sweet side to him that I get to witness it almost every night. You see each night just before bed, before actually getting under the covers himself he walks around their bed & gives each one of his sisters a kiss. He does have "rules" because he makes sure they are in bed when he does it, maybe so they cannot swat the kiss away. LOL! On occasion I have seen him chase them down & make them lay down just so he can give them...

a kiss on the head before bed...

way down yonder on the Chattahoochee...

2011-07-31T10:40:00.002-04:00

This was a SUPER fun time of our 10 day adventure. We took an hour or so ride from Atlanta N to the cool German town of Helen, GA. It is SO quaint & VERY German! One of the best attractions there tubing down the Chattahoochee River.

I definitely think tubing in July is WAY under rated! The river may have been a little low but it was SO much fun! There was a bunch of us so each child had a "chaperone" which they LOVED!

Good think Uncle Jim brought along his river sticks aka old golf club poles, to help steer us through the low parts of the river. ** NOTE ** if they sell sticks where you go tubing BUY THEM! They truly come in handy! ** I think the entire ride took us about 2 1/2 hours give or take. We even enjoyed a rainstorm in the middle which really helped cool us off because it was HOT out!! Here's some of the photos I took that day!

They had theses decorated trees. One named the tree of "lost soles"! I'm sure it was given it's name for every lost shoe they found floating down the river! {There was a TON!} LOL!

And they had a tree decorated with of all things GUM! It was disgusting yet interesting all the same! Being able to get yourself over to this tree just to stick your ABC gum has to be a feat within itself. Take a look at that creation! =] I wonder how old the oldest piece of gum there actually is. YUCK!

Somehow we all lost each other that day so once I got to the end, second behind the hubby, I took pic's of everyone as they had it to the "finish line"! It was funny to see my scrawny children standing up on their tubes! Good thing the tubes had bottoms in them! =]

I will definitely make another trip up to Helen to go tubing...

way down yonder on the Chattahoochee...

Lake Toxaway adventure 2011...

2011-07-27T11:52:00.006-04:00

We are SO lucky to have such WONDERFUL relatives that allowed us to invade their home over the summer. Invading is just what a tribe like ours does! My cousin Lori has a second home in Lake Toxaway, a beautiful place in the NC mountains. It's on a lake, so beautiful & most of all PEACEFUL! That is when the tribe behaved & didn't argue! LOL! I'm SO very blessed to get to spend any time with Lori away from our "normal" lives. It just meant a lot to get to visit in the first place! It truly was just what the Doctor ordered, away from the "rat race" & some peace & quiet! With all the drama that we have been dealing with back in FL this was pure Heaven! She took us out tubing on the lake, hiking in the woods & even took in a little shopping in downtown Brevard. LOVE LOVE LOVE that town! The tribe thoroughly enjoyed themselves as did our "helper" Caitlynn. This was her first time in NC. Her first time tubing on a lake, first time hiking to see a waterfall, heck it was just a week full of "firsts" for her! SO happy to be able to be there for that!

and that was our...

Lake Toxaway adventure 2011...

in their Sunday best...

2011-07-24T15:06:00.013-04:00

This trip we visited Uncle Jim & Aunt Haidee's church for Sunday services. It was different & the tribe, ok Lindsey, did not want me to leave her. SO sad!! But I knew no matter how much she cried she/they would be fine! The church reminded me a lot of something out of Disney World, so much wood molding & white banisters! Such a beautiful church! Sadly when we decided to take their picture it was AFTER giving them a lollipop! LOL! Here they are...

in their Sunday best...

Stone Mountain....

2011-07-22T14:58:00.034-04:00

One of our first stops on this "adventure" of ours was in Atlanta, GA. We have family there so visiting some of the attractions there made perfect sense! Lucky for us my brother, their Uncle Jim, took off from work on what I think was one of thee HOTTEST days of July to hit the trails of Stone Mountain. If you have never heard of or been there you really need to go. It is said that it's the largest piece of exposed granite in the world. The most interesting part is that we only get to see 1/3 of the "mountain" because the other 2/3 of it is underground! They say it continues almost 10 miles below! AMAZING!!

They have a little theme park going on there, most of which were for children older than the tribe however I would definitely go back one day for them to enjoy. Besides the theme park there are camp sites, a train, a sky ride to to the" top of the rock", a night time laser show that makes the carving come to life & much much more. This is one of my most favorite photos from our trip! & I have to say that I still think Uncle Jim sort of looks like a park ranger! Must be the hat! hahah!

** One unadvertised tidbit of info for those wishing to lug their family there you do NOT have to buy admission to the theme park if you just want to see "Stone Mountain" **. Yep the "mountain" is FREE, you do however have to pay for parking but that is a HUGE savings when all you want to do is see God's creation! You can hike to the top for FREE or pay to ride the sky way. Pretty much everything extra costs $ so if you live in the Atlanta area it just might pay to get a seasonal pass. That way you can visit & do whatever you want whenever you want!

So this mama of quads highly recommends that while in Atlanta you make sure you stop and visit...

Stone Mountain...

our special guest...

2011-07-21T17:39:00.024-04:00

When it came time for us to go on "Road Trip 2011" I was trying to figure out if I should bring along a "special guest" or do it all by my lonesome. After mentioning this to a friend at work she mentioned that her ten year old daughter would love to come along. I really don't think she knew what she was truly in for, being in a car for over 9 hours with 4 four year old's and all. Anyhow before we could blink Miss Caitlynn joined us on our "adventure". She was a great help in trying to break up verbal disagreements amongst the tribe. They LOVE to argue! I will say that Miss Caitlynn was NOT a morning person so we did not see her till way after 10 am most mornings. Just having another body there was nice. Even though I've known her for years I really found out a lot about her on this trip, like how she has never driven out of the state of Florida before. She flew to NJ, PA & TX by plane but never left FL by car. Hmm... Isn't it usually the other way around?! We celebrated a lot of "firsts" with her on our "Road Trip". She even lost a tooth! I must say that we had fun & were glad that Miss Caitlynn was there to experience it with us! She was truly...

our special guest...

Just where in the world are the FOUR little FULTON's?!...

2011-07-20T05:27:00.001-04:00

It's adventure time! In just under an hour myself, the tribe & our special guest will be taking off on an adventure. Nothing like hitting the pavement in double digit weather. Now just what will we do? Where will we go? Who will we see? That is the 1000 dollar question. I am going to attempt to take the 6 of us on this adventure for 1,000 dollars or less. If you want to follow our journey just check in here to see exactly how I manage it. Trust me I think this is going to be more of an "adventure" for me than them! So...

Just where in the world are the FOUR little FULTON's?!...

Daddy Pete with his gloves on...

2011-06-29T21:02:00.104-04:00

I just had to share a "funny" that Avery told me the other day. With all the drama that has been going on around here it was nice to have something funny to smile about.

First off I need to share who Daddy Pete is, he's the father of two of our good friends who we now get to call "friend" & the tribe call "Daddy Pete". We have socialized with their family & the tribe LOVE him. He works for the Fire Dept. where we live & coincidentally has been on duty both times I have called 911 from home. Working for a police/fire dept. I rarely call 911 unless it is an emergency & recently we have had a few of those.

We called a few months back when Lindsey took a face plant into the coffee table & needed stitches & then for the most recent "event". You see my 81 year old mother with 2 artificial knees slipped on the wet patio & broke her leg. Yes you read this correctly, she broke her leg! Her femur to be exact! Our patio is a sore subject for me, it has tile floor & when wet it becomes a hazardous area! Needless to say Mom slipped on the wet part & down she went. We knew something major happened to her leg but did not know exactly until we had X-Rays in the ER. Both times Daddy Pete was on duty & the paramedic that came when we called. All of the kids were very attentive to what all was happening to Grandma but Avery took it especially hard. She had the look of concern on her face, wanted to make sure she was OK & was even weary about seeing her in the hospital with an IV & oxygen. She kept saying Grandma is your leg better?

So all of that brings me to her conversation with me the other day. As we were leaving the hospital Avery tells me I don't want Daddy Pete to come over anymore wearing gloves. At first I was confused, she LOVES Daddy Pete! Why would she not want him to come over? Then it dawned one me. She did not want him to come over on duty!! The gloves she mentioned are the latex ones that he wears when checking out a patient. That girl is SO smart! She does not want any more accidents to occur & especially does not want to see...

Daddy Pete with his gloves on...

Aave & her PINK house!...

2011-06-17T15:43:00.000-04:00

Ever since the tribe was born we have pretty much color coded EVERYTHING! It started with their bottles, we used the Playtex drop in's kind. They have colored rings around the nipples & the liners are about as sterile as you can get so that's what worked for us. Just about anything that made life easier we did. Camryn had yellow, Brendan had blue, Avery had pink & Lindsey had purple. I think that's when it all started. Bottles then turned into sippy cups and blankies turned into towels. The color coding cycle just continued & once they understood which color was theirs it all went downhill from there. They even want to wear clothes in the color we "assigned" them. It's weird how that decision we made has effected their entire life! Some days I wonder if their "favorite" color would be different if we never implemented our "system".

While riding with her Daddy she spotted a PINK camouflage truck. {Why someone would do that is beyond me!} She made him pull over & get a picture of it to send to me. It's an obsession I tell ya! Then just this past week while out & about we drove through this residential neighborhood. They are just like their mother & spot the unusual, this time it was a house. It was a rather cute house, on a corner lot & nicely manicured but the kicker was that it was painted PINK! Actually bubble gum pink would be more accurate. The minute Avery saw it she squealed with delight! Like I could miss this house as we drove by. Jokingly I said you want me to stop so you can get a picture next to it? Wrong thing to ask a girl OBSESSED with anything pink because she did not even hesitate & yelled out "YES!". Before I knew it we were out of the 'burb & in front of the house. The people who saw us must have wondered what in the heck are they doing! ha! The rest of the day she made sure to tell everyone about that house! TOO funny!

Here is a picture from that day!

Aave & her PINK house!...

I am never going to use a Q-tip again!...

2011-05-19T22:07:00.000-04:00

I have been sort of out of the blogging loop these past few weeks. After all of the stuff with the "B man" I really thought I was going to finally catch a break. 2011 has not been that good to us in the medical bill dept. It seems like when we have one medical issue along comes another. Let's just say that I am NOT a happy camper. First Brendan had his ASD closure on his heart, then he contracts Salmonella from God knows what (I thank my lucky stars that the rest of the tribe did not get it!) Lastly last week while doing our nightly routine ie: bath, trimming of all the nails & cleaning of the ears with a Q-tip. Yes I use Q-tip's. Trust me after what I tell you next I will not be using them EVER again! You see Linz moved her head away from me & the next thing I saw was blood by her ear. I really do think the Q-tip went into her ear. Amazingly I did not panic. I just flushed her ear out & made sure her ear was dry. I asked her if her ear hurt & as usual she said no. (These children have a VERY high pain tolerance!) so off to bed they went. The next morning she had dried blood on the side of her head so I decided I better take her in to the Dr just to make sure. To make a LONG story as short as possible, she was diagnosed with a busted ear drum. She had to take antibiotics & ear drops for 10 days & then get re checked. sigh... Only me! That brings us to today when I took her in to the Dr for her check up. The ear drum is healing but now the Dr thinks it may have injured the middle ear so she now needs to get her hearing tested & then see an ENT to possibly get tubes. Isn't life grand?! UGH! They say things come along in sets of threes so I am hoping we are good till at least the rest of the year! I swear...

I am never going to use a Q-tip again!...

unplug me!...

2011-04-26T11:53:00.000-04:00

These past few days/weeks have been quite the adventure in our household. It all started on a Friday afternoon with one BIG poop. I know, TMI but it's the truth! I'm truly sorry to be so graphic but that was the last time we saw a normal BM from Brendan. You see after that poop we were visited by the diarrhea monster. He was unfriendly, mean & downright DISGUSTING! Everything went downhill from there. Bren started with a low grade fever & decided he did not want to eat but the good stuff began on Sunday. Yes the vomit began! Fortunately for me I was at work so Daddy had to clean up both poop & vomit! (Remember we made a pact LONG ago that I was poop & he was vomit! He was NOT happy!) A call to the Pediatrician was in order & by dinnertime it was determined he needed to go to the ER ASAP! So my dinner break turned into sick leave & off we went to the ER! His fever went from low grade to over 103 (YIKES!) & we was VERY dehydrated! They started him on fluids right away. Getting fluids means an IV which he was NOT happy about in the least! Besides the IV they needed blood work. Again he was NOT happy! I think they tested him for EVERY virus there was & they all came back negative! We really thought it was rotovirus by the way his poop stunk! P U! By the end of the evening they decided to admit him because his infection level was high & his sodium level was really low. So off to the PICU we went. I was NOT prepared to be staying overnight.

The nurses were nice & took good care of Bren but my bed was NOT comfy in the least!! I think I got 4 hours sleep cumulatively & then I was awoken by a resident to answer a questionaire! Let's just say it was a ROUGH night! I think we went through about 8 diapers overnight. The poor kid had the runs & if there was a drop of it he wanted that diaper OFF! He still had issues drinking (vomited again) & eating so the IV remained PLUS he had a high fever yet again. They decided he needed to stay over another night so Michael swapped places with me. I went back to Grandma's & he stayed there with Bren. By this time they moved him from the PICU to Ped's where his room had 2 comfy bed's, one for Bren & one for Daddy. Where was that bed when I needed it?! LOL! Taking care of the girls was no piece of cake because as many already know having an odd numbered amount of kids makes things VERY hectic! Someone is ALWAYS ticking someone off & girls love DRAMA! I wanted to swap back with Daddy but of course he knew a good deal when he saw one & stayed!! =] Brendan's ER visit turned into a 3 day hospital stay! He went from having the runs & not drinking, to drinking some Gatorade to eating off the BRAT diet which then turned into an AG diet. He was FINALLY freed two weeks ago this Wednesday & they granted his wish to...

unplug me!...

near to perfect vision...

