Georgia Aquarium...

Here are a few pic's from out recent road trip to GA. We were lucky enough to visit the Georgia Aquarium. If you have not been there yet you really should! It is one COOL aquarium with a TON of things to see. Happy Viewing!!

My niece Sarah & Miss Linz soaking up the snuggles! Awwwh...

Finally Mommy gets in a picture! I have Bren & Uncle Rick has Cam.


Avery LOVED being able to see all of the fishies up close & personal!


Katie showed Linz all of the fish! Just look at the size of them! WOW!



I hope Avery doesn't catch her Daddy holding Miss Linz!! uh oh! (=



We happened upon the otter exhibit just as they started to feed them. Look how close we all were to them! Just the glass between us! It was SO cool!



Camryn posing with her new fish friend "Mr Grouper". They told us how grouper is WAY over fished. SO eat less grouper people!! (=



The tribe could not get over seeing all of those fish! WOW! Now that is one AWESOME tank & check out our front row seats!! Loving it!


Camryn was checking out the Jelly Fish! SO beautiful but don't try touching it!


More pictures to come from our recent outing at the...

Georgia Aquarium...

Road Trip May '09...

We took the tribe on a "Road Trip" last week. We actually planned this for quite awhile. You see my niece Katie, the one I took everywhere as a baby, was graduating high school! We just had to be there. Michael worked EXTRA just to cover the expense of the trip. He is such a good doobie! We love him SO much!! Going to her graduation makes me think of mine, had to believe that it was almost 21 years ago that I had my own graduation. NO way!! I still feel like a "spring chicken"! LOL! For those of you that know me personally.. Katie is the niece that I babysat from birth until her 1st birthday and then they moved away to GA! She was my best bud & we have a special bond. She has such a beautiful heart & I love her so! Hard to believe she is all grown up and graduating high school! YIKES! This is going to be a LONG trip with 4 toddlers but we just have to be there when she gets that diploma! (= I packed up the 'burb & off we went, GA or bust! Even Grandma went with us on this adventure! We tried to keep them occupied as we drove. Sometimes it was easy other times it was HARD! They crave attention! There was only 1 of me to go around so I amused them however I could. There was even a time I sat in the BACK of the 'burb. This was quite the feat! People driving by probably wondered what some GROWN woman was doing climbing over seats & sitting in my kids laps. YES I was in their laps! hahah! ANYTHING to make my kids HAPPY! (= We even searched for FUN play areas for them to stretch their legs. This trip sparked an interest in me to write a book on cool kid places to visit! That's ANOTHER story! LOL! Overall the kiddos did great. Remember, I have high expectations. I wanted them to appreciate the view, sit in THEIR seats & never fuss. What was I thinking? They are 2 year olds!! One important detail you all need to know is that we took them on this adventure WITHOUT even a DVD player. What can I say, I am a product of my upbringing! We would just play games, read or play the I spy game. I can remember my dad giving the first kid to spot the Washington Monument a quarter! That was BIG money back then! hahah! I cannot wait till they are older so we can play the ABC game, check out license plates or even play car BINGO. {I found this game at Restoration Hardware} Another reason no DVD was that they are not really movie watchers anyway. I know, I know, a DVD player is a "Must have" when travelling with tot's. Not us! We were roughing it! I'm sure if you ask my hubby he will say NEVER again! LOL! There we were singing, "reading" books & eventually throwing balls around the 'burb. Brendan LOVED that! He had this nerf football & a tennis ball that he would throw up to the front of the 'burb. Then Daddy & Grandma would throw them back to him. He would laugh & laugh. Laughter is SO much better than crying anyday! We also had a few "new" car toys that we inherited from my cousin. One was this lacing toy. It was this THICK cardboard bunny that you lace w/ shoelaces. That lasted quite awhile & they each had unique ways to lace it that was until they ATE it! Yes, they ate the cardboard bunny! They will eat practically ANYTHING!! There are knawed on things all over this place! You'd think we were raising animals!! LOL! Our trip lasted about 11 hours if you included the few "pit" stops. Daddy made great time! Being that we arrived on Thursday night we took them to the Atlanta Aquarium on Friday. It is unlike most aquariums. One of the tanks sort of reminded me of the aquarium we visited BEFORE KIDS at Paradise Island in the Bahama's. They have all kinds of fish! We saw sawfish, whale sharks, Pompano of all things, sharks & even some otters. The tribe LOVED the otters! We happened upon their section just as they were being fed. So they came face to face with them! They even got a kiss from behind the glass! TOO cute! Needless to say they were conked out on the ride back to Uncle Rick's. We had Katies graduation on Saturday. Her school is one of the largest in Gwinnet County. They had 729 students graduating that day. Her principal gave a speech saying how incredible it was having so many students graduate & all the places they would be attending college. Practically all the Ivy league schools were covered. I wish I had a copy of that speech, it was AMAZING all the facts he recited! Graduating itself is such a HUGE accomplishment! HOPEFULLY, Katie will continue her education by attending some sort of college. She has mentioned that she wants to become an ultrasound tech. Wouldn't that be cool!? She could do ultrasounds on pregnant women maybe even some multiple mommies!! We hope that she applies soon so she can attend in the fall. There we were trying to spark interest in her, getting her to register. That is one thing that I regret, not finishing school. In fact most of the family did not finish college until MANY years later. Hopefully she will do better than all of us combined. (= On Sunday we went to Rick's church. I cannot tell you how long it had been since we'd been there. It was so nice to see all the people that prayed for us during our pregnancy & after their birth. We are part of their church family now. AMAZING! We were busy little beavers for the 5 days we were there. After the graduation we had a few BBQ's to celebrate her accomplishment. We even met up with some more "extended" family, Dorsey & Eleanor, in downtown Roswell for their Memorial Day festivities. It was SO nice to meet up with them. They kept us all entertained! Dorsey he is quite the character!! We are gonna need another vacation to help us recoup from this one! haha! I will say that the best part of our trip was that by the time we left Katie had enrolled in college. YAY! On our way home we even found an AWESOME playground at of all places a local Burger King in Dublin GA. It was HUGE! Like what you'd find at a local park. TOO TOO cool! I am SO stopping there again!! Since we left GA rather late our stop over in Savannah was not meant to be. Hubby SO wanted to go eat at Paula Deen's restaurant! He & Grandma watch her show EVERY weekend! No Paula Deen's for us! He was left with just a drive by!)= Maybe next time! When your one cranky child is FINALLY sleeping you DO NOT wake them! LOL! We kept on driving until we hit Amelia Island, FL. It's a very quaint seaside town! They even let you drive on the beach! TOO cool! Of course we let the tribe out of the 'burb to walk on the beach & put their toesies into the surf. They LOVED it until that first wave came. We had kiddo's running EVERYWHERE! haha! It was quite the sight! I took some pictures which I'll post when I get home! We stayed at the Days Inn there, you know the kind that has the swimming pool in the middle of the parking lot! LOL! It brought back SO many memories of my childhood. We used to stay at places like that ALL the time! Practically every trip we took was by car! My mom even commented on how she is reliving some of the moments she had with us but now as Grandma. They LOVE having her with us too! Now I am the Mommy & we're doing things with our kids that my parents did with us. TOO wild! Road trips can be so cool if you appreciate those moments. Other than Miss Avery catching croup this was one AMAZING...

