I'm calling Grandma...

The other night, okay last week, Camryn came up to me saying she wanted to call Grandma. I said OK & went on with whatever I was doing. You see she usually will walk around the house with her fake phone & call all kinds of people so I never gave it much thought. The next think I know I see her talking into MY cell phone! It happens to be an i Phone & you know how warranties are on those things so I freaked! {Do NOT need to pay for a new one if she breaks it!} As I take the phone from her I hear my mom's voice. My mom is an hour away! I look into the phone & she actually made a call! She called Grandma just like she said! Now I know she could not feasibly do this so I ask Michael is he dialed the number for her. He had NO idea what I was talking about. I told him what happened & he tried helping me come up with how she could have called her. I did not recently call her so it was not on a recently dialed list. I even asked her to show me how she did it! Of course she could not "recreate" it! I am stumped! I think I will pay closer attention the next time she tells me...

I'm calling Grandma...

booster seats...

This is the latest plight in my life, why restaurants never seem to have ENOUGH booster seats?! I agree that we happen to have a "tribe" & we may not get the 4 that we need. HOWEVER, most families have at least one kid, maybe two. Why not splurge & get a few to accomodate the many!? It really bugs me when a brand new restaurant that has just as many booths as they do tables would they only have 2 for the ENTIRE place! This is what happened to us when we went out to celebrate Grandma's birthday! The place Grandma chose just re opened as a NEW Steak House. It used to be a Hop's restaurant. You know the place that used to make their own beer. Well, they went under just like most other places due to the economy. I think people just did not want a microbrewery anymore. So enters the NEW "Original" Roadhouse. Now do not get me wrong, the food was YUMMY but they made us a LOT of promises getting us in the door. First they took our reservation for a party of ELEVEN at 6pm over the phone and once we arrived they said they do not take reservations. HOWEVER they had our name on the list & then told us they gave our table away. Michael was a bit peeved about that. As a family with 4 toddlers we ALWAYS plan ahead & there are a few "needs" that we have to have for us to have an enjoyable meal. The BIGGEST need is either a booster chair or high chair with straps. They just do better restrained with no means of escape! LOL! Being that we were a LARGE group they now had to get creative in trying to accomodate us! It ended up that we could not all sit together which was fine BUT they did not think of the arrangements before they sat us down. We were across the aisle from each other & 1 table was about a foot higher off the ground than the other. You know the kind that you have to step UP to get into? I did not think it would be a problem once we had our 2 boosters that they promised us. Well, the next thing was that they could not find ANY boosters for us. It ended up that they only had 2 for the ENTIRE place & they were already taken. Imagine they only had 2! YIKES! I pity all of those other families also waiting for a seat! In the end they expected us to put 2 highchairs at the end of each booth. Remember the table is about a foot higher than the other booth so it was going to be interesting. Knowing that the aisle should not be blocked as a fire hazard I kind of got worried. First was the two highchairs at the end of a HIGH booth. Camryn & Avery did not like it one bit! Then just 3 feet behind them was another set of highchairs. The waiters had to squeeze in between the 4 highchairs just to get through with their food orders, etc. The weird part is that no one ever thought to move us! You can already tell that it was not much fun mostly for me but we were there to celebrate Grandma so we made the most of it! People can not believe that we take our "tribe" out to eat, but they LOVE it! AND for the most part they are VERY good that is with restraints! LOL! No one understands our plight because they do not deal with this day in & day out. You view things TOTALLY different when you are raising multiples. I decided right then & there that I am going to purchase our own boosters so we NEVER have this problem again. We left after dinner, no coffee & dessert. I just wanted to get out of there! Michael told me that the manager told him that they would take care of us the next time we came in. Little does he know that we will not be taking him up on that anytime soon.
So my message to all of you restaurant owners out there, Buy more...

booster seats...

THREE wheels...