2011-04-13T15:53:00.001-04:00

This appointment was WELL overdue. We took the tribe to get their eyes checked. One good thing about being a preemie & a quadruplet is that you get a LOT of prevenative care at an EARLY age. Since about 6 months old they have seen a pediatric opthamalogist & went every year since that was until the fall of 2009. We missed last years appointment so this was something he had to do ASAP! Last year we, Daddy, Dustyn & I, had our eyes checked by our eye doctor & the tribe tagged along. It was then that we found out he could see them too! YAY! We appreciated hearing this because that would save us a TON of $! Sadly it took us until the other day to make that appointment for them! =[ Luckily my niece Katie was in town visiting so she helped me. 2 kids in one room & 2 in the other, they did great! First there was Linz...

Linz chose to be the first one seen!

It was Bren's turn!

Avery was too quick for me to capture on film =(

But I did get one of the 3 of them waiting while it was Camryn's turn...

The three of them waiting for Cam to get her eyes checked

Finally it was Cam's turn!

Dr Leffler & the tribe!

It was very interesting to see how they all fared once the testing was all done! The "twins" aka Lindsey & Avery, had identical vision, their deficit's complemented their positives so they were good to go. Brendan had more stigmatism & more far sightedness that he will need glasses within the year. If you ask me I think he will look SO handsome in glasses just like his mama! =] Last but definitely not least there was Camryn, our brown eyed beauty. She apparently inherited her Daddy's vision because when all was said & done the Dr said she has...

near to perfect vision...

I think you should go...

2011-04-05T13:36:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we had the pleasure of having my oldest brother, their Uncle Jim, visit us. He had some business to tend to in Orlando for a few days & decided to make the trek further South to visit us for the weekend. He did not just visit us but he visited Grandma, Uncle Bob & LuLu too. Family has always been BIG with us so this was a wonderful treat to have him here. He hitched a ride with a fellow employee to our neck of the woods so then we drove him down to Grandma's. It was an adventure. We hung out at the mall for a few hours because his 3 1/2 hour trip took longer than expected. He arrived rather late so the tribe got to stay up WAY past their bed time. They did not have a care in the world & not having a nap did NOT phase them one bit! When it finally was time to go to bed they asked Uncle Jim to lay down with them. What a sight, four kids & one adult man on 2 beds. TOO TOO funny! Well he obliged them. It was just him & them in the room suppose to be going to sleep. Needless to say they did NOT want to sleep so they began to quiz him. It is in moments like these that we get to know more about our children than we really wanted to. You see they will say just about ANYTHING & do not hold back their opinion in the least. From what I was told it started out with "What is your name? Are you Jim or Uncle Jim?". He proceeded to tell them that his name is really James. Well Camryn did not believe that & said "NOooo... You are Uncle Jim!". He told her that she could ask Grandma in the morning & she would tell her that his name was really James. She giggled in disbelief. Then the topic quickly switched from his name to what she smelled, HIM! She told him that he stunk!. {Yes she really went there!! Gotta LOVE children!} Heck if I had been traveling the better part of the day in a car I think I'd be stinky too! LOL! So then he asked her if he should stay or should he go?. She said...

I think you should go...

Disney on Ice!!!...

2011-03-29T18:57:00.000-04:00

I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to be able to say that we were able to go see Disney on Ice this past Sunday! It still amazes me how it all came together! You see we do not get the newspaper & I rarely watch commercials so the fact that I even knew about Disney on Ice being in town was a miracle in itself. Luckily we were at Grandma's house & the tribe saw an ad in her paper about Disney on Ice at the Bank Atlantic Center. (When at Grandma's house a different kid goes out to get her paper each day) Well they saw the ad & then they saw the commercial & they were sold! They would turn to any one of us & say "We want to go see that!". How can you resist a four year old's request?! Apparently Kraft was sponsoring the show so they also advertised about a half off 2 ticket deal. So I had to get some tickets!! Needless to say I was a day late & MANY dollars short to take them. It seemed that all the half price tickets Kraft had allotted for the shows were SOLD OUT! sigh... I felt like I was the absolute WORST mother for not knowing about the show, let alone the deal & now not being able to take them. Sorry folks but we just could NOT spend $40+ on a ticket for each of them & then add us on top of that, it was NOT going to happen! So sadly I posted on their Facebook page how sad it was that the one thing they really wanted to see, Disney on Ice, we could not afford. Low & behold a friend of mine came to my rescue & to make a LONG story short we saw Disney on Ice Sunday evening! We, 20 of us actually, were treated to Disney on Ice in an Executive Suite. Yes, we were living it up like the rich people do! hehee! The view was AMAZING & the kids faces were transfixed to the stage practically the entire night! I am forever in her debt! So again I want to thank you Jennifer, You absolutely ROCK! The tribe & our friends now have wonderful memories of seeing all their favorite Disney characters skating on Ice! (They pointed that out to me several times, in fact they now want to go ice skating!! =] ) So here you go, pictures from our BIG night!

Their eyes were glued from the very first moment!

Am I really here?!

This reminded me of the Electrical Parade!

Celebrating Halloween!

Brendan saw the spider web & looked for Spider Man! =]

Toy Story 3! I LOVED the pig!

They LOVED watching everyone skate around!

Watching the show!

Uncle Bob, Aave & LuLu

The gang's all here!!

Addyson

Isabella

Avery, Diana, Sasha, Daniel, Me, Cam & Linz

One of the BEST parts of the show!!

Everyone minus 2!

So after reviewing all the pictures we took I realized that I really need a new camera! Even with the wild pictures you can tell how much FUN we all had & how excited we were to go to...

Disney on Ice!!!...

a half a baby aspirin a day with the hope it'll keep the heart doctor away!...

2011-03-23T01:55:00.000-04:00

SO much has happened over the past three weeks. As most of you already know our boy Brendan has had a hole in his heart since birth. We did not know there was anything wrong with him or his heart till he was just a wee little guy laying on my chest & had a tacchicardia episode. (His heart was beating really really fast, 224 beats per minute to be exact!). After MANY tests & several doctor visits it was determined that the hole all babies have in utero never closed up. The hole is also known as an ASD (Atrial Septal Defect). This defect can be fatal if undetected once he gets older. I cannot tell you how happy I am that we had the opportunity to find out about his at such an early age!

Brendy at about 2 months old! Awhhh...

Since the diagnosis he has seen a cardiologist every six months & three weeks ago today we went for his last check up to see if his hole changed at all. Realistically I knew the odds of it closing were slim to none but we still prayed about it & hoped for a miracle. We did the routinue of an EKG & then an Echocardiogram. Brendan is by the far the strangest kid. He freaks over the little stuff & handles the BIG stuff like a pro. It was the measly EKG that freaked him out. He bawled from the moment he had to sit on the exam table, throughout the minute long EKG & until the last sticker was pulled off his chest! That boy can create quite the drama! He must learn it from his sisters! hehee! They did his weigh in which said he was 29 lbs (I doubt the scale was accurate!) because he is quite scrawny! =] Then came the Echocardiogram.

Seeing what his heart looks like

This is the important part & we needed him to be still. I prepped him by saying how special he was & not everyone could actually see their heart but he could. I was quite surprised at how still he was, he layed there quietly as she scanned the various angles to his heart. His sisters felt even more special that they too could see his heart & watched in amazement! No sooner did we have the tests completed & soon thereafter the Doctor called me into his office to go over everything. He determined what we already knew, his hole needed to be closed now. You see his hole never changed in size or closed on it's own so they had to close it with a device. The device is called an Aplatzer Septal Occluder; it is a device that basically patches the hole. The scary part was that they were not sure if they could even close it with the device because his hole was quite large & high on the septal wall. IF they were unable to close it with this device then they would have to close it surgically. YIKES!!

Photo courtesy of Cleaveland Clinic

This entire chapter of his short life has been SO amazing! Heck the heart is quite amazing to begin with! After all of the doctors visits he has had I feel like I have been thru part of medical school! ha! Luckily we were able to schedule this procedure to be done at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital with Dr Chandar just two weeks later during Spring Break. One of my best friends Kathy offered to take the girls so that left just Dustyn, Brendan & I to head down to Hollywood to get his Pre Op's done. We took the Tri Rail, a train that links the three counties, to meet up with Grandma then off to the hospital to let the testing begin. Being able to ride a train was just one of the "fun" parts to this adventure! Bren was SO excited to be on the train that he talked non stop! LOL! {There was more to that adventure that I hope to share with everyone in another post real soon! =]}

On the train!!

I really cannot say enough about Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, they ROCK! From the custodians cleaning the bathroom's to the Doctors performing the surgeries they really made our stay there EXTRA special. I really do feel that more hospitals should follow their lead regarding patient care. They treat you like family & that's something I really appreciated! After all his tests & another weigh in, {27 & 1/2 lbs this time} were complete we were fortunate to be able to walk across the street from the hospital to stay at the "Conine Clubhouse" {It's like a Ronald McDonald House for families to stay when their children are in the hospital}. Having just one child with us was SO different! Trust me, Brendan soaked up all the attention he was getting! =] On Tuesday we had to get up really early so he could be admitted & prepped for the ASD closure. He had all the nurses wrapped around his little finger. I think it was his rocker hairdo that did it! Who can resist a mohawk?! =] I was the "chosen one" to go into the operating room with him while he was put under. Realistically his Daddy could not have handled it. He is a wimp when it comes to medical stuff involving his kids. So there I was all dressed up in this white jumpsuit & a crazy blue cap. I looked ridiculous!! I am sure Bren saw three or four of me by that time because by then he was really feeling his loopy meds. Once he was knocked out I was outta there & the waiting began. Here is what the procedure looks like. {They put a catheter through the femoral artery in both legs to gain access to the heart. They then inflate the device through the catheter to close the hole.}

Picture courtesy of Cleaveland Clinic

The doctor had already prepped us by saying these procedures could go anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours long. Well he was in there almost three!! I tried not to worry but Michael was watching the clock & reminding me as the minutes/hours passed. When it was all said & done they were able to close the hole not without some issues but they overcame them & our boy's heart is whole again! They said his heart just like ours is the size of our fist. Well the hole in his tiny heart was the size of a dime & the device they used to close it was the size of a nickel. Everyone that has either scanned him or saw his scans have told us his hole was quite large. As part of the recovery he needed to remain in bed with his legs straight for 4 hours but after that he could move. Coming out of the anesthesia was another story too.

In Recovery

I am still amazed at how well he is doing. Not 8 hours went by & the kid was walking the halls! The next day they repeated the echocardiogram where they found he still had a small leak. They are not as concerned about it & feel the device will hold & eventually the tissue will grow over the device & the hole will completely close. WOo HOo! I have to credit his recovery to our faith in God. We asked so many of you to keep him & the Doctors/Nurses in your prayers & you did! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! He still has some more tests to be completed in the coming weeks & continued follow up with his doctors but all in all he is good. The only med's he needs now is...

Laying back & having some fruit loops!

a half a baby aspirin a day with the hope it'll keep the heart doctor away!...

apple & onion moments...

2011-02-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

At my most recent MOPS meeting they had an AWESOME speaker talk about forms of parenting. Trust me I am NOT doing her talk justice but one part really struck a chord with me, well actually two parts. She mentioned how in her house they teach forgiveness. I thought we did too but something she has her kids do made me rethink what I should teach our tribe. When someone does something "bad" I have them sit in the time out chair to think about their actions & then I have them apologize to the party that was wronged but what I have not done was to have the wronged party say "I forgive you". I never realized how important that was until she spoke about it yesterday. WOW was that an "AHA moment" for me! The 2nd part of her talk was connection we need to have with our children. Having that 15 minutes together as a family whether it be at breakfast or dinner. How we need to communicate with each other about the good & bad moments from each day also known as the "Apple & Onion Moments". This was not the first t ime I had heard about this but today it really hit home with me. Now we almost always eat together so that was not new to me but asking about their good & bad moments was. I would always ask about their good moments & never thought to ask about what they did NOT like. How that played an important role in their day. I was not quite sure the tribe would understand what that meant but boy did they surprise me! I asked each of them what they enjoyed about their day & what they did not like at all. It was amazing to see what things they came up with. Cam told me that her "Apple" moment was going to speech & "Onion" moment was not being able to go to the park with her siblings. {We go to the park when she attends speech}. Bren said he liked the ducks at the park & did not like being up in the TALL tree. {He actually let me put him up on one of the branches!}. Aave liked going to the park but did NOT like the brown duck. {It was this weird duck that bounced his neck up & down as he/she walked}. Linz loved going by Daddy's work for a visit & did NOT like that TALL tree.{After looking at the tree she did not even attempt to climb it!}. This is something I am going to do every evening at dinner time. To make things more interesting I am going to go out & get some props to use for these...

Picture taken from http://www.giftsforeducators.com

picture taken from http://www.gourmac.com

apple & onion moments...

I am why we can't have nice things...

2011-02-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

I have always saved my $ for the GOOD stuff. I just would much rather have something nice than something "not so nice" so I would shop around & save my $! Just after I started my current job I wanted to splurge on a new TV so I saved & saved for a 27 inch TV to keep in my room. At the time a 27 inch TV was a BIG deal. {Boy am I aging myself! LOL!} When buying an entertainment armoire for my first place I searched & searched till I found just the right one that fortunately was marked down a bunch which saved me a TON! =] When it comes to CHRISTmas I actually start buying gifts now! hahah! Anyhow, saving is how I & pretty much everyone is able to afford ANYTHING! Fast forward to today, to our family of seven. Money is EXTREMELY tight & trust me we are NOT getting anything new anytime soon. I would never change our life however boy do I get a tear in my eye for when I had less obligations! Oh to reminisce about the past! Ah... So you can imagine how much I appreciated opening up the tribes 4th birthday present from their Uncle Rick. He found these really cool T-Shirts for each of them that fittingly say...

