Daddy Pete with his gloves on...

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!...

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'll be right back...

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...

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...

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!...

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!...

flying solo...

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...

the latest boo boo...

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...

Disney World!...

You know the ad where the team just wins the Super Bowl, they run up to the MVP & ask him "You just won the Super Bowl, What are you going to do next?", and they reply "Go to Disney World!". Well that is how I felt yesterday! I got to take the tribe for their very FIRST visit to Disney World on of all days MY birthday! I just want to give a shout out to whomever thought up the get in free to Disney on your birthday sales promo! What a great idea! I do not think I could ever get my hubby to take us ALL to Disney World any other way. I was psyched! We invited our niece to tag along so our tribe of seven expanded to eight! Once we got to the hotel, Disneys Pop Century, and I saw the decade signs out front I knew I needed to get a picture! Being that I was born in 1970 it was perfect! Look really close & you will see me in the bottom zero! There was just one glitch to our last minute plan, the weather! We had a cold front come through & the temp's were frigid! This Florida girl is not used to COLD weather & Mother Nature sure did provide us COLD weather! Once in Orlando we awoke to FOURTY NINE degree weather, YIKES! It was a bit nippy & even with all the preparations we could not keep the tribe or ourselves warm! It was BAD! We ended up returning to our hotel just to warm up! CRAZY! I know, there is a blizzard going on up North but remember this is Florida people!We are used to WARM weather! Once we warmed our tushes up we headed out to the Magic Kingdom. All the tribe kept talking about was seeing Mickey Mouse. I knew this would be short lived because like most children they usually talk a good game until thee moment & then they bawl. I was preparing myself for that exact thing! Oh to be in Disney World with my family on MY birthday! It was such a fun day even if my hubby was "Grumpy" himself. He does not do well in the patience dept. and when you have 5 kids plus one to get ready & out the door by a certain time he just could not do it! Patience is NOT his virtue! LOL! Lucky for us we had reenforcements already at the park! Our good friends Andy, Laurie, Travis, Carol, Norman & their families were there to help us wrangle our brood. THANK YOU GUYS! They are pros at all things Disney so we followed them. The BIG boys went to do BIG boy stuff while we ladies PLUS Daddy went to see little people stuff. We decided to hit "Toon Town" first to nip the whole Mickey & Minnie experience in the bud.After waiting about 45 minutes in a line that seemed to go on FOREVER we finally met the Mr & Mrs of all Disney! Brendan of course freaked out & wanted out of there! I think his seeing Mickey was fine if he was about 50 feet away but once he got up next to him he wanted NO part of him. Lindsey felt the same way but not as extreme as Mr B. Avery was okay with both of them. Not overly excited but not scared either. Camryn on the other hand LOVED Minnie! She did not want to leave & kept hugging her & giving her kisses. "Aunt Larry" said waiting in that 45 minute line was worth every minute after seeing her reaction! awhh... After that experience I realized just how difficult it was going to be to take our family of 7 anywhere! Some of them are going to be "easy" and some are going to be "difficult". I am just going to have to figure out how to meet them halfway. Trying to get pictures was even harder! I ended up doing Disney's photo pass. What a great idea! Even if it will cost us an arm & a leg to get copies made at least we can say we went to...

Disney World!...

Tis the season...

This week has been one LONG week! I have noticed lately how much the tribe has grown both physically & mentally! With growth comes curiosity and with curiosity comes BAD behavior! I cannot begin to tell you what all we have dealt with this past week! UGH! Needless to say this momma was NOT happy! We had quite a few incidents where I was caught asking them, "Why do you like making mommy's job even harder than it already is?". {This has been a favorite saying of mine lately!} Here's an example of a recent evening in our house.