Today is Grandma's 79th birthday & she got a new set of wheels, a three wheel bicycle to be exact! Yes, she is now part of that "older" sector & is now the proud owner of a three wheeled trike. You know the kind of bike that kids LOVE to ride but adults never seem to want to own! LOL! Grandma was an avid bicyclist in her "adult" life but then all her aches & pains took over so she stopped riding all together. A BIG factor in this decision was having to have both of her knees replaced. She has been afraid to ride a "regular" bicycle ever since. Frankly I do not blame her! I cannot tell you how many times she has told me how much she misses it, especially now that she has her "bionic" knees! LOL! SO, I set out trying to fill that void for her. Being that we live in South Florida we see a lot of "older" people riding around on them. The problem was that I was afraid she would take one look at a 3 wheeler and say "No way!, I am not THAT old!". LOL! I mentioned my idea to Michael & my brothers to see what they thought about it. They ended up coming up with this scheme so I could see if she would want one without buying one first. The deal was that I was to tell her that a "friend" at work had one & wanted to know if I knew of anyone that could use it. That would break the ice so to speak. Seemed harmless so I was in. Now all I needed to do was tell her but getting her to fall for it was another feat! Well, she sort of bit but did not express EXTREME interest so I mentioned it AGAIN to her. I said that maybe she could try it out. Three wheels are better than two, how she could get exercise, etc... She did not really say much about it UNTIL one day she brought the subject up on her own with me. She asked if that "friend" still had the bicycle because she wanted it. I was SO happy that she wanted it but remember this was a made up friend with a made up bike and if I did not come up with a bike I'd be in trouble! I ended up telling her that I would check the next time I went to work. This scheme was turning into a reality! I called my brothers & told them that we should get her a bike for her birthday. They had some apprehension about whether she would use it, etc. We discussed maybe getting a used one since they do not come cheap. So I was now on the hunt for one & I needed it QUICK! My mom mentioned it again & I told her that they gave it away already, whew! Little did my mom know that I had all of my "connections" on the hunt for one already. As luck would have it a friend found one just this week! YAY! It's all in the timing, just in time for her birthday which made it even sweeter! When Grandma saw it for the first time she was excited but VERY nervous. I was told she sat on it, then glided a few feet down the driveway when she almost crashed into her car & scraped up her leg. Grandma ALWAYS gets boo boos! )= This is definitely going to take some getting used to. I realized that my next purchase for her will have to be a helmet! Now if I can only get her to use her new set of...

THREE wheels...

2, 4, 6, 8, Who do we appreciate!?...

Grandma, "Auntie" Debbie, Delia, Karen, Linda, the list goes on & on... SO many people help us run like a well oiled ship! I get to work during the week because Grandma "loans" us her house while Debbie & Delia take turns watching the little ones for me. Working is my escape from the "busyness" of life. I SO look forward to getting out of the house amongst the people. I know it is hard to believe but answering 911 calls are a piece of cake compared to 4 demanding two year olds! hahah! Karen is my mom's neighbor and when I was little I hung out at her house playing Barbies with her daughter Mary. I was 9 years her senior but we had fun. Karen's children have grown up and now she gets to play with mine. She has come to our rescue on many the occasion! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Michaels cousin Linda has watched the little guys for us too! She has taken them over night & has even agreed to take Avery & Lindsey while Debbie takes Camryn & Brendan for 4 days when we go to LA for a wedding. I am SO excited! We have SO many GREAT people in our lives. We need to break out the cheerleader outfits & start cheering...

2, 4, 6, 8, Who do we appreciate!?...

baking cookies...

My hubby bought me the "coolest" stand mixer about 3 years ago & I have never used it! Michaels Aunt used it once while she stayed with us but I have yet to use it. I know I feel bad but my life has been BUSY!! (= SO.. Today is the day. My mom & I are going to make cookies while the babies watch. Maybe soon they will "help" me but not yet. I am SO excited to finally get to use this contraption! My 13 year old cousin gave me a quick demo on the one they have at their house. I could not believe that he knew how to use it & even makes cookies with it ALL the time. I need to get Dustyn in on this so he can start baking too! Now what kind of cookie will it be??


baking cookies...

day out with Daddy...