I am why we can't have nice things...

your four year olds purse...

2011-02-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

Having three girls can be quite entertaining at times. Yes there's a TON of DRAMA but they also give us quite a few giggles on a daily basis! Each has their own personality of course. There's Camryn who is NOT afraid of anything or anyone. She is our social butterfly who loves to "mother" EVERYONE! She likes role playing & will not only be the mom but the baby too. She will try to "help" me but in the end causes me more work. =[ Sometimes she does what I am thinking but most times not. Avery is our own personal DIVA. She LOVES LOVES LOVES to dress up, play "Mommy" & almost ALWAYS has a purse on her arm! When we go out to dinner she has to bring her purse in with us & even takes it with her to the bathroom. I think she carries a purse more than me! Like I said she is our little DIVA! LOL!

Then there's Lindsey, she is Mommy's little helper. She does not hesitate to get her hands dirty with an job I have for her. She will even volunteer to do stuff! She has done the laundry, scrubbed a few pots and even makes our bed! She too likes dress up & has been known to carry a purse around the house. Just like her twin she puts practically ANYTHING in her purse. So you ask what might anything be? There was a hankerchief for the occasional runny nose {Grandpa would be SO proud since he ALWAYS carried one!}, an ear scope just in case they stuck something in there! =], Brendan's toy race car, a pink bracelet because it's "girly", a pet dragon "just because" & last but not least a rubber snake! Yes, a rubber snake! {Gotta have one of those to scare Grandma! =]} So what can you find in...

your four year old's purse...

LIONS, RHINOS & GIRAFFES, OH MY!!!...

2011-01-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

We went on an ADVENTURE for the tribes 4th birthday! We took them to Lion Country Safari {LCS}! This wildlife refuge is situated out in the middle of the woods in western West Palm Beach! For those who do not know where that is just think of the "hanging chad" from the 2000 elections & it's about 15 miles west of where that all took place! LOL! This place is SO cool! You get to drive out amongst the animals, play in a kid friendly amusement park & even feed giraffes! Yes we fed a giraffe!! What made this adventure even better was that it happens to be out in our neck of the woods! WAhHOo! The MOPS {Mothers of Preschoolers} group we are part of had their annual LCS trip on of all days the tribes birthday so we just had to go! We even met up with a few friends to make our adventure even better!

First thing we went on was the safari! You drive thru in your own vehicle as the animals wander about. Sometimes you get stuck because they decide to walk right in front of your car & decide to stay there! =] But the best part of having that happen is that you get up close & personal with them & get great pics!! LCS has all kinds of animals wandering around on their refuge. There were antelopes, water buffalo, monkeys, rhinos, giraffes & even a few lions! I'm sure that I omitted a few, heck probably a BUNCH, of the animals that reside there but you get my drift, they have pretty much EVERY animal with the exception of a Panda, much to Lindsey's chagrin! LOL! Below are pictures of our African Safari adventure...

LIONS, RHINOS & GIRAFFES, OH MY!!!...

the year of OUR blog...

2011-01-02T23:44:00.000-05:00

I know that lately I have been one MAJOR slacker! These past few weeks, ok months, I have let my passion for writing slide. I have let other WAY too many things come before capturing moments for posterity! hehee! The tribe is at such a fun age, chatting each other up & where have I been?! I can tell you where I've been, M I A! Well I am here to say "I AM BACK!". Since they give me such great material I am going to be sharing quite a lot! =] SO Look out because 2011 is going to be...

the year of OUR blog...

flashbacks of 2010...

2010-12-31T23:38:00.033-05:00

Well in just under 30 minutes it will be 2011! WOW, it's hard to believe 2010 is about to end. SO many things happened this year & since we did not do a CHRISTmas card I decided to do a brief montage of what life in the Fulton house was like over 2010. So enjoy our...

Opening presents CHRISTmas 2009

Bren & Lindsey

Their COOL tee pee!

Visiting Grandpa!

flashbacks of 2010...

I'll be right back...

2010-12-30T00:26:00.001-05:00

Oh how much fun CHRISTmas was this year! There was MANY a present unwrapped WAY before it's time! This Mama got quite the refresher course in ift wrapping this season! LOL! We had our good friend "Ollie the Elf" visiting us daily & not even his prescence curbed their mischievous ways! I begged, pleaded & even tried bribing them to behave. They just do NOT listen! One day I had all 4 of them help me load ALL the presents from under our tree to give to some more deserving children! Unfortunately they did NOT care! There they were, helping me load each & every package from under the tree into the back of our 'burb. This time they actually listened to me! Now if they would just behave I would be one HAPPY mama!

The week of CHRISTmas we had a Santa encounter. He actually took time out of his schedule to stop by our house for a visit. At first the tribe did not know what to do, when he walked inside they just stood & stared. The good thing was that they did NOT cry! Santa sat down & starting asking them if they had been listening to their Mama. {We all know that was not happening! LOL!} He reached into his bag & handed the first present to Camryn. As she opened her present which happened to be a Barbie purse with a cell phone, camera & sunglasses, Santa asked her if this is what she wanted.

Leave it to Camryn to speak her mind. She shook her head & replied, "No, I wanted a Dora Doll!". Well that right there shows you how my week was was going! hahah! Needless to say Santa brought 2 more of those purses for her sisters so no one would fight. Luckily Avery LOVED her purse! In fact I think they grew on each of them! He brought Brendan a Buzz Lightyear hand held toy. It is suppose to be educational but I think in the end it's just going to be another thing that makes NOISE! =]

This year I was actually wondering how we were going to "do" CHRISTmas. I know it is about the birth of Christ and not about giving or getting gifts but our tribe is young & they do not know any different. They definitely do not get a lot through out the year & especially not for CHRISTmas but this year was much harder. Finances have been rough. The economy is terrible & just like eveyone else we have been struggling. The tribe attends school which is really strapping us, actually it is putting us further in debt than we need to be. But that discussion will be for another day. Just last week I received the most wonderful call from my Aunt. She had been given MANY hand-me-downs from a mutual friend & wanted us to have them in time for CHRISTmas. Let me tell you how grateful I was for that! I have to say that 3/4th's of what the girls asked for was in those bags! She really made our CHRISTmas! So again I need to say "Thank you" to everyone that has helped our family survive! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Now let's fast forward to CHRISTmas morning. Avery came & crawled into bed with me like she normally does. She was partially awake but awake just enough to remember that she saw a baby stroller by the CHRISTmas tree. I turned to her & said "Santa brought you a stroller?!?". She looked at me with WIDE eyes & said...

I'll be right back...

NO school Monday's...

2010-12-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

Today was one of those days where more than one was not feeling good so they ALL stayed home SICK! You see last night out of the blue while at a CHRISTmas performance Lindsey threw up multiple times. Right there at the end of the pew in front of a packed church! It was bad! Luckily my 20 year old cousin came to our rescue & cleaned it all up. What else that I found amazing was that not one other person got up once she did it. They all just went along watching the performance! WOW! I really don't know why she threw up or where it came from but she did so there would be no school for her today. Well it seems that Avery did not want to be outdone by her sister because she too threw up on the ride home. Sigh... I just hope it ends with her! I could tell it was going to be a LONG night!

I prepared them like my mom always did us by placing a "puke bucket" by their heads & lined the edge of the bed with towels. If they were going to threw up again I was ready! I have to admit that before they actually fell asleep Linz threw up one last time on of all things her "Patty"! I think she was SO tired from throwing up that she didn't even care that she had to fall asleep without her! I checked on them a few times before I went to bed & they were all fast asleep! YAY! Apparently over night Avery threw up one last time, a small bit, but none the less I had to wash ALL the bed linens! She was clingy & not herself all day! I guess the silver lining in all of this was that none of them had any fevers! I decided to keep to the BRAT {Bananas, Rice, Apples & Toast} diet just in case they were not really over this illness. All things bland were my friend today. The one EXTRA thing I let them assist me in doing was making cut out sugar cookies. Boy was that a mistake! The darn cookie dough stuck to EVERYTHING!

In the end I was better off making our designs by hand! I made each of their letter's, the B & the A were "interesting"! Heck I even made a snowman without even trying! LOL! They were SO excited! From mixing the batter to cutting out the first cookie to seeing them bake in the oven it was quite an experience! There's nothing like...

NO school Monday's...

Yes Avery there really is a Santa Claus...

2010-12-10T15:04:00.000-05:00

I know that not everyone "believes" in Santa Claus but here at the Fulton house we do! CHRISTmas, Jesus, Santa & even his elves. This is the first year that they really are into the whole CHRISTmas experience! The fact that they know they better behave or else is PRICELESS! They LOVE singing CHRISTmas carols and they learn new ones daily since that's about all we listen to in the car. I LOVE 24 hour 7 days a week CHRISTmas carols on the radio! YAY! Last year was our first year with the "Elf on the Shelf" in our home and this year it seems to be the only way to get them to behave! You see they will walk over to where "Ollie" is, that's our elf, and they rat each other out.

Yes we have a bunch of tattletales here! They will stand in front of Ollie & tell him about who did what, mostly bad but sometimes good. You see Ollie goes "home" to the North Pole every night & tells Santa about their behavior so he knows exactly which list they should be on come CHRISTmas Eve. Now before you all get your panties in a wad it's not ALL about Santa, they do know the real meaning of CHRISTmas, that it is the birth day of Jesus. In fact their Uncle Rick bought them a really cool book all about the meaning of CHRISTmas! They have the Little People Nativity set to go with it. Boy do they LOVE baby Jesus!

Just the other day while shopping at Walmart it was not Jesus that sparked Avery's interest, unfortunately it was the BIG guy himself, Santa. This was her first one on one experience of her seeing Santa outside the normal realm of the mall. We were walking out of Walmart after making a quick shopping trip & who do we almost run into? Santa! He must have been making a last minute run to the mother of all discount stores for a last minute item. He was not dressed as flashy as he is in the local mall, this time he had on a polo shirt, pair of shorts & sneakers. I have to say that it was his fluffy white beard & red hat that TOTALLY gave him away! We knew it was him! As fast as he entered he was out in a flash. {See I told you it was a last minute item!} Avery searched all over for his sleigh & reindeer but this time it was NOT a sleigh that he rode in but a gray Jeep Laredo. Yes we staked out the door to see where he went! Now some people would probably say it was NOT Santa but Avery & I know better. The look on her face that day said it all! All I said was...

Yes Avery there really is a Santa Claus...

I better watch what I promise them!...

2010-12-02T14:52:00.000-05:00

This story begins on a day I had Avery home sick from school, for those of you that have children you know that kids while do just about anything to stay home with Mommy. I had scheduled their "well check-up" the day before Thanksgiving but rescheduled for this day and here Avery goes & gets sick! UGH! She had a fever so there would be NO SCHOOL for her! When the others heard she would be staying home they tried faking some symptoms to get to stay home too. It was quite funny seeing Camryn & Lindsey say that their bellies hurt & then Brendan tagging along saying he was sick too! They were not sick, they just wanted to stay home with me! In the end Daddy took Camryn to school, she had her "well check-up" over the summer in preparation for speech school. There I was taking the rest of them to the doctor. Three "well check-up's" turned into two! Thank the Lord for our Pediatrician Dr Mahoney, she is AWESOME! They asked me all sorts of questions about what was going to happen while being there. The most important question was if they were going to get a shot. I said No, this was a well check-up not a sick visit. I guess they have been to the doctor sick WAY more than being well because they could not understand what a "well check-up" was! LOL! The doctor was pleased with all of them in fact Mr B gained a pound from his last visit! WOO HOO! This is a BIG deal! We have to plump him up for his heart surgery in March! Lindsey is the tallest & is like in the 44th percentile for height. This is an accomplishment since all 4 of them are scrawny & weigh like 30lbs! hehee! Oh & Avery's illness is just that, an illness. She was negative for strep so it's most likely viral & will stay the course. So just like we thought she would be staying home sick from school. Brendan & Lindsey did not really like hearing that! haha! Our day get's even better, the "well check-up day" turned into "Flu shot day". Yes, the three of them all got shots! UGH! All that preparing I did telling them no shots because it was a "well check-up" went right out the window! There I was consoling them after they each burst into tears! Oh did I feel bad! Luckily after the flu shot Dr Mahoney took each one of them over to the special treat box for a prize. I am now the proud owner of two planes you put together & a bottle of Santa bubbles! =] I think in the future...

I better watch what I promise them!...

no more cribs...

2010-11-19T15:58:00.000-05:00

The tribe is now WAY over three & a half years old and we I just decided to finally take down their cribs at our house. They have been sleeping on a bunk bed at Grandma's house for a few months but still slept in cribs at our house. Weird I know but you work with what you have. It took me about half the day to tackle this but in the end I was SO happy that I finally did it. I was not able to get the room all put back together completely by the time the tribe arrived home from school. Brendan was the first one to notice the BIG changes in their room. He looked around the room & said there's no more cribs! He then asked me where was he going to sleep? Awhh.. I told him he was a BIG boy now & he would be sleeping on a BIG BOY mattress. He thought that was EXTRA special! Little did he know that the mattress was the one from his crib! LOL! One day soon we will get them a REAL BIG KID bed. But for now at least it's...

The room is almost ready!

Their first night out of the cribs!

My BIG boy!

Can you tell how happy Aave was?!

Linz & her "Patty", all is right in the world!

no more cribs...

EVERY vote counts!...