I was making them some chicken for dinner. We bought this yummy organic spice from Costco, you know the kind that comes in a HUGE container that does not fit in with all your other spices? I ended up storing it next to the stove since it's SO big. I think up until this point we had only used a 1/4 of the bottle. I had already spiced up the chicken & was quite proud how it was turning out. The aroma was captivating! As I'm preparing the rest of the dinner Linz, our very own private eye, came up to me saying "Avery Buddy". Avery of course being her sister & Buddy being Brendan. That is her special name for him. Usually when she comes up & says someones name it usually means they did something or took something from her. I sort of blew her off. I was cooking & had no time to referee a silly squabble I thought they were having. Looking back I think she actually came up to me three times when finally I had enough time to see what they were up to. The first thing I saw was Avery holding this dirty brown stuffed object. I did not recognize it at first but then I saw what it was, Brendans baseball bear. {It is suppose to be a white bear!} Then I saw what Lindsey was trying to tell me all along, a huge pile of my seasoning all over the living room floor. When I say huge I mean HUGE! Avery & Brendan must have taken my bottle of spices & dumped it EVERYWHERE! The bottle was completely empty & they were now rubbing it into the cushion of our ottoman. I did not know if I should laugh or cry! Trust me I wanted to cry! This was just the tip of the iceberg of my BAD week! If Michael was there he would have been beside himself, he is majorly anal about anything on the floor. Luckily Dustyn was there & he helped me clean up the mess. "D" was so funny, as he swept it up he said to them, "Don't laugh if you were older YOU would be cleaning this up!". I guess I am rubbing off on him! LOL! As we cleaned the floor all I could think about was...

Tis the season...

Look Mom I can swim!...

Earlier I took the tribe for their ritual morning swim. Boy do they LOVE the pool! They will gaze out of our sliding glass door & say that's MY pool. TOO cute! We have only had the pool about 3 years so our pool toys are not immense. One BIG expense was this HUGE umbrella that we keep near the shallow end of the pool to give us a break from the Florida heat. It was super expensive with the special umbrella holder but well worth it! Gives us just the right amount of shade & being that we live in Florida we need shade! (= I usually leave it open when we are home but Daddy closes it up after each swim. Needless to say it was closed today. There I was opening the sucker up when I found not one, not two, but THREE sticky frogs inside the umbrella. You know the kind that stick to you if you touched them! YUK YUK YUK! I can handle almost any type of amphibian but the one I REALLY REALLY loathe is the sticky frog! The fact that they are sticky does not help! DISGUSTING!Where we live there are PLENTY of them so it's a constant battle. Anyhow I put on a brave face while I shooed the frogs away & raised the umbrella. No sooner do I have the umbrella up when I realize there is a frog on top of my head! YES on top of my head! I was no longer brave, I proceeded to do the freaked out dance. YUK! I wanted it off my head & did not want to touch it to get it to move! After what seemed like an eternity it finally leaped off into the grass. I turned to Camryn & said "Did you see that frog on my head?!". She said "Yes". I then said "Next time you see that there is a frog on mommy's head please tell her!". LOL! You think the frog freaked them out? NO... They spent the next 10 minutes looking for more frogs! I bet not even seeing a snake would scare them! They love the outdoors & all the creatures that inhabit it! They are definitely their father's children! LOL! Once they finally gave up on that mission they set their sights on the pool & their new found talent... swimming!It was CRAZY! They were leaping off the ledge into the pool like they have been doing it forever! {It has only been 2 days! LOL!} They were kicking their feet & even floating on their backs! I was VERY proud of my three little swimmers! Brendan on the other hand still does not want that freedom. He was much happier if I held him or just standing on the steps. We still did our Mommy "swim" lessons so he can keep up the practice. I think he likes it when he is held because floating sort of freaks him out. I am OK with that. One day he will be a WILD man & we won't be able to control him! (= I did not want them to be out in the sun too long so I made them get out. They did NOT want to leave. After about 4 times of me telling them they had to get out they finally listened. Then it was all about the towels. You see they each have their "favorite" or the one they think they should be using & will cause a scene if someone else uses it! I tell you I have created little monsters! hehee! It's just that they have a routine & do not want to veer far from it. I just tell myself that they like "structure". LOL! Well, Today I only brought out two BIG towels for the five of us. Needless to say that did not go over well. They kept telling me that they needed their towel. How exactly do you explain to a two year old that you are going to share? hmm...I ended up distracting them by letting them play on our back porch. It is covered, has a slide/climber & many other toys on it. It may be hot but at least we'd be under cover! It was a win win situation. At least that is what I thought. Before I knew it they got into some mischief with a potted plant & had dirt EVERYWHERE! I now had to clean them up & sweep the porch! The work never ends! LOL! I decided a hose would be the quickest way. After hosing them down I thought why not let them go back in the pool for a quick dip. No sooner did I open up the pool fence & tell them they could go "swimming" did Lindsey taking a running leap into the shallow end of our pool. This jump was MINUS her "swimmies" and she CANNOT swim! There I was jumping in after her. However just as I got to Linz Aave also jumped in. CRAZY children! I pulled the both of them right up & luckily neither one of them sucked in any water. Can they possibly be holding their mouth when they go under water now? It's scary moments like this that keep me on my toes. Their "swimmies" are now going to be on before the pool fence is even opened! It was just like what Grandma said would happen, she was telling me...

