motorsuckers...

It seems that lately these children of ours have had some growth spurts in the brain dept! The words that have been coming out of their mouths! WOW! I especially noticed this after we got back from our trip. They have a wider vocabulary than they did before we left. I guess that had to do with their new enviorments. They had more people & things around them. I know that they are children & not animals BUT it is still amazing how they are learning even when we are not "teaching" them. Those little brains of theirs are like sponges, they just grow & grow & grow! Lately Brendan has taken a liking to motorcyles or as he says it "motorsuckers". VERY cute to listen to his pronunciation! My mom's neighbor Jim was the first to really pay attention to how he said it. Thinking he was calling him a "sucker". Then we all laughed when we realized he was saying motorcycle. The funny things that kids say! When he is being razzed by his sisters I will bring out a motorcycle & it seems to solve everything in his eyes. At least this is what I thought until he started having a favorite one. If I did not have the small white Hess motorcycle he wanted no part of me! It is part of a set that I think Dustyn got it as a gift from my Dad years ago. You know the yearly set that Hess puts out before Christmas well we have them all. It was sort of my Dad's thing. Dustyn LOVES trucks & stuff so my dad bought him a Hess truck each year. Now Brendan will have his own collection. However instead of trucks it may just end up being a collection of...

motorsuckers...

once in their life...

We were SO lucky this past weekend to get away MINUS the munchkins! My 2nd cousin Jackie & her fiance' David got married in Louisiana & they invited us! We were SO SO appreciative to have this mini vacation I cannot tell you! This was not the first time they had an overnight HOWEVER it was the first time we split the foursome up! We are SO lucky to have such WONDERFUL people in our lives offer to take them just so we could go away. AMAZING! Debbie, aka "Auntie Debbie", took Camryn & Brendan. It was a no brainer for that choice! She LOVES Camryn! Not that she has a favorite! LOL! She has been SO good to us. She will watch all 4 of them when I work during the week. Our cousin Linda took the "twins", aka Avery & Lindsey. She has a grandson, Roman, that is one year younger than them so there was another child there for them to play with. We are SO blessed having them in our lives. Not just anyone would offer to watch your kids when you go away on a mini vacation let alone out of the state! I prepared the munchkins for weeks on who would be where. I wanted to make sure they knew were everyone was. Like a two year old can tell! ha! Anyhow one day I quizzed them, I asked them to raise their hands if they were going to Auntie Debbie's. Both Camryn & Brendan raised their hands, I was in TOTAL shock! I guess those brains are sponges! I think they needed this mini vaca as much as we did! I just hope they do not wear out their caretakers! This is how it all went down... I put Camryn & Brendan's car seats into Debbies car a day earlier. Then I arranged for my good friend Delia to spend the night at my mom's house the night before we left. She planned it perfect & was there to play with them before they went to bed. Our flight was EXTRA early so I did not want them to have to spend another night away from us. It worked out perfectly! We left around 530am for the airport as they were sound asleep in their own cribs. They got up around 8am & had their breakfast not knowing we were LONG gone. Then Debbie & Linda came to get them shortly there after. They each had pack n'plays for each child PLUS highchairs & a BIG bag full of all their stuff. I packed for it all! They had toys, snugglies, clothes to play in, eat in, swim in, sleep in, go out in & even COLD weather clothes! (Just in case! LOL!) Then there was the diapers. It was hard for me to figure out how many diapers 2 children would go through! I figured it's better to have more than less! Linda had her hubby drop her off at my mom's so she could just take the BURB with Avery & Lindsey's carseats already in it. MUCH easier for me! I told them before we left that I would try to call twice a day but not before bed. I did not want them missing us & then have to go to sleep thinking about how much they missed us. Well... that was in my dreams because they never even missed us! There were times we would call & they said they did not want to talk to us! Can you believe that!? Those little rascals! They were having the time of their life while we were away! We felt so good knowing that they were being loved on even if it wasn't us doing the loving! LOL! We kept ourselves busy so we did not miss them too much! The first day was SO strange! There was NO food to cut up, NO nap time or schedule to follow, no baths to run. It was VERY surreal! I hope everyone with a ton of kids can feel this...

once in their life...

curiosity killed the cat...