2010-11-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

If you are a friend of mine on Face Book you would have seen me acting like a CRAZY person for the past month trying to get everyone to vote for the tribe in a Chick-fil-A Fall Festival Costume Contest. Sorry for being a pain & posting every day about it but I really wanted to win! It started out as a FUN Fall family event & turned into this crazy competition. We went to our local Chick-fil-A for a Fall Festival one night last month. They had this costume contest for the kids which I thought would be fun. As most people know we LOVE Chick-fil-A & always attend "Family Night" at the one near my Mom's. Well, this was our first "Family Night" at the Chick-fil-A near us. The promotion sounded like fun so we were there. Camryn dressed as a "Damsel in Distress", Brendan a "Knight in shining Armor", Avery was a "Bride" & Lindsey was of course a "Mermaid"! {She said she wanted to be a mermaid & never wavered!}. It was a mad rush to get there & then get them all dressed to then have their picture taken. Everyone smiled EXCEPT Camryn. She was acting her part as the damsel in distress for sure! LOL!

Besides the Costume Contest they had face painting, pumpkin decorating & a characture artist. Well the costume contest portion of their Fall Festival turned into a Face Book only competition. We had to get people to vote on the best dressed child! Oh did I try to promote the contest. I think I posted something about it every day & pleaded with people to vote for them. It ended up that Brendan was getting more votes than his sisters. SO what started out as getting people to vote for the tribe turned into voting for Brendan. Nothing like splitting the vote! Ha! In the end on the last day of voting it came down to one vote. Crazy but true, & Brendan lost by ONE vote! Sadly I think I may have cost him the contest! You see every person could vote for each child once & I not only voted for each of my children but I voted for other kids too! I voted for the winner! If anything I'm glad he won because he was adorable! Oh by the way the winning prize which was 20 FREE MEALS! Yes, I think I was more excited about getting FREE food than him actually being able to claim victory! So the next time you are asked to vote for something remember...

EVERY vote counts!...

HaLlOwEeNiE events part 2...

2010-11-08T08:54:00.000-05:00

I know I am SO late in posting these pictures! Sorry! Life overtook me & postponed my plans! I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL October & most especially a SAFE Halloween! I really cannot believe how October has come & gone already! YIKES! I have SO many pictures to post!! Well here goes our...

The gang decorating pumpkins!

Uncle Andy & Mr B

Grandma, can you believe she is 80?!

Two of my men...

I think this pic says it all! Love them!

Avery flashing us that smile!

The boys...

Brendan, Anthony & Linz became FAST friends!

The girls...

The fab four!

Halloweenie events Part 2...

Dear Santa...

2010-10-30T14:47:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, it is not even Halloween & I am writing about Santa Claus! Well, here in the Fulton home the talk is ALL about Santa! I have to blame retail stores because Christmas has already arrived in many a store! It is October people!! Now each time we enter the mall they want to know if they will get to visit Santa. UGH! Now come late November if they will actually sit on his lap will be another story! Each year our picture with Santa is interesting to say the least! ha!

This year, I think, will be the year, the year of them being inquisitive & most importantly the year we can bribe them to behave for fear Santa will not come! LOL! I know Christmas is NOT about Santa Claus but when you are over run with three year old's you do what you have to do just to get by! =] Just the other day we received a package in the mail FULL of DVD's for the tribe. Oh was that such a treat! {Thank you Melissa!} One of the movies was "The Polar Express". I told them it was about Christmas & Santa Claus. That was all they needed to hear because they all agreed that was the one they wanted to watch. It was a little hard in the beginning to get them to sit still but about 20 minutes in they were content & ALL eyes were on the screen. We ended up explaining things through out the movie for them to understand. SO if you are one of those people who don't like talking throughout a movie you would not have enjoyed being in our house that night! LOL! I really think they enjoyed the movie especially at the end when they got to see Santa! Their eyes were BIG & mouths dropped! You see it's all about the BIG guy! Oh is this time of the year is going to be fun! Now on to the question of the day...

I made the mistake of asking them what they would like to receive from Santa, that is IF they were good. {Because we all know that Santa knows when they are bad or good! =]}Oh were their minds working hard. They each came up with such interesting items to add to their "list". Avery & Lindsey knew right away what they wanted. They each spoke for one another & told me they wanted a baby doll{I vote for water babies}, a diaper bag, a toy baby for each doll, a baby bottle & sippy cup, diapers, cell phone & a set of keys. WHEW! That was a mouth full! If you did not know this by now, Avery is all about technology! She really does think that "her" phone can call people & "her" keys can unlock car doors! If we unlock the door before she does she gets quite upset! hahah! Aave & Linz then said Camryn wanted all of that too! Camryn however told me she wanted Dora puzzles. She LOVES Dora & is ALL about doing puzzles these days. Brendan is such a mixture of them all. He can play with just about anything so if Santa brought him a baby doll he would be A OK! Now we all know he is NOT going to do that to the poor boy but if he did he'd be ok. Brendan later told us that he would like some trains & race cars!! The boy in him is coming through!! YAY! {** Addendum ** The best part about all of this is that since this "list" was made we received a TON of hand me downs & almost every item on their "list" was in those boxes! We are SO very blessed!} I cannot wait for them to be old enough to actually write their own...

Dear Santa...

guilty as charged!...

2010-10-23T09:46:00.000-04:00

We were all at Grandma's house & it finally happened, we ran out of tooth paste! I hate it when that happens! I We had used up all of our Cinnamon Rush Crest tooth paste! LOVE me some Cinnamon! =] I am such a creature of habit & did NOT want to use another kind let alone flavor but today I did just that! Come on, I know I am not the only parent out there that has been caught using their kid's tooth paste! Call me...

guilty as charged!...

Houston we have a problem...

2010-10-22T08:16:00.001-04:00

Just the other night we went out for a School Fundraiser at Hurricane Grill, a local wing joint. A portion of the sales from the night would go back to the school what a FUN event! We LOVE fundraisers that help the tribes school so of course we were there! I have to say that I noticed quite a few things about this "tribe" of ours that night.

The first thing being that all quads want to be treated equally. Really, if two get something the other two better get it too! So when almost every restaurant we go to these days does NOT have enough booster chairs we tend to have a problem! This particular night they only had TWO boosters! Not two available boosters but two boosters for the entire place! NOT GOOD! Those of you that have more than two kids know that when you have only TWO of something the other two are left out. In this case the two in the boosters wanted to be left out! LOL! They are at that stage where they want to be considered as "BIG" but they are not there yet! sigh...

The second thing that I noticed was how "girly" Avery & Lindsey are becoming! Not that Camryn is not "girly" because she is, it's just that they are OVER THE TOP "girly". They LOVE lipstick, skirts that twirl, purses, cell phones & of course baby dolls! As they walked into the restaurant that night they each had a purse on their arm, yes I said purse! What's even funnier is that when they needed to use the restroom they carried them into the bathroom! It was CRAZY! This "girly" behavior did not just happen over night, it has evolved over the past year or so but strangely I just took "notice" of it! They even came up with items like diaper bags, purses, cell phones, car keys, baby dolls, etc... for their "Dear Santa" list. We will catch them wearing "high heels", holding their "baby" along with a purse over their shoulder, keys in their hand all while talking into their play cell phone. They are not even four yet!! I tell you we are doomed! LOL! An interesting tidbit is that Camryn does not do this nearly as much as Aave & Linz do! TOO TOO funny! =]

The third thing I noticed was how funny Brendan can be! He really does like to be the little comedian. If he says something that he thinks anyone finds funny he will say it over & over again! Well that night he made us burst out in laughter right there in the middle of our dinner! Camryn started counting one {Avery}, two {Lindsey}, three {Herself}girls at the table. {FYI apparently Mommy is not considered a girl, she is just a Mommy! LOL!} Brendan pipes up with there are FOUR girls, and then says "I'm a girl!". Daddy looks at him & says "Brendan do you have a Cootchie?" he replies "No". Brendan then says "I'm a girl with a penis!". I about died! If I was drinking something I think it would have shot out of my nose! You see this is what he wanted, he wanted that laugh & as we all laughed he repeated it over & over again! This is one of those moments when I should have stayed straight faced but I lost it! Now before you all start wondering about the little BOY of ours you need to know this is just him being the comedian that he is. So what if he likes dolls & the color pink?! =] Remember he does have THREE sisters so we can safely say that he is in touch with his feminine side! LOL! You see he knew that would draw a laugh so he went with it! However one might say...

Houston we have a problem...

"HALLOwEeNiE" events Part 1...

2010-10-18T10:07:00.000-04:00

I have to say that this is the FIRST year that I've even felt like doing "Halloweenie" type things with the tribe. I am NOT a pumpkin picker nor am I a pumpkin carver yet we will be doing some of that this weekend. It's weird how kids can change you for the better. Just yesterday we did the hayride thing. There is this farm, Bedner's, located somewhat near us that sells their produce as well as that from LOCAL farmers. {If we are going to buy produce then why not support our local farmers?} Another added benefit is that at this time of the year they have a pumpkin patch & hayride too! I thought "why not?". We planned this event for a few weeks, telling anyone interested to meet up with us there we even brought along some reinforcements, Grandma, D & our cousin Raine! I was not feeling up to par but Daddy said we had to go! I do not know what I expected to find when we got there but I have to say I was overwhelmed! The place was PACKED! People were parking up & down all along the road as you arrived at their main entrance. Apparently EVERYONE & their mother decided Bedner's was the place to be yesterday! LOL! They had booths with people selling ANYTHING & EVERYTHING! They had a wildlife exhibit with itty bitty baby monkeys & Kinkachou's, Boy Scout's selling popcorn, women with the cutest handmade hair bow's & even an old Cracker story teller. They had good music & yummy food! The Rolling Stove & Porky and Beth's BBQ! YUM! We waited for what seemed forever to ride their hayride. They had these HUGE tractors pulling us through their farm. The Pumpkin Patch was picked over many times over so there was no pumpkin picking for us! Oh well! I have to say taking the tribe there really brightened up our weekend. As always I took PLENTY of pictures capturing the events of the day! Here goes...

"HALLOwEeNiE" events Part 1...

family night...

2010-10-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

Just about EVERY Tuesday we will go to Chick-fil-a for their "Family Night". Now after some reasearch I have found out that each Chick-fil-a has different promotions on their "Family Night" so don't get mad if ours has better deals! LOL! Here we can get a FREE kids meal for every adult meal purchased, they get to do some cool craft & after dinner get a FREE ice cream!! WOO HOO! The tribe LOVES the ice cream! In fact this past Tuesday Avery ate two!! Yep she was a little piggy! =] I have to say that this saves us a TON of money when you are feeding a family of 7 at least for one day of the week! LOL! This Tuesday night activity has turned into sort of a new "tradition" for us. I am usually working so I will meet up with the tribe during my dinner break. It is the craziest dinner break but the time spent with them is priceless! In & out in all under 45 minutes! Whew! When they started this promotion it was pure CHAOS!! People were EVERYWHERE & it was CRAZY! Now that they have been doing it for a several months things are sort of calmer. They even have appearances by their infamous cows!! The tribe would get FREAKED out by them in the beginning but now they will ask if they are going to get to see them & will run up to give them hugs!! In fact Brendan even said he wants to be a "SUPER COW" for Halloween. {This past Tuesday they made capes which the cow donned} Like that will ever happen but just hearing him say that was SO darn cute! Nothing like seeing a BIG cow wearing a cape to sway a child in the costume dept.! LOL! After they eat all of their dinner they will run off to the play area sans shoes. {This is the part that I don't really enjoy, dirty socks!} I recently decided that we need to purchase them some BLACK socks just so I do not have to see how dirty the floor of that play area actually is!! YUK! There is not much that I can do about it so I just grin & bear it because I know they LOVE playing with all of the other kids! I just have to give a HUGE shout out to Chick-fil-a for building a store near us & for hosting a...

family night...

the chosen one...

2010-10-09T10:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday on my way home from work I decided to pick up ONE child from school. Since I was driving Daddy's pickup {FYI something I MAJORLY dislike driving!} I thought why not stop by their school & pick someone up. I have only one car seat so which child would it be? I try my darnedest to make it fair so each child gets their "special time" with me. I think I cause myself more grief than the grief I will get from them when I don't choose them! LOL! There I was actually thinking about who rode with me last, who gets to miss school more often due to Doctor appointments, heck I even thought of who sat in the "front seat" this morning so I was being COMPLETELY fair! LOL! I think it wasn't until I rounded the corner into their school did I make my FINAL decision. Can you guess who was...

the chosen one?...

smells like dinner...

2010-09-29T12:43:00.000-04:00

The supermarket of choice for our family is Publix, they are just down the road & their slogan is "Where Shopping is a Pleasure". Who wouldn't want shopping to be a pleasure?! LOL! Let me tell you some days it really is pleasurable to shop there! PLUS they do a TON in regards to "Customer Service". When I have to go shopping with the ENTIRE tribe Publix will have an employee push one of the shopping carts as I push the other one. LOVE that! Not to mention their "Cookie Club". Each & EVERY time we go there the tribe has to get their FREE cookie & once their card gets filled with hole punches they can be entered to win a Cookie Cake! YUM! See I can find MANY pleasurable things at Publix! =]

Now I feel like I should fill you in on some things before I can share this recent memory. You see Publix has this area set up near the front of their store where they have this "kitchen" to cook some of the recipe's from their "Apron Collection". It's a great set of recipe's that are EXTRA yummy! ALL kinds of family food & again it's YUMMY for the tummy! Depending on the time of day you could actually get a meal while doing your shopping. This particular day I only had Lindsey with me because she had a Doctor's appointment. She LOVES having that "Mommy & Me" time, heck I do too! There she was in a shopping cart meant for SINGLETON'S when we leave one aisle & turn the corner which placed us near their "kitchen". The Apron's lady was sauting something with onions & the aroma was something out of this world! I guess Linz noticed it too because she proceeds to say Mommy it...

smells like dinner...

walk slowly...