Look Mom I can swim!...

I'm vomit, you're poop!...

These words actually came out of my hubby's mouth tonight. CRAZY but true! You see we made a pact a LONG time ago that when the kids vomit he will clean it up & when they poop I would do the same. This was one deal I had no problem making! I do not care how many poopie diapers I have to change as long as vomit does not come my way I am good! I think I'd throw up just looking at their vomit forget about the smell! YUK YUK YUK! SO tonight when Miss Avery told us that she had poopies her Daddy proceeded to tell me...

I'm vomit, you're poop!...

Happy Spring!

Hi Everyone! Here are a few NEW pic's of our "tribe". It took quite a few pictures to get these few! We hope you all enjoy looking at them as much as loved taking them!

Here's a photo of our 4 in their new BOAT clothes! Thank you Aunt "Larry"! =)
Mr B with Miss Cam Cam posing on our front porch! Gotta LOVE that grin!

And last but not least Miss Avery & Miss Lindsey doing their thing in matching dresses, Can you guess who is who? Hope you all have a...

Happy Spring!

Hi Daddy... Hi Daddy... Hi Daddy...

This is Avery's FAVORITE saying. She just ADORES her Daddy & each & every night when he comes home this is what she says to him. The funny part is that she will try & look him in the eyes as he is cleaning up the kitchen saying "Hi Daddy... Hi Daddy..." CONSTANTLY! He will say "Hi" back to her but that is not enough. She must love hearing her voice. I wonder where she gets that from!? LOL! It is SO cute but it does get old sometimes. I will then repeat "Hi Avery.. Hi Avery... Hi Avery..." back to her & she just smiles! She is such a fiesty one but SO adorable & I love her so! Some days I just look at her & anticipate how much trouble she will give me once she gets to be a teenager! Oh I cannot wait! Ha! For now we have her little quirks, her stubborness & her...

Hi Daddy... Hi Daddy... Hi Daddy...

to bite or not to bite...

We have two biters on our hands. It is quite SCARY! Little Miss Avery & Miss Linz have taken to biting each other. They do not do it very often but they do it & it drives me CRAZY! The other day they looked like two dinosaurs attacking one another, there was no blood or marks just acting it out was enough for me. It sort of reminded me of something you would see in the Jurassic Park movie. They stood there like two dinosaurs face to face, jaws open wide. They were almost salivating like they wanted to eat one another! I do not know what I am going to do. They think it is funny & laugh when I catch them trying to bite. I am SO tired of saying "No Biting!". I guess the good thing is that they only bite one another and not other kids, when they are excited or when one of them trys to take their toy. Camryn will tattle on them if she gets bite. EACH & EVERY time she gets bit she will point to one of them and say "BITE". She knows to tell me so THEY can get in trouble. Oh what am I going to do. Lately it has all been about whether...

to bite or not to bite...