Our children are getting SO curious lately! This is a good thing I know but it makes my life SO much harder! Instead of asking me questions about things they just do what they want! I feel like I am always running after someone & telling them "NO!". I dislike resorting to this but I am at my wits end! I keep reminding myself that they need structure but it is SO hard being consistent with a two year old! When will this end? I have been told by many "NEVER". LOL! These past few weeks have been SO rough! Keeping up with them, our house, my mom's house has made us just been plain TIRED! The kiddos have run us ragged. I also think that the terrible two's have set in! They seem to get into EVERYTHING! They get into Dustyn's room & RANSACK it! Luckily I fix it before he notices! Little does he know how much they LOVE his XBOX system! LOL! Other than locking his door I do not know what to do! Yesterday I had them outside while I was cleaning the gutters. I know this is not a "mommy job" but it needed to be done so I did it. It was actually not that bad. I felt like I actually accomplished something! YAY! The kiddos were EVERYWHERE! Camryn was my "assistant". She would help me however she could. Bringing me the hose, herding the children, etc. TOO cute! The rest of them definitely needed corralling. I would continue to talk to them while I worked. Sort of like keeping them in line. Sometimes it worked sometimes I was coralling them myself. Our "new" Neighbor saw me out there with all of them & must have felt pity on me! He yelled out "Looks like you have your hands full!". Yep! This is my life! Just this morning I found them in my bathroom with the tub running. Lately they seem to LOVE playing with water. Scary since they do not know how to swim yet. This has been such a challenge for us. I must say that we take them in the pool & teach them ourselves but it is not the same thing. Having quadruplets, four kids of the same age at the same time is TOUGH! No matter what people say they just do not know what it is really like. Some days I want to pull what hair I have left out! SERIOUSLY! Each & every time I stop a near catastrophe I just remember the saying...

curiosity killed the cat...

Momma needs a new "do"...

This is new for me, taking care of ME. I always seem to do for others especially the kids instead of me! I rarely spend any money on me. If there is new clothes or shoes to buy it is for the kids. It's weird because BEFORE kids things were so different! Funny how that happens! LOL! Once I became a Momma my needs changed. Their needs became my needs. I never would have imagined that I'd clean up another persons bodily fluids without a second thought! That I'd care so much about things, whether they did or didn't poop1? hahah! That they'd wipe their boogers on me & I would not get completely grossed out. Yes it is gross but not as gross as if it were a STRANGER doing it! Weird how that works! And most of all I never would have thought that my needs would be thrown out the window. AMAZING! So for me to actually think of myself for once is hard to fathom. You see we are going away for a family wedding & my hubby said why don't you go get your hair done. SO sweet of him to suggest it but even harder for me to actually do it. I have never been a "spa" girl. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to get pampered but not on a regular basis. I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good massage but getting my hair & nails done has never been something I "liked" doing. It was sort of out of habit. I do it out of necessity. Years ago when we were trying to get pregnant I felt liberated when I made the decision not to have the expense of getting my nails done. No more standing appointment, it was nice! There were better ways to spend our money namely a baby! I ended up growing my hair out because I hated the up keep of a short "do". I couldn't do it! TOO much time & money spent on something so short term! Then once we had the kids & started watching our money all things seemed just frivilous! I could see SO many other things that I could spend the money on so it was a tough decision! I figured that since it was in December when I last had my hair done it was time...

Momma needs a new "do"...

the hunt...

Here are some pic's of the "tribe" from Easter. My Dad always said better late than never! Seems that I have been slacking a lot lately! LOL! Maybe my mind has been elsewhere like our upcoming trip to LA! Sorry! I must say that they did an AWESOME job when it came to the Easter Egg hunt. They acted like pro's! This was their 2nd egg hunt & you never would have known! Enjoy!



Camryn taking a break after searching ALL over for eggs!










Can you tell that Mr B LOVES his chocolate!?












Avery was an 'ol pro at searching for eggs!


