Road Trip May '09...

Jon and Kate plus 8...

Ok, I know that I am not the only one out there that watched the 5th Season Premiere of Jon and Kate plus 8 last night. With all of the talk going on I am sure many tuned in to see what all the hoopla was about. I watch their show pretty regularly. I too tuned in to see how they are doing. I am not going to pass judgement on the choices they have made. I do not know what it's like being them but I do know what it's like raising the children we have. Having multiples is HARD work! Not only hard work but EXPENSIVE! I could not imagine how they would ever cover all their expenses if they did not have TLC asking them to do a TV show! WOW! They say that the struggle of trying to get pregnant and/or having multiples can make or break a relationship! It's tough & I totally feel for them! Yes it's a shame that the entire world is watching their struggle. But I look at it very differently. I see this as an opportunity for them to show us, me, how to work through the good, the bad & the UGLY! To be there with them as they deal with their issues and come out stronger. I have so many people that give me unsolicited advice like they know how it is to raise quadruplets. This is unlike anything we have ever been faced with. I learn tips from the "pro's", those parents that have come before me that did this job. So I ask everyone to hold off judgement of the Gosselin's and let them figure out what is best for them. I just hope that there are many more years of...

Jon and Kate plus 8...

remember when...

Today is the day we remember those we lost, like Grandpa. What a SAD day! We are "sort of" on vacation in GA so while on vaca what do you do?!? You visit family & friends! We have been EVERYWHERE! Today we went to Roswell to see Dorsey & Eleanor who are practically family. So when in GA we have to stop & see them! They are HUGE Georgia Tech fans! They even transformed their RV into the "BUZZ Mobile"! TOO cute! Dorsey is quite the character & always keeps us entertained! We were in for a FUN time! We met them in downtown Roswell for their 12th Annual "Roswell Remembers" Memorial Day Celebration. The had an AWESOME band, MANY military vet's & even some POW's! There was not a dry eye in the place. They had all kinds of military vehicles, guns & even a fire truck! Brendan LOVED it! I think this will be the start of a new tradition for our family. I am just SO proud to be an American & live in a land that is FREE! GOD bless America!! There I was trying to take as many pictures & video of the tribe as possible. I just want them to be able to look back at all the pictures & video & say...

remember when...

wordless wednesday...