Today Michael took the babies to the Fall Festival at my childhood church, The 1st Presbyterian Church, aka "The Pink Church". Yes the church is Pink! It is very well known in our neck of the woods and as far as I know it has ALWAYS been painted pink. Anyhow, Daddy took them out and to all places a Fair! YAY! I was working like I do most weekends so Daddy & Grandma took them. I love it when he takes them places so he can experience first hand what I encounter when I go out with them. The church is just a few blocks away from Grandma's so he did not have far to go. Luckily they took a good nap & the festival did not start until 2pm. They had Pony rides, various games, music, live entertainment and FOOD. By looking at them you would never know that they LOVE to eat! hahahh! They even had someone there painting faces. So they had their faces painted. The girls each had a butterfly & Brendan got a pumpkin on their cheeks. This is such a fun time of year & they are just the right age to enjoy it. Overall I think that they had fun on their..

day out with Daddy...

finally....

Well I finally did it... I took the babies to McDonald's. This is a BIG thing since I am more of a Chick-fil-a kind of girl but decided I should take them to a place I used to go as a kid. In fact it is the same one I went to when I was little they just re built it. They took the play area away which I was kind of happy about. (Less germs to worry about!) Grandma & I decided we would go for breakfast. I cannot believe that it has taken me this long to bring them! They did not have 4 highchairs SO Miss Cam Cam sat in a "big girl" seat. She LOVED it! She did really well and even ate all of her food. OK this will "date" me but, I did not know that they even had Happy Meals for breakfast. See how often I go to Mickey D's for breakfast, hahah! We ordered 2 Happy Meals because I knew if I ordered 4 they would not eat it all & as it was they ate just enough. We ordered them a Pancakes & a Egg Happy Meal & OJ for their drink. After we split all their food up we were good to go. They ate most of it. This morning Camryn was the BEST eater & cleaned her plate! Looking at her you would think she eats like that ALL the time but it is usually Lindsey that eats the best! It was nice to have the place almost to ourselves. It is unusual for us to not be approached about them but this day we were left alone. It was quite nice! I guess this is what happens when you go mid week after school starts. YAY! Before we left the manager gave them each some cookies which made their morning! I must say that Grandma, the babies & I had a nice breakfast at Mickey D's...

finally....

oh, lucky day....

Today is suppose to be a lucky day, 8 8 08. I do not know if there is that much truth in that since I woke up EARLY to a screaming baby! Miss Linz decided to wake up an hour & a half before the rest, SCREAMING! This is the 3rd day that she has had a fever. I think it is teething but I just do not know. She just wanted to be held, by only ME! IT was rough. Her twin also woke up with a cough & some congestion so I decided I better take them in to the pediatrician just to make sure. Luckily Grandma had the morning free so we loaded up the babe's & off we went to the doctor's. Only having to take two babies in is a treat! Whenever they need shots I try to line up EXTRA reinforcements to help comfort them. You never think of those things when you have just one baby. Well there I was in the waiting room with them clinging on to me like glue. I guess that was better than letting them down to roam through the germ infested "sick kid" area. We waited about 20 minutes & YAY they called our name! They got weighed in & I am sad to announce that they are still under 20 lbs. No wonder we still call them "peanut"! We saw a NEW doctor to the practice which sometimes can be hard when you are so accustomed to seeing their regular one. She was great! She made sure they did not cry when she listened to their lungs & checked their throats. Let me tell you for all that we had to do to get them there you would think we woud leave with some sort of diagnosis. NOTHING! No ear infections, sore throats, congestions, etc. They were as healthy as can be. I guess I should have listened to my intuition & realized it was just them teething their molars...

oh, lucky day!....