2010-09-26T23:37:00.000-04:00

It is interesting how often we I hear these two words, walk slowly, being spoken by our little man, must be at least once or twice a day! Remember his alter ego is "Safety Patrol Man" and he makes sure we know it! LOL! He routinely will ask if he should walk slowly. I think this may stem from a few "slip & fall's" on the wet tile floor after swimming so now ANYTIME there is water involved or a situation that he deems "unsafe" he will say "Walk slowly Mommy?". Now this is at EVERY bath, out by the pool, while we are on our patio, when someone spills anything on the floor you better believe he is going to ask me those two words! It's usually always directed at me. Weird huh?! I think it's a mom thing, he knows he can trust me to keep him safe! Also I kind of think it's cute, Daddy on the other hand doesn't quite "get it". He thinks it is sort of goofy & wishes he would stop. Like why does he need to ask us or better yet say that? I really do see it as sort of endearing! So as far as I'm concerned he can continue being our "Safety Patrol Man" and when he deems necessary to tell us to...

walk slowly...

FREE car seat...

2010-09-21T18:47:00.000-04:00

A friend recently shared with me some AWESOME info! FHP, Florida Highway Patrol, is giving away FREE car seats this Saturday, September 25th starting at 830am. What a great program! I just had to share it with all of you! So if you or someone you know has a munchkin in need of a car seat PLEASE tell them to go to the FHP station at theWest Palm Beach Service Plaza, just N of Lake Worth Road this Saturday. Remember ALL of children deserve to be kept safe & why not start by getting a...

FREE car seat...

the party pooper...

2010-09-17T13:44:00.000-04:00

The tribe's school held a fundraiser at California Pizza Kitchen this past Sunday so off we went. Anything to support our FAVORITE school! =] This was being held at the California Pizza Kitchen inside the mall at Wellington Green. We LOVE this mall especially since they have a COOL play area done up like breakfast food for little ones. They even nickname the place the "Fruit Pit". There's waffles, pancakes & various other pieces of fruit for kids to trod all over. I never even thought twice about bringing them in there. Boy was that a BAD idea! Note to self: NEVER go to the "Fruit Pit" on a weekend! YIKES! You see even though there are signs clearly marked saying you have to be NO taller than I believe 42" & people seem to overlook that sign & bring their BIG kids in there to play. Now when I say BIG kids I really mean BIG kids! These children looked like they could have been in Middle School, actually like MINI ADULTS! WAY bigger than the sign posted at the front of the play area! To make matters even worse this day the Mall had had hired someone to paint faces & blow up these CRAZY shaped balloons for everyone. This gave the BIG kids even more to do because now they were chasing after each other with their balloon "art". It was pure chaos! If you think it's hard to keep up with your kids under normal circumstance try thinking about keeping up with them during all of this! It was CRAZY!!

Some of these balloons were done up as swords & they proceeded to sword fight in the middle of this play area! Yes they were acting like Pirates or something, it was rough! A few small children were even lost in the shuffle, knocked down & bruised up. I am not surprised if one of them even get a concussion from the hit they took. Sadly the BIGGER kid never even acknowledged knocking the child over. Again, just TERRIBLE! No parents of that BIG kid ever came forward to talk to their child, it was like they were not even there! I really hope they did not just drop their kids off but who knows they never intervened! People just sat back & took this all in as "play time" or better yet "entertainment". It was then & there I knew I would be writing about this "moment". I even felt compelled to post a small blurb about this "adventure" on our FB page. So if someone of importance took note & a change does occur you can just call me...

the party pooper...

riding the BIG girl bus...

2010-09-13T08:58:00.000-04:00

Now that things have FINALLY been situated with Camryn regarding which "Speech School" she is to attend she will be riding a "BIG GIRL BUS" starting today. Yes our three & 1/2 year old daughter will be riding a school bus! YIKES! I have been preparing her well before school even started. I have to say that I was not really excited in the beginning. It's not that we really had a choice in the matter because with me working part time I can not be there to drive her to & from speech so she had to take a bus. Trust me I did have quite a few questions & concerns regarding even allowing her to ride a bus in the 1st place. How far would she be traveling? How would she handle riding it MINUS her siblings? Would someone be sitting with her? & my BIGGEST worry, What if she was left on the bus?? Well, I can tell you that all of my questions were answered & I felt SO much better hearing their answers to my concerns. First off Camryn is SO excited to be riding a bus & brags to her siblings that she gets to ride the bus & they don't! LOL! The school she is attending is less than 2 miles away, there is an aide that rides with her so she will not be left behind {LOVE that!}, she has to wear a restraint/seat belt & the bus only picks up her age children so NO BIG KIDS on board. After be reassured of all my worries I cannot tell you how much both of us looked forward to this day, to be riding a school bus! It took about a month to get everything straightened out but we are FINALLY here! WOO HOO! Sadly I am not there to witness this momentous occasion so I have asked for my "back up's", aka the teachers to take plenty of pictures for me! {Thank you Summit!!} What else can I say? My little girl is growing up right before my eyes! YIKES! Yesterday it was just attending preschool & today it is...

riding the BIG girl bus...

"his" BIG green tractor...

2010-09-08T12:33:00.000-04:00

The other day I decided to go on a little "field trip" with Brendan before his Doctor's appointment. Lucky for us right next to the Doctor's office is "Everglades Farm Equipment" which also happens to sell John Deere Tractors. Brendan LOVES tractors! So off we went to take a quick "tour" of the place. I can remember when D was just a little older than this & he too LOVED all this "boy stuff". Sadly I would not be able to name any of the equipment they sell there if my life depended on it! LOL! As soon as we turned into the parking lot I could tell he was EXCITED! He started pointed at all the tractors. TOO cute! Once we walked inside it was a different story. He was sort of shy about it, he hid behind my leg & did not venture out too much. But trust me that did not last very long! Before we got to the second piece of machinery he was halfway up wanting his picture taken! He is my boy after all! =] I took MANY picture's of him on...

"his" BIG green tractor...

wear this mommy...

2010-09-01T11:01:00.002-04:00

We were literally running out the door to meet up with my niece for dinner when the tribe decided that they all "needed" to wear hats! Just another thing to make us even later! ]= We have this trunk FULL of all sorts of "dress up" clothes & they sure found some good ones! LOL! The one hat that sticks out was Brendan's. He chose this white & yellow flower head band type hat. Yes you read it right, he dressed like a FLOWER! He sort of looked like a BIG sunflower or a dandelion. {I'm NO gardener! LOL!} Either way he looked ADORABLE! When I tell you we were late, we were LATE! I was trying my best to hurry them along but as you know children, when they are "trying" to do something they are slower than slow! LOL! As we all were attempting to get into the 'burb he soon found out that his head with his flower "hat" on would just NOT fit in the car seat, not for the lack of trying I might add! hahah! Next thing I know he is telling me to...

wear this mommy...

down on the KEY...

2010-08-30T13:29:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we had the good fortune to head South down to Key Biscayne with some relatives. Our nephews were in town for the week so Papa Bill & Florence were taking them down to Key Biscayne for the weekend & invited us to tag along. We headed down on Saturday afternoon to this cute place settled right on the Atlantic Ocean. The views were AMAZING! Once we arrived I took the tribe down to the ocean & was pleasantly surprised to find it WARM! YAY! They seemed frightened at first probably due to the fact that we hardly ever go to the beach, what can I say we're "Pool People". LOL! Avery wanted NO part of it & took off towards Daddy, so our "foursome" soon became a "threesome"! LOL! Once the three of them got used to all the waves approaching them they were good! I did like a GOOD mommy & took a TON of pictures! [=

Bren, Cam & Linz taking in the view

Nothing like putting your toes in the surf!

Finding their way back to the pool

Linz & her Gram

Our B man!

The girls snackin' it!

Aave looking for some Iguanas!

Linz & that smile of hers! =]

The boy's at play! Donovan, Darius & Dustyn

"Nana" Florence & Taya

We became like little tourists, took in the surf, did a little swimming & spent some MUCH needed time away from home! They have their own "entertainment", real LIVE iguana's! They were BIG & WILD! Needless to say the tribe LOVED them! They even made their Daddy try to catch one! That was a sight to see! LOL! It was like we were on vacation while we were...

down on the KEY...

"not me"...

2010-08-26T20:34:00.012-04:00

Oh how I wish this latest phase would just end! It seems that no matter what we ask the tribe these days they all seem to want to say it was "not me". Oh do I cringe each time they say it! Ahhh... When we are at Grandma's house she allows a different child to go outside to get her newspaper. She rotates this "treat" daily. Each morning when she say's "Ok, who got the paper for me yesterday?" they each will reply, "not me". Oh it just all goes down hill from there! LOL! Their next "treat" is when we rotate who sits in the "front" seat of the 'burb or better yet who gets to ride in Daddy's truck. They LOVE riding in Daddy's truck! Since we now have those Sunshine Kids Radian XT SL car seats in the 'burb we can fit THREE seats in one row, WOO HOO!, so that leaves one seat all by itself in the second row. It is crazy how EVERYONE wants that seat! Daddy usually takes the tribe to school so he always knows who last sat in that seat. It's when I pick them up do I make the mistake of asking "Which one of you sat up front last?". They all say "NOT ME!". I told you it was a MISTAKE! LOL! I'd just love to know who really is...

"not me"...

our NEW look...

2010-08-22T22:47:00.000-04:00

We FINALLY did it! We updated the design of our blog, it only took me about TWO long years to do it! LOL! I hate to admit this but I am SO technologically challenged that I needed a LOT of help with this project! =] Thank heaven for Hilary from ScrapblogdesignsbyHilary, she came to our rescue just when we needed her! YAY! She gave me MANY different designs to consider & I finally chose this "BON VOYAGE" theme. I feel like we are always going some place so it was quite fitting! What do you think?! Didn't she do a GREAT job?! I just LOVE...

our NEW look...

divine intervention...

2010-08-20T09:13:00.000-04:00

Have you ever have one of those ~~days~~ weeks where you feel like nothing is going right? Well, Welcome to my world! School started on Monday & we have been BUSY little beavers since. A lot of stress comes with the start of school. I do NOT like stress! The tribe moved up to the 3 year old class & D started HIGH SCHOOL! YIKES! Seems like yesterday he was in Kindergarten! We would drop him off & all of the girls would chase him around the playground! Ahh... now those were the days! Funny how life comes full circle to where we are now! He is in a NEW school & I can just about imagine the girl situation! LOL! =] Not only does Cam have regular preschool like the others she ALSO gets to attend a speech program too. EVENTUALLY she will be riding a bus to & from preschool & I must say she is VERY excited about that! Of the foursome she is by far our most acclimated child. She can pretty much go with the flow & thoroughly enjoys school! YAY for me since I have had to take her until the bus gets set up. There have been MANY challenges this school year. I am the parent that needs things mapped out, I need a time line & wish for things to run smoothly. After MANY bumps in the road we are hopefully where we need to be. Dustyn has his schedule, he's getting used to his new environment, the tribe has been assigned their classes, teachers & Cam may FINALLY know where she will be attending speech. The best part is that I really like this school & hope that she gets to stay. I tend to look for "signs" to see if this is meant to be & when I saw signs, I saw signs! =] The staff there are WONDERFUL, very accommodating & really LOVE the children. When I walked into her classroom it was completely set up unlike the other one. They gave me paperwork on what was expected of me whereas the other school gave me nothing. Now I am not trying to knock the alternate choice but remember I am new to this game, I need instruction, I need to know what is expected of me. But even putting all of that aside the BIGGEST sign would have to have been learning what their mascot was, an eagle. My Dad LOVED eagles, in fact my mother still has his HUGE collection of them at home. If ever there was a sign that this was where she needed to be it was that. I feel like he is watching down from above & it was sort of like...

divine intervention...

"mommy meter"...

2010-08-15T14:42:00.000-04:00

We have been swimming a TON lately & with absolutely NO swimmies! WOO HOO! Being it's the summer & extremely HOT outside our pool tends to be EXTRA warm. Some days it feels good but most days it's like swimming in a liquid SAUNA! UGH! Another issue is when it rains the pool tends to cool off pretty quick. It must have rained a bunch over the past few days because it was MUCH cooler than expected when we jumped in today. It was really funny because the tribe must be SO used to it being warm that they all felt the need to tell me how COLD it was today! SO cold that I decided to see exactly what the temperature really was. Good 'ol Brendan must have seen me searching around the pool for our pool thermometer because the next thing I hear is him saying "Here it is Mommy!", Here's the...

"mommy meter"...

4 little swimmers...

2010-08-10T13:14:00.000-04:00

SO much has happened in the last week or so in regards to the tribe & swimming. I know that I have posted MANY times about how difficult & EXPENSIVE it has been to try to get all four of them swimming lessons. SO expensive that basically we just could not afford it so we have taught them ourselves. OK, actually their Daddy has taught them. I do not know exactly how he did it but he did! We went from having those Dollar Store swimmies {Even though they are cheap DON'T buy them!!}, to buying some AWESOME US Coast Guard approved "Puddle Jumper's", to FINALLY not wearing anything at all!!

All I can say is that their Daddy has been VERY consistent & they are actually understanding what he's telling them. I think they listen to him more anyway! LOL! It's really been like a light went off & they finally got "it". My hubby is AMAZING! He has worked with them pretty much every night or every other night plus weekends on getting them to swim sans assistance. It was Avery, his "girl" that took to it first. I hate to admit it but she is our little daredevil so she will try anything at least once! Well it did not take her long to start LOVING it & she has been swimming without swimmies for over a week. Can you guess who our hold out was? It was actually a toss up between Cam & Bren. They were SO scared to part with their "life jacket" that they cried for a good part of an hour just at the thought of having to swim like a BIG kid! If it took Avery a day to learn this it took Lindsey a day and a half! She was right behind her sister in the swimming dept. In fact she can now do "tricks"! Yes, she calls it being a "mermaid". She will flip over as she is swimming to me. I think she looks like a "special" fish but if she thinks it's being a mermaid then it's being a mermaid! LOL! The best part is that she does all of this WITHOUT taking on water OR holding her nose! I am SO proud of her! In fact none of them hold their nose. WOO HOO! I just hope that continues & they don't get to where they need to hold it! Fast forward to today when it was just them & me in the pool. Yes, Call me crazy but this is usually how it goes, them & me! {FYI, I make sure I have a cordless phone nearby just in case!} They were jumping in from our spa to swim to me. It's sad because they are really growing up! sniff sniff... I cannot tell you who was the fastest or kicked the hardest to swim to me! It was CRAZY! I felt like we were like this well oiled machine that ran SO fast! As soon as one child asked "Can I swim to you Mommy?" and took off the next child was right there in the wings about to take off themselves. {FYI, I make them ask to swim to whomever so no one, mostly ME, is ever unprepared to have a kid headed in their direction! [=} Picture this times FOUR & they kept going turn after turn! I do not know who was more tired, them or me! What's even crazier is that by looking at all four of them you would never even know that one started swimming before the other one. They all look just like...