In the end it was Lindsey that found the most!


Check out her loot!

looking for a needle in a haystack...

I have taken on a new "mission" in my life, one that is of a VERY personal issue, it deals with my hubby Michael. You see my WONDERFUL hubby has been trying to locate his birth parents. This has been going on for quite some time. When we first started dating he thought he may have found his birth mother but DNA results proved otherwise. Since our trip was already planned we went to New Orleans to meet her. I felt do bad for him. This desire to find his birth parents has been VERY hard for him. He does not want to upset his parents but still wants to find that missing part of himself. He once told me that he had one blood relative, his son Dustyn. I know my parents & where I come from so this was all new to me. He loves his family but has a special "connection" with Dustyn. Ever since that day I knew that I needed to help find that missing piece of himself. Life has taken MANY turns for us over the years & now that we have added these munchkins to the mix I want to help him be whole. I also want all of our children to know their ancestory. This has been more of a yearning on Michael's part than an actual quest because he has NO info to go on. SO he never actively searched, he did not know where to begin. In his adult life he lost his original birth cerfificate not that it had any personal info on it but it would have been a start. So we know just a few facts. He was born at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, FL on October 14,1966. Records of an adopted child being born in FL in 1966 are not easy to come by. At three weeks old he was adopted by his parents, Bill & Marlene Clay. They had wanted a child SO bad since they were told that they could not have one of their own. They adopted him through the Childrens Home Society. Not much info regarding his adoption was known. Bill has told us that they called them up & said they had a baby boy for them. He remembers driving a ways till they reached where he was. They picked him up & drove back to Broward County where they resided at the time. They named him Michael Alyn Clay. He lived a happy life here in South Florida. Years passed, his parents divorced & he continued to live with his mother. She re married when Michael was twelve years old. He eventually was re adopted by his step father at the age of fourteen and given the Fulton name. What has lit a flame under our want to do this has been watching "The Locator" on the WE network. Troy Dunn, the locator, is AWESOME! He has such a knack with locating all types of people. I am mesmerized by these peoples stories. For Michael it is his life. I have found Michael on several occasions with tears in his eyes after seeing people reunite. I can not imagine what it must feel like for him. I decided to write Troy to see if he can help us. Please pray that he can! Here are a few more facts: He graduated in 1984 from Northeast Highschool in Oakland Park, FL., He LOVES to hunt & anything to do with the wilderness, He has worked at the same job for nearly 20 years, He is a WONDERFUL hubby & a TERRIFIC father. And most of all he deserves to know where he came from! I am hoping that SOMEONE out there may know something, anything. Help me help him! I know this is like...

looking for a needle in a haystack...

garden hose...

Lately I have taken an increased interest in our lawn. Since we had the pool put in a few years ago our sprinkler system has never been the same. I think the pool builders broke a few lines in the process & financially we can not afford to fix it especially now AFTER quadruplets! SO me & the good ol' garden hose is now our sprinkler system. YAY me! LOL! I have been known to frequent the yard in my PJ's carrying the hose & a hand held sprinkler attempting to accomplish the job. Hopefully by Hurricane Season we will be good to go! haha! I am sure that when our neighbors peek outside they think I look like one BIG fool! I do not mind if it does the job & the grass has been staying green! Woo hoo! The worst part about having a "crunchy" lawn is that ants seem to like to live there. I despise ants! So I am on a mission to exterminate them all! Don't want any ant bites on my babies! =) It is even funnier when our munchkins follow me out & decide to play with the hose. They don't care about the grass or the ants they just want to get wet! They would start flock to the hose like it was one BIG snake. Yes we have outdoorsy children! They LOVE snakes, lizards, ants, bugs, etc. They will try to grab the hose & then say "hands"? & then put their hands out as if they needed their hands washed. You see we live on a dirt road & there is a TON of dirt they seem to LOVE to get into! Well I bought it! Then they would then run into the stream of water to get TOTALLY soaked giggling all the way. At first they succeeded in their mission to pull one over on me but then I caught on to them! Now I make sure their hands are the ONLY thing in the flow of the water OR they are in their bathing suits & then I drench them! We had such a fun afternoon & it started out with just one...

garden hose...

if you could do just one thing...