Tuesday's Tribute...

Ok I want EVERYONE to be in the know about my friend Jen. She does not have a blog but is just as busy. I met her just over a year ago when I joined our local MOM's club. She happens to live ALL the way out near me. If you knew where I lived you'd understand how exciting that was to me! I live in the middle of no where! I did not think anyone could live further west than me but she beats me by about 4 blocks! LOL! Jen is the mommy of 3 girls; ages 5, 3, 1 & a has baby BOY on the way! WOO HOO! BTW, they all have birthday's in August. COOL huh!? She is THEE most active mommy I know. She attends SO many events, activities, play dates, socials, MOPS programs, etc. She even host's! PLUS she keeps her house clean! I need to get some pointers on how she does it! She is my HERO! Once when we were over her house one of my children almost wiped off part of her dry erase board that she keeps every activity posted on her fridge. This "calendar" has EVERYTHING for each child written down in different colors. I FREAKED! She did not fret! She had the BEST attitude. I wish that she could rub off on me! No pun intended! She needs some major KUDO's for being such a GREAT mom & friend! She's my...

Tuesday's Tribute...

It takes a village...

Some days I wake up feeling that I may not get through the day. That the kids will not eat their breakfast or lunch & will be just plain CRANKY! Which ends up making my life even HARDER! This is not exactly the life I imagined when I asked God to allow me to be a mommy! They have turned into little busy bodies that seem to get into EVERYTHING! OR they like to antagonize their siblings & take toys from one another so I can become the "referee". I do not like that job in the least! The house is a wreck, there is SO much stuff to clean up, put away, etc. I feel like it will never get done! Do I care? Lately, NO. Then there is the days that we have activities to attend. I have to make a conscious effort to plan for those days. Because pretty much each activity we attend it's just me with them. Yes there are the few days that they throw me for a loop & do everything I need them to do. But most days it is just hard! That is the reason I do not plan that many activities during the week. It is usually just me & them so I keep my battles to a minimum! This past weekend we went to a family birthday party. Our cousin Denny was turning 5 & they had his party at a "water park". Just the thought of a water park scared me but I knew that I had to bring the quads. Monika & Don, my cousins, have helped us SO much! Almost all of our hand me downs come from them! So we were there! Now I just needed to rearrange my work schedule so I could get the day off, then find some helpers! Luckily I was able to swap my shift to get the day off. All the helpers I thought of were busy so I enlisted Grandma! (Daddy could not make it due to work) He would miss out on the FUN, can you tell the sarcasim!? hahah! I slathered them all up with sunblock, got their bathing suits on & then loaded them up. We had about an hour drive which they slept 30 minutes of. Once we arrived there I had to figure out how to get them to the "kiddie area" safely. There was a HUGE adult pool at one end & the kiddie area on the other. Usually I just ask them to hold hands & they will pair off in two's. Some days they do this willingly other days it is a challenge. Well, today was a good day! There I was leading our "tribe" past the pool into the play area as they followed gazingly behind. The water in the "kiddie area" was about knee deep so once they got used to it I knew they'd LOVE it. Maybe TOO much! LOL! The only BAD part was that Grandma did not bring her beathing suit & was NOT going in the water so that left just ME to corral them. UH OH! Well, this is what I thought was going to happen. I was pleasantly surprised when most of my relatives came to my rescue. They willingly helped me! I did not even have to ask, they are just there to help! I SO love that!WE WERE THE VILLAGE! I LOVE having a BIG family! There was SO many set's of eyes watching the "tribe" that I could actually relax a little. Well sort of. They LOVED the water a little too much & did not want to leave. Camryn even tried going back in AFTER getting her bathing suit off! There I was in my capri's & sandals running in after her! Luckily she did not get THAT soaked! Can't say the same about me! (= I just want to say a BIG "THANK YOU" to everyone for all of their help! Some days I can not say "Thank you" enough! Other days I am SO tired that I can barely get a "Thanks" out. Just know that I appreciate all the assistance I get! When I am having a "bad" day I just think about all the mommies out there that have it harder than me, whether with children that are sick or just having MORE kids to deal with. I take a DEEP breath and remember...

It takes a village...