"She's STUCK!"...

These are the words I thought I heard come out of Camryn's mouth the other day. I had to have her repeat herself three more times until I understood exactly what she was telling me. "She's STUCK!" & then she proceeded to take my hand and drag me into OUR bedroom. I was wondering "what" would be in our bedroom that was "stuck" & that needed MY attention. How did she ever know to use this word. hmm... Well, Lo and behold at the head of our bed was Avery half clothed stuck in what appeared to be my bra! She has had a fascination with clothes for quite some time & once she caught a glimpse of my bra she apparently HAD to put it on. Yes, she attempted to be a "big girl" and wear mommy's bra. Needless to say this was a sight to see because she was indeed stuck. Now picture this, her entire body was in the part your arm goes in! The shoulder strap behind her neck & the strap that is suppose to be under your arm was under her knees. She was not going anywhere! First I made sure she could breathe and second I grabbed my camera to capture this PRICELESS moment. Can you tell how ticked she was that she was caught!? It's a good thing that her "big" sister was on the ball & came running or else we'd still be hearing...

"She's STUCK!"...

it's all about the number 2!

Well, we finally made it! The quads are now 2 year olds! YIKES! I wonder if anything will change, if they will now start being little devils? hmmm... This has been one LONG road we have been traveling on & for the most part we have enjoyed EVERY minute of it! We decided after MUCH thought that we would not be having a party for our foursome. Things are just TOO expensive & we could not justify the cost. Not that we do not LOVE them & especially all of YOU who have touched our lives. It was just not meant to be! When I was pregnant with these guys I joked about having their birthday party on their "half birthday", you know, when they are 1 1/2 or 2 1/2. That way we could celebrate with warm weather & it would be FAR from Christmas. I do not do well when everything happens all at once! So check in with us come July to see if anything is in the works! You never know! Stranger things have happened! haha!

Now for the update on our FABULOUS four!

Camryn is mommy's little helper & trys to mother her sister & brother. She is always looking out for everyone. If someone gives her a snack she makes sure everyone gets one. However, she does not like when we break a pretzel stick, she likes them whole. Weird I know but if that is the worst of her quirks I can deal with it. If she sees clothes on the floor she will put them in the hamper. Oh how I LOVE that! She can have a temper when someone takes something from her. She will usually throw any object that is nearby & then look at you to make sure you noticed. She can also be VERY sweet & when Brendan crys it is usually her that consoles him. She will pat & rub his back as she says "Don't cry". She is just TOO cute for words!

Brendan is our sensitive one. He usually gets every COOL toy taken from him by one of his sisters and then will proceed to whine or cry. Now you see why Camryn always consoles him! LOL! He has taken to grabbing something he knows that one of his sisters wants & then runs as fast as he can. He has become a pretty good runner! He is fascinated with anything on wheels, Matchbox cars, trucks, etc. However he has been seen carrying a purse & even a pink or purple cell phone! What can I say he has 3 sisters! He likes what they like! Most of all he is VERY affectionate. He gives tons of kisses & hugs! He comes when you call him & will wait patiently to hear what you have to say. Everyone tells me that is because he is a boy but I know it is due to him being MY little boy!

Little Avery is our "Wild Woman". She is by far our toughest child & like Timex she can "take a beating & keep on ticking!". This child has had SO many bumps & bruises that she AMAZES us all. She once even took a nose dive off the top platform of a slide, fell 3 feet, got up & started giggling. I said she was wild, I should have said CRAZY! haha! Dustyn says she is a tomboy however she is a girly girl too. She loves purses, clothes & shoes. Most of all she loves her Daddy. She does like to bully her siblings, even Camryn, to get whatever she wants. Mostly it is by taking a piece of string cheese or a pretzel from them. I know if I start hearing one of them cry it is due to her "stealing" their snack. She is just a spitfire & we would not want her to be any other way. We LOVE her immensely!