4 little swimmers...

the art show...

2010-08-06T17:08:00.001-04:00

I know that I have shared that I get to work OUTSIDE the home & how I've been there FOREVER! Recently those co workers of mine that work on the midnight shift created a fun event for everyone in our Communications Center to participate in, an art show! You see they have been coloring for quite some time as a stress reliever. Working in law enforcement and all those crazies can be quite taxing so you can imagine the stress! I have to say when I walked in the center I was AMAZED! They decked the place out with all kinds of decorations not to mention all of their artwork, 110 drawings to be exact! Here's what we get to see for the next few weeks...

The creators have asked for us to "vote" for our favorites & the winner will get a ribbon. Much thought has gone into on what to do with the art after the "show" ends it's run and they decided they will donate them to a local charity here in Pompano Beach. I myself said they should auction them off on eBay & give the money raised to a local charity. Who knows what they will finally decide to do but if you'd be interested in purchasing one of these beauties PLEASE let me know. Remember ALL art & proceeds made are being donated! Any contribution is appreciated & it's going to a good cause! Here's quite a few of the "works of art" from...

Here's one of my favorites!!

the art show...

attack of the peanut butter sandwich...

2010-08-02T22:58:00.001-04:00

Oh how we LOVE to eat peanut butter sandwiches! Luckily no one here is allergic so it has become a staple in their lunch boxes. Brendan is usually our most diligent & cleanest eater. He will stay seated until he is done eating AND if he has a sandwich he will just bite & bite until he is just left with the crust & sometimes he even eats that! But the girls now they are a different story! They are the complete opposite! VERY messy & ALWAYS getting out of their seats. I have to have a chat with their teachers to see if they do this in school because it is getting REALLY old! [= Lately they have been eating less of it & having MORE fun using it more as face "paint"! I have to say that this behavior usually occurs when they are NOT hungry little beavers! Today was NO exception! Check out our MANY faces that were affected by the...

I think Aave painted it on her face!

Linz & that grin! Ahh...

Cam thought it was SO yummy that she licked her fingers! LOL!

attack of the peanut butter sandwich...

is he playing us for fools?...

2010-08-02T16:17:00.000-04:00

Ever since the tribe has started school we have sort of been out of the loop in the potty dept. When they were home with me I knew when they pooped & peed. I knew when they had issues, when they had that "accident", etc. Anyhow, now that they are in school we don't seem to know all of this info. It really doesn't matter that much with the girls as it does Brendan. He is by far our issue kid. All these months we have assumed that since it takes him FOREVER to poop that he has still been having issues. We have kept his appointments with the "poop doctor" because we felt he still needed it. Well let me tell you we learned a lot this past Friday. You both Daddy & I picked the tribe up from school to take them out for dinner, our routine "Family Night". This has not happened for awhile, both of us picking them up or better yet me beingthere. Ever since I've been working more during the week Daddy has been taking them to & from school. He is the one getting all of the updates from the teachers & apparently he has NOT asked the right questions. Because Brendan now pees AND poops on the potty at school. Yes you read this right! Miss Iris told me that he has been doing SO good! I was like what?! He is missing school on Monday because we have an appointment with the "Poop doctor"! Why oh why did we not know this?! I told her that we need to get "progress reports" on him so we know when & if his issues return. Let's pray that they don't! Then I thought to myself why doesn't he poop on the potty at home? Why did we still think he was having issues? I mean he ALWAYS poops in his Pull Up & it's usually ever 5 days or so at night. Maybe that's why we knew the last time he pooped in his pants that is! LOL! Did we get it wrong? Oh did I wonder a LOT as I drove to dinner that night. I wondered is he ok or...

is he playing us for fools?...

flying solo...

2010-07-31T17:56:00.000-04:00

For the past two weeks now I have allowed one child to make the trek down to Grandma's with me when I have to go to work. I always stay over at Grandma's if I have an EARLY shift, just makes life easier & less driving in the middle of the night. It was only recently that I decided to let one child tag along with me. I think I realized how important it is for each of them to have that "special" time ALONE without the others being around to pester them. I also know that they need their one on one time with their Mama too! Last week I brought Brendan. Do not ask me how he got to be the "first" one to fly solo but he did. I was working a short shift {3am-7am} so other than making sure it was ok with Grandma I had NO worries about doing this. I have to say that he was AWFUL during the hour drive South. UGH! Not only did he ask me a million questions, scream at the top of his lungs then he even picked up his flip flop, hit me with it & then laughed! Man is he becoming quite the terror lately! I told his he will NOT be coming down to Grandma's with me again for a VERY long time! {Sadly a LONG time will only be more like 4 weeks since I am trying to rotate this "treat" around! LOL!} This week it was Miss Avery's turn. It's only fair to do this rotation in age order. LOL! You should have seen her once I told her she was coming with me! She started bragging like she was in middle school not like the 3 year old that she really is! It was crazy! There she was in the middle of the restaurant saying "I'm going with Mama in Daddy's truck and your not going!" then "I'm going to Grandma's!". Except this time she was going to stay overnight at LuLu & Uncle Bob's house not Grandma's. You see Grandma was out & I did not want to take a chance of her not agreeing to watch her, the little pistol that she is, till Daddy arrived with the rest of the tribe. I was SO happy that Uncle Bob agreed to let her spend the night. FYI this is not the first time she has spent the night away from us just the first time by herself. I dropped her off w/ her blankie, her new stuffed "Pooh", PJ's, an extra set of clothes & Pull Up's. I think LuLu was just about as excited as she was to be staying over! I said my goodbyes & off I went to catch some ZZz's before my early shift. I knew that she would be just fine...

flying solo...

know how to french braid...

2010-07-29T04:05:00.011-04:00

Now that our girls hair has been getting LONG & most especially having their bangs cover their eyes I have begun my latest mission of learning how to braid. I think when you have daughters it's your duty to learn how to braid. Now I know how to do a simple braid on a ponytail it's the fancier "french" braid I need to conquer! When I was little, heck up until about 5 years ago my mom would braid my hair. I could never braid my own hair, not for trying trust me! One time my own brother braided my hair! Yes even I was AMAZED! It was nothing elaborate but a braid to say the least! Do not know where he learned how but he did! SO I figure if they can braid I need to learn how to do it too! Sad thing is that I really thought it would be old hat by now since not too long ago I inherited a Barbie styling head. I wanted one SO bad so I could practice, practice, practice! But finding the time for me to study up did not happen so here I am using my daughters heads for practice. It has been ALL trial by error here. Some days I think I do pretty good and they allot me the patience to sit in my "chair", other days it is just pure HELL! There's screaming & even tears rolling down their face like I'm torturing them! Oh what I wouldn't give to just...

know how to french braid...

surgery recuperation...

2010-07-26T10:30:00.010-04:00

Just to recap I had emergency gallbladder surgery while on vacation in GA. Yes that is my luck! I go on a vacation which I really did enjoy only to have it interrupted with of all things an emergency surgery! CRAZY but true!

They did the surgery laporoscopely so it was not as bad as it could have been. I left the hospital with 4 bandages on my belly. What's even harder to believe is that we were literally suppose to drive back home to FL the next day. Again this is my luck! You all know that trip home was not going to happen! The Dr told me I had to stay there an EXTRA week to recoup.Luckily we have family there so we stayed with them. It was one WILD week! Daddy & the tribe stayed at my one brother's house & I stayed at my other brother's house. This way I did not have to do anything strenuous with them while I recuperated. I have to say that Daddy & his bosses were real sports. They told him to do whatever he needed to & take care of me. Awhhh... I LOVE it when people really care how you are feeling. So that started his week of single parenting the tribe! Off Daddy went keeping the tribe occupied while I was basically on lock down "recuperating". He took them all over the place just so they would not get restless! The first night he took them to Stone Mountain to see the laser show with my cousins. This was something I wanted to do but I knew my limits & MADE them take plenty of pictures! I was surprised when he actually did email me pic's! This is SO unlike him! I did not say one word for fear he would revert back to his old self & I'd be left TOTALLY in the dark! At least with pictures I could feel like I was there with them!

Hanging out while the boys played football!

What an AMAZING mountain!

I think this pictures makes the mountain MUCH prettier! LOL!

The next day Daddy & a few of my nieces took them to some game ranch about an hour away from where we were staying. It's sort of like a zoo but with less wild creatures & NO walls separating you. The animals were out there amongst them. SO cool! They said they saw deer, goats, bunnies & many other animals. Again I was left at home. This was getting old REALLY quick!

All I can say is that this week was one LONG...

surgery recuperation...

the latest boo boo...

2010-07-21T13:04:00.011-04:00

Having clumsy quadruplets you tend to deal with MANY Boo Boo's. Mostly are just minor scrapes & bruises but occasionally we get those MAJOR one's that take us aback. The other night Avery scared the beejeebers out of us. While we were out getting something to eat & AFTER dinner she decided to sit on the booth side of our table. Well you know how toddlers can be, WILD, she fell out of the booth & her head hit her booster seat. The second she came up from the floor she had this HUGE hematoma on her forehead. As you can see it looked BAD!

The next thing I knew Daddy was out the door getting ready to take her to the ER! You all know Avery & Daddy hold a special bond so there was NO question she was going to get checked out by the ER! Daddy & "D" loaded her up & off they went to the hospital she was born at, St Mary's! What is it with ER visits & this family? Seems like we have been giving them tons of business lately! ]= While there they did a cat scan of her head just to make sure she had no fractures. My poor baby! In the end all was good & she would be as good as new! Sooner than we'd expect I'm sure! LOL!

I have to thank EVERYONE for all of their prayers! I truly believe you all helped our baby heal faster than she would have otherwise. The bad part is that I know this will not be our last ordeal in the Boo Boo dept. I just know that I'll be sending out requests for more prayers again seeing that this was just...

the latest boo boo...

the things that make me go hmm...

2010-07-19T07:39:00.004-04:00

I have come to the realization lately that I really LOVE blogging! I LOVE sharing things about our family, LOVE recreating some of the funny stuff the tribe says or does & mostly LOVE just having a place for my thoughts. Only problem is that since Four little Fulton's is suppose to be the tribes online baby book I decided I better start a new blog that's just for me! I know TWO blogs PLUS a review blog that's CRAZY right? NO WAY! [= I realize that even though I may not have all the time in the world to blog if the content is interesting then it shoudn't seem like "work". I know I talk a good game. This is a new adventure & I'm REALLY excited about it! So now that I've created the new blog I'm ready to jump right in! Remember it's going to be a place for me to write about the things I find interesting & that affect other women like me! I'm hoping it will become a place that I can retreat to when I have something on my mind or when I just want to share! So PLEASE check it out & tell me what you think! I'm still working out all of the kinks. When all is said & done it will be a place for some of...

the things that make me go hmm...

belly shot...

2010-07-18T22:06:00.013-04:00

It was recently brought to my attention that I do not have a shot of my belly while I was pregnant with the tribe. Now first of all you need to know that I started this blog months after they were born so apparently I never posted one! OOPS! I am including two shots. The first shot is one of my cousin Kristee & I. She was pregnant with ONE baby & of course I was pregnant with FOUR. Freaky how our bellies looked VERY similar isn't it? I tell everyone I must have had a cavern in there because they seemed to have a TON of room! LOL!

The second photo was taken the day after the first one just BEFORE Dr V told me I was being admitted {I was TOTALLY unprepared!} The third photo was taken the next day in the hospital which was the night before I delivered. Yes I was in the hospital a whopping 3 days!

What's even crazier is that these four miracles were inside there! WOW!

When I showed the tribe the picture of my belly they just LOVED looking at it. They kept pointing to my belly & told me where they were in there! Like they can even remember that! TOO cute! So here it is, the infamous...

belly shot...

We interrupt this vacation with an emergency surgery...

2010-07-16T12:19:00.014-04:00

Once we arrived back in GA that's when the real fun began! We had by now already decided to stay an extra night & then leave for FL on Wed. We would leave early in the morning & get home by dinner at least that was the plan. If you have read any of my previous posts about this vacation you would know that even the best laid plans have flaws & we were about to encounter a BIG one! You see those plans were thrown out the window when I woke up Tuesday morning in EXCRUCIATING pain! I had such pain that I needed to be taken to the hospital! I cannot really describe it other than I really felt like I was either having a heart attack or dying! I had BAD chest/abdominal pain, cold sweats, nausea, the whole shebang! My hubby took one look at me & said you need to go to the emergency room! So he woke up my niece Katie & she took me to to the closest facility, Gwinnett County Medical Center. I must say if I had to go to an emergency room I was glad it was there. They treated me great & the people were VERY friendly. I would totally recommend their facility to anyone needing assistance in Atlanta! Once I was seen they determined that I had a fever so they pumped me with antibiotics. Then they gave me some good meds for my pain. Oh did I feel good after that! After a few tests of my Appendix & Gallbladder this nice, rather TALL Doctor came in & basically told me...