I have asked myself this question a lot lately. What could I do to help others. Is there one thing I could do that would make things better for someone else? SO many people helped us when we needed it that I want to pay it forward. We can not afford that much but there are a ton of things that could help someone in need. Some days when I am on the turnpike I think if I just went thru the regular line instead of the Sun Pass line I could pay extra so the person behind me did not have to pay. Wouldn't that be neat!? I could make just enough food so we could invite our neighbor over for dinner instead of leaving leftovers, OR better yet we could give the food to the homeless. I could help another mommy with night feedings so they could sleep. This helped me SO much! How about giving the babies in the NICU our babies hand me down clothes. I just love "hand me downs". Another thing I could do is "story time" for my nieces kindergarden class. I can be animated! LOL! Oh there are plenty of things out there & I could probably make a HUGE list if I put my mind to it. SO I ask you...

if you could do just one thing...

experiences...

For some strange reason I feel that I need to post this due to comments I have received on previous posts. Like I have copied peoples stories & posted them on our blog. CRAZY! There are MANY similarities between things that occur in OUR household that have also happened out there in your households. When something funny happens with our munchkins I don't hold back, I share it. When I find something I just absolutely LOVE I tell everybody! I want to make other multiple mommies lives SO much easier. That is my goal. However I blog more for our kids than for anyone else. I want them to know about their life, about the things they did. Funny things they started saying, how they interacted with one another. Our children have such an advantage with all the technology out there for us to capture them with. I have accounts with Blogspot, You Tube, FaceBook, MySpace, Tot Spot, etc.. all about them! They will have plenty of places to go back to as a point of reference in their life. The added bonus for me is hearing from YOU! To have a mom tell me that it sounds as if you were writing about us! We all share a common bond! We relate to one another because we are sisters in the same club. We are all mommies! Our experiences are similar because we all seem to go through the same stuff just at different times. Our life is an open book & I love to share our experiences with each of you. I would never have been able to have gotten this far with our foursome if it were not for my multiple mommy friendships. SO if there is something I post that sounds like something you have gone through please tell me! I want to hear from all of you! I LOVE hearing your comments and please remember that we all have similar stories just with different little people cast in the starring roles! We all learn from our...

experiences...

My MUST haves...

I decided to share with everyone my "must haves", those things that make my life SO much easier & I never leave home without. These items are ALWAYS with us! We have to take with us when we are out on one of our "adventures". Some days if I know I've forgotten one of them I am known to turn the BURB around just to pick up the forgotten item. Here goes...

1. Dex Products Bibs - they are SO easy to clean & just snap up! We always have a bib! Less ruined clothes maes me a happy mommy! PLUS There's NO Velcro! (Velcro is a mother's worst nightmare!)
2. Playtex Coolster sippy cups (LOVE these cups!) in our BIG insulated bag of course!
3. Our Skip/Hop mini diaper bag changer. It holds just enough diapers, wipes & diaper rash cream. PLUS it has a fold out pad to change them on. (I have not carried a diaper bag in FOREVER!)

My MUST haves...

starting from scratch...

I decided that today will be a new day. That all of the past "BAD" days will be washed away like I have no memory of them. Sort of like starting from scratch. This is good in theory but can I really do it. Well I am trying. I figure I need to do something since I have at least another year & a half of them at home with me so I better do something to make it easier on myself. So here are some of the things that I have done to "change" things.

1. Pray more for guidance from God. I need this!!
2. Get a playset so they will have another outdoor play area.
3. Work EVEN harder on potty training so we don't have to deal with any more diapers.
4. Remember that coffee is not to be left any place within their reach. =)
5. Create some "mommy" time so I do not feel overwhlemed.

These 5 things do not seem unreasonable. Half of them I can do. I just have to put my mind to it. Things can be SO overwhelming at time that my mind gets scattered. Please pray for us, or better yet me. Since there is only one of me I need it!
remember I'm...

starting from scratch...