Miss Lindsey is our baby girl. Lately she has been going through a phase of just wanting me. She just wants me to hold her & love on her. It is in these moments that I realize there is not enough of me to go around. SO I give everyone a day to be first. She LOVES being first! She makes sure the others know it too! When it is "her" day she will help me cook, walk out to get the mail or just sit with me on the recliner. Just being with Mommy makes her happy. Most people probably do not realize that Lindsey & Avery still share a crib. They do & she loves that too! They are two peas in the same pod! They giggle together, play together & get into trouble together. The two of them can make quite a mess! She LOVES Dustyn even more than we will ever know & has the best laugh EVER! She makes our party of 7 complete!

It is hard for me to put into words what these past 2 years have been like. The BEST explanation is that we are on the VERY best roller coaster ride that never ends! There's twists & turns, lifts & BIG drops. We have felt anxious, excited, happy, sad, wishful, thankful & most of all LOVED! Thanks for following along with our journey and seeing our four find out...



it's all about the number 2!

The best laugh I had all day!

Ok I have to tell you about what happened on Saturday at Grandma's house. As usual I worked. This time I only worked an 8 hour shift but we all have been under the weather lately so I was TIRED! Anyhow, the babies woke up around 415pm & we brought them all in to Grandma's room & climbed into her bed together. We were just lounging out. Michael proceeds to tell me about their day. I usually try to make a point of asking him how his day was while I was at work. I usually already know since I practically call them ALL day long! ha! He tells me how Avery came up to him with what he thought was chocolate on her fingers & then proceeded to put her fingers in his mouth. His first clue should have been that it was Avery. Remember, she is our child that CONSTANTLY sticks her hands in her diaper. Well, as most of you can already guess, it was not chocolate on her fingers. My darling daughter was trying to tell her Daddy that she had a "stinky" in her pants. He said he about threw up & had to clean his mouth out with peroxide! Daddy's will never learn! Never let your child put ANYTHING from their finger in your mouth! As I was picturing this in my head all I could do was laugh! I about peed my pants because I laughed SO hard! Leave it to little Miss Avery! hahahah! It was...


The best laugh I had all day!

cranky...

Lately I have had ONE cranky little girl on my hands. It is funny how this "title" has been shared by each one of my girls. The 1st to achieve this was Camryn, then Lindsey, now Miss Avery currently holds it. It seems like she whines ALL the time! My mom thinks she does not feel well. I just think she is just taking her turn at being "spoiled". She has already figured out being a bit of a snot will get her some attention. I am not used to this coming from her. She ALWAY'S seems to want her Daddy so it is a somewhat unwanted treat for me. When I walk out of her sight she crys for me & wants to be held ALL the time. My mom & I went out the other night & Michael said she cried for about an hour. Oh, my sweet little girl, what happened to her? I want my confident & stubborn Avery back!! I just cannot handle...

cranky...

mommy guilt part 2

OK I have previously said that I would explain why I no longer dress Avery & Lindsey alike. Well, There is a VERY good reason for this. I cannot tell them apart when I do! I feel terrible not being able to tell one child from the other. They are SO identical that it scares me! There are some slight differences like Avery has a longer face & Lindseys face is just a tad more petite. The easiest way for me to tell them apart is the birth mark on Avery's shin & the scar on Lindsey's forehead. Thank you God for giving her that birth mark! If it was not for that I would have mixed them up a LONG time ago! My hubby says that he has no problem telling them apart. Typical hubby remark if you ask me! I feel terrible that I cannot. I always seem to second guess myself. I wonder what will happen when they get older. They will probably pull things on me all the time! Oh I am going to be in for it! Some days I just close my eyes & try to listen to them so I can notice their differences. Notice that Avery has a deeper voice & Lindsey loves to giggle. Oh I just feel terrible not being able to tell them apart! It gives me a BAD case of...
















mommy guilt part 2