We interrupt this vacation with an emergency surgery...

,

ROAD TRIP 2010, NC edition...

2010-07-15T12:44:00.021-04:00

Oh was this part of our mini "vacay" FUN! We headed over by car AGAIN this time to North Carolina to visit with my cousin Lori & her family at their house on Lake Toxaway. They have the MOST beautiful house on quite the lake! Not only is the view BEAUTIFUL, of the lake & mountains, it is also VERY peaceful there too!

This is the view from the back porch! Oh do your stresses just melt away when you look out on that!

Our road trip to NC was SO much better than the first leg of this journey. They actually cooperated & snoozed a little. YAY! The first morning in NC we took the tribe Gem Mining! It is a MUST if you visit the area! You buy a bucket of whichever type of rocks you want to mine & let them go to town! We decided on polished stones this trip. They each have their own "rock bag" to hold their "gems"! I think we had just about as much fun as they did!

After Gem Mining we headed over to my cousins house. She has this BIG porch that looks out onto the lake that we all eventually hung out on. It was SO relaxing to just rock on those rocking chairs! Ahh... I almost forgot that I had four munchkins there with us! hahah! You know Uncle Rick even put one of them to sleep! LOVE that! We drank wine & ate VERY well!

We started off the 4th of July weekend by heading back to Lori & Andy's house. It has everything a family needs to keep themselves occupied. I took a LONG strenuous walk up some steep hills with Lori before lunch. That mountain altitude does your lungs some good! Boy was I winded! Ahh... We then hung around the house & let the tribe just play. They rode their scooters, a bike & even did drew with some sidewalk chalk. They had a blast! We later lounged on the porch, went boating and just hung our with our "clan". Heck for those who saw us coming this is just a small sliver of those who claim to be related to us! If you think our family is big you should see the rest of the tribe! We are VERY outnumbered!

By the morning of the 4th it was time to get ready for the boat parade! You see the Lake Toxaway community holds their annual 4th of July boat parade & my cousins family participates EVERY year! They have judges & even give out prizes for the winners! So we strategized on what we should do & decided on the BP oil spill theme. Actually Missy, Mason's girlfriend, came up with it. It was done in good taste & the tribe took center stage. They each held up signs saying "Save our wildlife" and then Brendan was at the end holding up a rubber chicken with a black plastic bag wrapped around it's neck to look like it was oil drenched. Creative huh?! The big boys got the boat all decked out looking like it was in the middle of the oil spill ie: black garbage bags all along the sides & then we rubbed Sarah's black mascara ALL over us! Who would have thought one tube of mascara would go do far! LOL! Thank you Sarah for your contribution! Just as we were to approach the judges stand Camryn dropped her sign in the lake. Uh Oh! Just as soon as she dropped it Dylan dove in after it! He really saved the day! He got back in with the salvaged sign just in time for us to be judged! Quick thinking Dylan! Best part is that we took 2nd place! WOO HOO! They won a $400 tube to use on the lake! We know that tube will be used MANY times over!

Our 4th of July was not over yet because we still had the big BBQ at the club to attend. They had bounce houses, games & face painting. It truly was a kids paradise! Luckily for us we had a TON of family there to keep an eye on the tribe! Each child got some one on one time with someone. Cam of course had her Sarah. Bren had his fill of the boys! Devin, Mason & Dylan took good care of him. Aave & Linz bounced till they could bounce no more & later when the music got going they danced & danced! We had the best time! It was going to be yet again a LONG night! I know we are on vacation but they did not go to bed anywhere near their bed time! LOL!

Before leaving this mountain top paradise we just had to take the tribe tubing! This is a favorite pastime for all of the kids, adults too! In fact Dustyn is usually out there tubing when he is up here. However he could not make the trip this year. He had better things to do like going to the Daytona!! I think I might pass on a road trip with four three year olds too if I was invited there! LOL!

We were even able to sneak in a family photo again missing our "D". Too bad the lighting on either of them were not good or these photos would have been winners! [=

And that folks was our...

ROAD TRIP 2010, NC edition...

o

ROAD TRIP 2010, GA edition part 1...

2010-07-01T23:25:00.019-04:00

I wanted to leave REALLY early so we could arrive in Atlanta BEFORE dinner but Daddy & the tribe had other plans. Heck I guess I had other plans too because after staying up late to pack the final stuff I too slept in! So instead of leaving at 5am we left around 730am. I really thought I planned this trip well. I packed the few days before & made sure we had plenty to eat & drink. I even made sure there were toys inside the 'burb to keep them entertained. Well I am here to tell you that even the best laid plans have flaws!

We slipped away from S Florida for this MUCH NEEDED mini vacation/road trip to see some family in GA. We would be gone for a total of 5 days! Our first stop was just outside of Atlanta to visit my two brothers. All I can say is that the road trip there just plain awful! The tribe did NOT want to sleep & felt it was their mission to scream at the top of their lungs pretty much the entire time. I finally broke down & cried halfway there. My hubby looked at me & said "Why are you crying?" to which I replied "This is not the trip that I had planned!". Needless to say I needed to remind myself SEVERAL times that when you travel with toddlers you need to expect them to act this way! It was BAD! This was NOT what I had envisioned when I planned this trip! We arrived just in time to meet up for dinner. My nephew works at this Italian place called "Luciano's". All 14 of us sat at one LONG table. We spread the tribe out & for the most part things were good. Each one of my relatives took a kid & that was that. I needed a STIFF drink actually I think I had two after that car ride. LOL! Here's a few pic's from that dinner! Thank you Michael for making us some YUMMY food! [=

Our plan was to stay in GA for 2 nights with our family & then head over to NC to visit my cousin who has a house on a lake. Since we were FINALLY in GA I arranged a play date with a friend of mine that I've known practically FOREVER! My friend Des has a 6 year old daughter & a son a few months younger than the tribe so having a play date with our munchkins was perfect! She happens to live near Atlanta so we decided to meet up for a play date at Monkey Joe's. If you've never heard of Monkey Joe's you really should check them out if you have kids. It is this BIG inflatable playground place. Needless to say the tribe LOVED it! The girls loved it from the minute they arrived but Bren needed some coaxing! Remember he is "Safety Patrol"! LOL! By the end of the day they were having a blast in fact I think we may have a future couple in the works! Camryn & Christoffer looked SO cute together! heehee! Getting back to my oldest & dearest friend, it is really hard for me to believe that I have known her for practically all my life. We lived on the same street until she moved away at about 5 years old. Best thing is that we kept in contact over the past 35 years! LOVE that! {Note to all young girls out there: Keep in contact with your far away friends. You will thank yourself years down the road that you did!}

Here's our couple in the making! We are just going to have more play dates so they do not forget one another! LOL!

Here is Sarah & her "twin" showing off their MEAN face! Cannot get over how much they look alike! Way too FREAKY!

We went swimming at my brothers pool. They LOVED it along with their new "swimmies" which are called PUDDLE JUMPERS. We purchased them a few weeks ago at BJ's our local wholesale club. They are WONDERFUL! I have to say that I felt so at ease having them swim with those things on!

After swimming we took to my brother Jim's back yard. It really is an adventure back there! They have a nice patio, a nature trail, a tree swing & even a trampoline which the tribe LOVED! I even took a turn at it! Oh to be young again! Ahh...

And that was...

ROAD TRIP 2010, GA edition part 1...

perty please with a cherry on top?!...

2010-06-30T10:06:00.012-04:00

Don't you love that saying? Like a cherry will make things SO much better! LOL! Well I will give each & every one of you one if you would help a mama out! You see I stumbled upon a modeling contest a few days ago & decided to submit a photo of our tribe. I have to admit that I also submitted their pictures individually with the hope that maybe one of them could get picked. Heck I'd like all 4 of them to get picked but beggars cannot be choosers! [= I think I will try just about anything to raise $ for their future. But I need your help! It's not just up to the powers that be at the magazine it is also up to all of our family & friends. So I am asking each one of you to stop what you are doing, go check out the link below & PLEASE vote for the tribe!

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

We need your votes! You see the winner will receive a one year representation by Ford Modeling among other things. It would be SO awesome if we could get them a modeling contract to raise MUCH needed funds for their college. Heck they better go to college with all that I am doing to save for it! LOL! So please help this momma out by voting for her tribe! Remember you can vote each day for each picture we posted since the contest runs through February! Thank you & remember...

perty please with a cherry on top?!...

Should I or shouldn't I?...

2010-06-29T09:58:00.007-04:00

For quite awhile I have been thinking that our family blog needs an update. Can you believe that it has been over TWO years since I last updated the design?! SO much has happened over these past two years! So here I am getting a blog designer, picking out the digital kit to use {VERY hard to decide!}, choosing which pictures to use, what EXTRAS I'd like. Oh the list goes on & on... Decisions, decisions, I am SO not up for the challenge! [= I think the "face lift" will be the easy part but the REAL update I'm currently deciding upon is proving to be difficult. Not difficult to do just difficult to decide upon. It is not just a new "face lift" but a new name, URL, header, etc... It needs it don't you think? The tribe has grown SO much from when those pic's were taken! LOL! When I created this blog I did not know what I was really doing, not that I even know what I am doing now. LOL! I just want things to be simpler. I never thought people would actually want to read about our life & now that people do I just want to make life easier on all parties involved! Especially mine!! You see in my mind I think that the regular people aka non bloggers, should just Google our name, "Fulton Quads", to find our blog. I mean that is SO much easier to do than typing in http://itsaquadlife.blogspot.com. I know that you all can see what I mean. If I do end up changing it there is a TON of stuff I will need to update along with it. All my accounts, blog rolls, my "friends" blogs, BlogHer, etc... Oh the MANY things that keep my mind in a whirl! haha! Since I am FINALLY getting a new "face lift" for the blog do you think now would be the best time to do this change? Should I switch the URL to 4littleFULTONS OR don't change a thing?...

Should I or Shouldn't I?...

get him a back scratcher!...

2010-06-22T00:45:00.009-04:00

Well today marks our 7th Anniversary as husband & wife. I cannot believe that it has been SEVEN years already! Seems like yesterday he was at my work down on bended knee handing me a candy heart with the word "Marry Me" on it asking me to be his wife! WOW! See what seven years and 4+ kids can do to you! You lose your mind! LOL! We surely have been through a lot these past seven years! Including the last 4 which seem like they have been one HUGE blur! I wish I would have blogged from the beginning of our marriage. I know I would have had plenty to say!Plenty of funny stories to share. I would also tell you how that first year was the hardest by far! We were two grown adults trying to meld our wants & wishes into one healthy happy home. Oh was that difficult to do! Two STUBBORN people who lived what seemed a lifetime before me met. Oh those were the days. I would clean the kitchen counters only to have Michael come clean them after me once he got home from work. He is a MAJOR cleaner. He ALWAYS has a broom or hand vac in his hands! In fact his nickname is "Hazel" after that TV show from the 60's named the same. I have had him run into the laundry on MANY occasions to stop the dryer so his pants would not be wrinkled. Better yet he followed after us with the dust buster as we put up an artificial Christmas tree because it was dropping FAKE needles all over the floor! Yes he is THAT anal! LOL! I love him just the same. He is my ROCK & I do not think I would have been able to handle this parenthood "trip" we've been on these past few years if not for him. We balance each other out in SO many ways! In honor of today I found an old pic of the two of us from back then, back when we thought we knew it ALL! I think it was taken 6 months AFTER we were married. Again those were the days! LOL! I thought it would only be fitting in the year of Wool, aka the year of the 7 year itch to...

get him a back scratcher!...

Our Dad ROCKS!!!!...

2010-06-20T00:12:00.004-04:00

Here is a little something I created for the man of the hour, scratch that, man of the day! The tribe thinks Father's Day means it is his birthday! They want to sing him Happy Birthday! LOL! Oh how fun it is to be a kid! Honey this one if for you! I hope you realize just how important you really are to all 6 of us! [=

Free scrapbooking design made with Smilebox

So after watching our little creation do you even have to wonder that...

Our Dad ROCKS!!!!...

that is a TRUE story...

2010-06-16T21:16:00.008-04:00

Each night as we are either relaxing after dinner or as I'm laying with them at bed time I ask them about their day. Now that they are in preschool their days are filled with a TON of stuff I do not have any part of so I want to be filled in! LOL!I always ask them what they did, if they ate their lunch & who they played with. Somehow I always seem to end up asking them who their "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" is. Basically I just want to know who that "important" person is that rocks their world! Usually I can guess who it is but now that regular school is out & summer camp has started it could be anyone! So I continue to ask. Tonight before bed I asked Camryn who her boyfriend was, she got this serious look upon her face & proceeded to say "Amanda". I tell her "Amanda is a girl, I want to know who your boyfriend is". No sooner did those words come out of my mouth when she matter of factly said "I don't want a boyfriend!". Kudo's to her! I started laughing at her honesty! Now...

that is a TRUE story!...

You made me feel all warm & fuzzy inside...

2010-06-08T23:26:00.013-04:00

Someone likes our blog and what's even better is that they nominated it for a blog award! Yes we were nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award! Cool huh?! I know that I tend to repeat myself a lot but I have to say when I started writing this blog it was meant just as an "online baby book" for us that evolved into something much bigger. I sort of found my passion here. I found that I LOVE to write! I LOVE writing about our life & sharing it with everyone! So, Nicole I feel VERY privileged to be given this award! Thank you! Thank you for paying attention to little 'ol me & actually reading my various rants & raves! For those that do not know who Nicole is, she writes her own blog called My Mad World. You really should go on over there & check it out! It really is a great read! [=

With this award comes some rules and here they are....
1. Thank the person who gave you the award
2. Tell seven things about yourself (yeah this will be the hardest for me)
3. Pass the award on to 15 other bloggers who you have recently discovered & who you think are fantastic!
4. Let them know you have awarded them the prize. {Hopefully I can do this in a timely manner!}

OK, 7 things about me...
1. I am living my dream! I always wanted to get married & have kids! {Ever since I was eleven!} I have a wonderful hubby & our own tribe! Who would ask for anything more?! [=
2. If you don't want to hear the truth then don't ask me the question!
3. I can go an entire meal without having something to drink! I'm serious!
4. I'm a native Floridian. Yes there are still a few of us here! {=
5. Had quadruplets and do not have one stretch mark! {Please don't hate me!}
6. I'm a self proclaimed Social Media junkie! Besides blogging I could tweet & FB pretty much every day! What? It's the way of the future! [=
7. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Dark Chocolate! I have been known to have a few pieces, ok an entire bag, each day! LOL!

Now for my 15 new "friends", here goes...
1. Amy at Wade's World
2. Kari at Daily life with Quads
3. Brian at THEY CALL ME SAUSAGE FINGERS
4. Sasha at Muzzarelli Musings
5. Lora at My Blessed Life
6. Holly at Sweet Tooth
7. Marta at Haus of Girls
8. April at April's Inner Circle
9. Jen at 4 Times The FUN!!!
10. Melissa at Overwhelmed by His Blessings
11. Melanie at Big Mama
12. Rachel at Huse Blog is it Anyway?
13. Astrid at Surviving Triplets
14. Jennifer from Thoughts from a Blonde
15. Duet Diva at When a Duet becomes a Trio

Here's to all you bloggers that bring a smile to my face! Thanks for being yourselves & most of all thank you for blogging! If it were not for you guys I would be one sad momma with nothing to do! LOL! Thank you again Nicole for thinking of me & our little 'ol blog! I have to say...

You made me feel all warm & fuzzy inside!...

what would you do?...

2010-06-03T20:59:00.009-04:00

When we, ok I, decided that the tribe needed to attend preschool I never thought twice about splitting the foursome up. I knew that in order for them to thrive they needed NEW experiences separate from one another. I then thought I would not stick it to the same teacher to by having both Avery & Lindsey in their class so I split them up. From the beginning it worked out really good. Which two would be in the same class was an easy decision since Linz takes care of Brendan so I put them in the same class. I would hear all kinds of stuff from each of them when I picked them up. Who they sat next to, who they played with, I even heard who Brendan thought was his "girlfriend". Yes at the ripe 'ol age of three he has a found himself a girlfriend! He talks about her, Olivia, a lot! I think she is the first girl outside of his sisters that he has really gotten to know. It just melts my heart that my little man has a girlfriend!! [=

Since the tribe has only attended school for just under two months I feel that I am still learning the ropes. There is just SO much to remember when there are FOUR kids to keep up with. FOUR lunches, FOUR back packs, FOUR crib sheets & FOUR blankets to put in those back packs. Then there's the Pull Ups, Pull Ups & even more Pull Ups. {still NOT potty trained} Oh and the FOUR folders to check with all of their "stuff" in it! I never really paid attention to how different the class crafts are until Mother's Day. You see Bren & Linz came home with presents for me, but Cam & Aave did not. Not that I needed any gifts but the thought was SUPER sweet! Can't help to notice the excitement in your childs eyes when they hand you something they made just for you! As I opened the presents Cam & Aave wanted to know where their gift for me was. I felt bad because that was when I realized what putting them in different classes would mean, different "stuff". I never even thought of that! I thought everything would be the same! I don't think the school ever thought about this either. I do love the arrangement we have now but I wonder if it was the right thing to do. Is there a life lesson in this? Should I leave things alone? or should I say something?...

What would you do?...

Let's get Physical...

2010-05-29T19:38:00.007-04:00

I can remember it like it was yesterday, I was about ten years old and my mom had sent me to go visit my oldest brother Jim in Maryland. It was my very FIRST flight & due to some family connections I was able to fly FIRST Class on Eastern Airlines. {Remember that airline?} You see my Dad's cousin Pete worked there & on the day of my flight we stopped in to see him. Somehow he finagled me a FIRST Class ticket. Don't know how but he did. I was excited just to be going on a trip let alone FIRST Class! This was back when they served you fancy food on REAL plates. Don't remember the food but I do remember that they did not seat anyone next to me! I was a talker even back then so no talking for an ENTIRE flight was just plain awful! When my brother arrived at the gate to pick me up I was literally speechless! LOL! My brother Jim is twelve years older than me so he had his own apt and a COOL job working at the Pentagon. I remember his stereo system the most. It was not normal tapes but something that looked like a movie reel. He had ALL kinds of albums for me to listen to but the one album that I really loved was Olivia Newton John. I listened to it OVER & OVER! By the time my trip was over I knew EVERY song by heart including the one I mentioned, "Let's get Physical". Boy am I dating myself!!

Fast forward to the other day when I had to bring Dustyn in for his fifteen year check up. He graduated from the eighth grade & next year it's High School! YIKES! So off to the Doctor we went! From the moment the nurse said "I have a few things I need to check you on for this physical" I just knew there would be a GREAT post in those words! Hehee! I immediately took out my camera & started taking some pictures! [=

Besides getting two vaccines he had his vision tested {FYI it was NOT as good as his Dad's}, his hearing tested & lastly his blood pressure. Let's just say that D was NOT happy to have me taking his picture! LOL! What? I write about the mundane yet funny things we do! And just like almost every other activity we do a song comes to mind when we do it! So the next time you have to take your kid in for a check up just remember me and sing...

Let's get Physical...

Do your boobs hang low?...

2010-05-21T08:57:00.011-04:00

You know the song, Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro'... Well it's the same song just with MY lyrics! My boobs definitely wobble to & fro'! LOL! I tend to make up songs depending on what is going on in our lives! It sort of makes whatever we are going through a little bit easier when you put it to music! [= SO since I was having my second mammogram last week I started started singing my song about my boobies! BOOBS, you either love them or hate them & if you have to get mammograms you probably feel the latter. Well am I am here to tell you that does NOT have to be the case any longer! I have had two PAIN FREE mammograms & want to share MY story with everyone. In my rush last year to get in & out of my very FIRST mammogram appt I never thought to check out the machine or ask the nurse about the technology they use there. You see I had heard TONS of horror stories from many women each saying oh how they hated getting their mammograms, how they had their boobs squished & mostly how much it hurt! So needless to say I freaked myself out and went in thinking the worst! All I remembered from that day was how much I had freaked myself out & that there was this "pillow" for my booby, in fact you can read about that adventure here! I never really looked at the machine or read the literature they had posted on the walls.All I remember thinking was that they say this is gonna hurt so I better brave! Next thing I knew my mammogram was over & there was NO pain! I was SO surprised to find out that all of those horror stories I had heard about were untrue! Well at least for me & now after mammogram #2 I believe the facility I went to made ALL the difference! You see the facility I go to uses what they call a Mammo Pad. It is like a temperpedic pillow for your boob to lay on. Now mind you these pads are not cheap & cost upwards of $10.00 per pad. But what I have found out is that some places charge YOU the patient to use this pad & I am proud to say that Wellington Regional does NOT. {FYI, They also have a coupon for a discount on getting your mammogram done there in the month of May!} I did some research & called around to other facilities near me & they do NOT use Mammo Pad's for EVERY mammogram. Why not?! I, as a patient, would choose a facility that was pain free over one that gave me pain! Wouldn't you?If you want more women of risk or women over 40 to take these preventative measures by getting their yearly scans then PLEASE do the math! Get Mammo Pads! I for one would check to see if the place I'm getting my mammogram at has them. You can do that by either calling the facility OR by checking out Mammopad.com. Here's some more interesting facts about these Mammo Pads, each pad is used only ONCE & better yet it's biodegradable!They have a sticky side to them that adheres to the machine so it stays in place. Once they finish taking those precious shot's of your boobies they peel the pad off & send it back to the company for them to recycle it! Cool huh?! So the next time your Doctor tells you that you need to have what you think is the dreaded Mammogram just think of me, make that appoitment & start singing...

Do your boobs hang low?...

Wanna see my Woody?...

2010-05-18T13:35:00.008-04:00

Oh what I would give to have a picture or better yet a video of what happened the other night in our living room! You see we were all sitting down before bed to watch their "show", each of them drinking their sippies full of chocolate milk when I hear Brendan say "Lindsey wanna see my Woody?". I just about died! You see we have continually had the discussion about how boys are different than girls.I mean they do take a bath together and see their differences up front & in the flesh! SO I started talking about body parts. My hubby does not necessarily enjoy this topic of discussion however I would much rather teach them about their body parts than to have them check them out on someone else! So ever since we had that first talk they would read off a sort of "list" of who had a penis & who had a "coochie". Again I know "coochie" is not the right terminology but it works for us! [= They will even say boys have penises & girls have coochies. Then they start naming all the people they know who are boys & then who are girls. Usually it's everyone in our families and then they are done. We have NEVER, EVER even mentioned the word "Woody". SO you can almost imagine how shocked I was to hear Brendan say that to his sister! After my shock wore off I deceided I better not jump to conclusions so I looked at both of them to see what was really going on. That's when Brendan proceeds to pull down his pajama pants, point to the picture of Woody on his "Toy Story" Pull Ups & says Lindsey...

Wanna see my Woody?...

some things I just wanted you to know...

2010-05-16T15:35:00.011-04:00

Recently we were given some very sad news about a family member that is near & dear to our hearts, our Uncle John. We found out that his cancer was terminal.After a few short weeks in Hospice my Uncle John passed away today. Hopefully his last moments were peaceful. My Aunt Donna & Uncle John were married for over fifty six years so this is going to be such a difficult transition for her. I ask that you continue to keep her in your prayers! May the memories she holds dear bring her comfort during this very sad time! As my children have reminded me this morning not only is he in Heaven but he is also in our hearts! Boy do I LOVE them! They know just what to say and when to say it!

In my almost forty years of life It seems that I have experienced a lot of death. I have lost all of my Grandparents, my Father, Great Aunts, Great Uncles, an Uncle, a cousin & now another Uncle. I have dealt with each death differently. Nothing makes losing a family member any less painful. I just deal with it as best I can and cherish the memories I have. I feel like I was SO very lucky to have my Uncle John live not that far from me most of my life. If ever there was a "favorite" Uncle it was him! I think he knew it too! I LOVED him SO much & feel I need to share some special memories of mine so our children will be able to know him. Here's some of the special moments that stick out to me!

During most of my life Uncle John as been this larger than life kind of guy. When I was little we would go over to their house at least once or twice a month. We would eat, hang out & most of all swim! This was a BIG deal because we did NOT have a pool! You see my ENTIRE family was involved in the swimming pool business yet we did NOT have a pool at our own house. My dad would say that the reason we did not have one was due to how expensive they were to keep up. I enjoyed those Sunday afternoons full of swimming! I remember when we would arrive at their door each one of his sons, my cousins, would get up from whatever they were doing & greet us with a hug & a kiss. I remember that like it was yesterday. Some part of me feels that those manners came from him & it's my hope that our children will follow in those good manners. Oh how I miss those Sundays spent at their house!

A few memories stick out in my mind about him. Remember how I feel that everyone has a "story" well I have a few to share about him! [= I was somewhat close in age to his grandchildren and he treated me just like one of them. I can remember how he would hold up four bills in front of his granddaughters and me; there was a one, a five, a ten & a twenty then he would ask me to pick one. He always asked me first because I was the oldest. Being older also made me know the real value of each bill. I started out picking the one & he would say, "Now Cathy you pick the one you really want!". I picked the one dollar bill a few times until he eventually made me take the twenty! Even then he knew what I wanted! [= He would then tell me to go down to the local grocery store & buy myself something. Even back them it was usually CHOCOLATE! [=

Another thing I will always treasure is his cooking. I LOVED his Greek food! SO SO yummy! Whenever we would visit he would ALWAYS have a pot of something on the stove. He made sure to feed us or send us home with food! His grape leaves were out of this world! Over the years my Aunt took over many of the cooking duties and although they are just as yummy they are not touched by his hands. Sorry Aunt Donna I still love you & your cooking! (= In fact MANY years ago he sat me down & taught me how to cook some of his family recipes! All I can say is that he puts even the BEST Greek restaurant to shame! While he was showing me how to fold the grape leaves he told me this would win over any man I ended up with! You know that old adage, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Well my Uncle John truly believed that!

From what I have been told he was very excited to hear that Michael & I were finally expecting! Then when he heard it was quadruplets he shared news of our pregnancy with everyone. Gotta love Uncle John! [= I also think he had a hand in the prayer dept. For if not for so many people praying for us I do not think the tribe would even be here today! Since having them I tried to make it a point to stop in & see them as I ventured South towards my mom's house. In the beginning they would be in their infant carriers & I'd bring them in one by one to see him. On a few occasions my Aunt was not even there. Oh the aroma of their kitchen... All I can say is YUM! As the tribe got older they would walk in, what a sight seeing all four of them waddling in like little ducklings! Uncle John was SO proud of them. One visit he made me take pictures of him with each one of them. Oh do I remember that day! The babies were NOT cooperating! Cranky is an understatement! A picture is a picture but I really would have liked to catch them smiling in one of them! [= Family is SO important & people tend to forget that!

This morning was EXTRA hard, I had to tell them that Uncle John was in Heaven with Grandpa. You know what they did?! They proceeded to tell me that he was in their hearts! Oh how I love them so! They knew just what to say to me! Here I am trying to let them know who he was & they remembered him! Brendan tells me I played with Kristee, my cousin & Uncle John's granddaughter. Then Linz said I gave him a kiss. I couldn't believe she said that! Some children may get scared of seeing people with wires & oxygen tubes but not her, she had compassion. She saw through all of that! These children of ours have this AWESOME memory! I really do not know where they get it! They can remember things from last year, CRAZY but true! I am just SO happy that I was able to bring them to see him before he passed! These are just...

some things I just wanted you to know...