Welcome Beautiful Spring!

I’m here! Apparently we’ve got people with some serious Cox-Quad-Withdrawals going on and I apologize. I’ll admit though, I’m a bit flattered. Sometimes I wonder just how many people still read what I write and I’ve been reminded over the past few weeks there are PLENTY of you still tuned into our busy lives. I will tell you if you stay tuned you will not be disappointed :)  Remember you have the option of following via email. Simply enter your email addy in the box on the right side of your screen to subscribe to our feed.

The weather has been beautiful here in our neck of the woods lately and spring time is in the air! We had our local Moms of Multiples “Spring Fling” this weekend and had a blast. Bret’s been super busy 22/7 lately so I’ve been running things solo most of the time. Challenging but possible, nonetheless. This weekend’s Spring Fling was no exception. Pulling approximately 160lbs behind me the Quads and I chugalugged in our choo choo to join our fellow multiples families for some spring time fun!

When going out, especially among a numerous amount of other babies and toddlers I like to dress mine all the same or similar. It’s easier for me to spot mine out in a crowd when they’re all in yellow, red or in today’s case, overalls! Special thanks to Mamaw, we love the denim! Lots of pics for you today and several are multiple attempts at one picture. As always, it’s hard to get them all to look in one direction, at the same time. I’m able to bribe them nowadays (shame on me. whatever.) to do certain things for candy. It works…kinda. They all smile at some point, usually not the same point. The downfall is that the smiles are ridiculously fake. Epic fake. So forgive me for the multiples and enjoy…

Korbin, Kylee, Brody & Miss B

Perfect example of the fake smile I was talking about. Kylee resembles a gummy grandma in serious need of some dentures here…

There were many attractions during the Spring Fling (phenomenal job to our children’s parties coordinators by the way!). Between the train ride, the bounce houses, the food, the Easter Bunny (which we went NO WHERE NEAR) and the live animals you can bet my little crew wanted to spend every minute with the animals. The goats, of course, in particular. They were in Heaven!

Kylee (using Miss Lefty to assist!!!) held her cup just close enough to draw the goats in but not quite close enough to feed them. Lil’ tease!

Kylee and another fake smile standing “so tall” on the trailer. Notice her death grip on Angela…baby girl has developed a little fear of heights over the past few weeks.

After last year’s Spring Fling I knew we had to be prepared for the big egg hunt this year. We spent some time yesterday practicing at home (I could do a whole post on that as well. Sheesh!) They did much better this year hunting for eggs and I’m pretty sure we came home with as many as we brought, which was the goal. Notice Kylee’s got hardly a bottom layer of eggs in her basket while Baxlyn’s is nearly overflowing ;)

Never have I loved bald lil’ men as much as I have lately. Mmm sweet boys hold their mama’s heart!

Enjoying a snack. Kylee, Baxlyn, florescent Brody& Korbin!

Had to throw this one in of Kylee in the bounce house. Our timing to visit the bounce houses was perfect and they were empty. Kylee, for the first time, was able to ”jump jump” without being clobber clobbered and she loved it!

Looking at the pigs! Seriously, I can’t get enough of the overalls! 

 

Brody spending a lil time with the “heenk honks” as they call them ;) (Umm.. now that I read the sign “do not feed the horses” I’m thinking they are donkeys right?! Tell me I know my farm animals and the sign is wrong? eeek?)

More attempts at a group shot…   Love this one of Baxlyn, sweet baby girl!

“Everyone look at Mommy’s camera and smile…” “ok….nobody look at Mommy’s camera and smile?”

Thought it would be a cool pic to stand a bit above them and have them all looking up. Didn’t turn out quite like I planned LOL. Reminds me of the other week’s “touch shoulders” pic! Technically they did just what I asked!

                So, that’s it for today. Again, stay tuned and I won’t leave ya’ hangin’. For those of you who didn’t see our previous March of Dimes post, scroll down a bit and check it out. We’re…. umm….a teeny bit behind on meeting our goal and we need your help. The last two years we’ve blown our goal out of the water so I aimed high this year. Please, donate, and help us help the babies. Click here and follow the given link to donate or to read more about our personal mission to help fight against prematurity.

Until next time :] 

-Heather

2nd Birthday Barnyard Bash!

You're probably thinking Birthday?!? Yes, their actual birthday was in February but due to cold weather and it being RSV season we decided to wait to celebrate until Spring. The party happened to fall one day after their due date (May 6th)....so technically speaking it was right on time! If you know us at all or have followed the blog for any amount of time, you most likely know we (they) LOVE animals and have spent countless days at the zoo...in the goat pen in particular ;) The babies (KYLEE) has a HUGE thing for goats! It was a no-brainer to me that this year, their first "real" party, would be a barnyard theme.

Some friends of the family own a super nice party barn and were more than willing to let us host the party there. Everything about it was perfect... the open space, wooden benches, the karaoke/bar, the decor, the stringed lights, everything was just perfect! We added a few balloons, a "Pin the tail on the Goat" game and about 35 kids (mostly 2 and under - YIKES!) and we were good to go! Amy Horton with Amy Horton Photography came out and took care of ALL the pictures allowing Bret and I to actually enjoy the party. This was HUGE and I'm so thankful Amy did this for us, seriously made things so so so much easier on me and I recommend going that route to all of you moms out there! Amy - THANK YOU! Mother nature took it easy on us as well. I was a little nervous about having a party partially outside and in an unairconditioned barn in early May and was afraid we might be baking in the Texas heat. Luckily it was warm but not hot and we had a nice breeze as well!

We had a bounce house set up outside and of course what's a barnyard party without a few animals, right?! Bret and I hired Debra from Anna Acres and her two kids to come set up a small petting zoo with 2 goats, 2 chicks, 2 chickens and 2 guinea pigs! This was by far the hit of the party, the kids LOVED it! Before the party got started we had the big garage doors closed to the barn, when we went to lift them up, it just so happened there was a goat on one side of the door and little miss goat-lover-Kylee was on the other. **Perfect Moment** That door opened, Kylee laid eyes on that goat and it was as if she saw her goat in shining armor! Anymore excited and she would have fallen over no doubt. Her beautiful big blue eyes widened, her hands were shaking with excitement and she shrieked "DOAT! DOAT DOOOAAATTT!!" Bret and I both happened to be standing there and saw it all. It was by far the best moment of the party and that moment alone made all the planning and money spent totally worth it! To see our sweet girl THAT happy was priceless! We provided snack sized baggies filled with animal cookies and strips of bread for the goats and fresh veggies for the guinea pigs so the kids could feed them as well - such a hit and great, easy entertainment! All of the kids loved the animals, but Debra thought it was hilarious that our four never ever left the tent the entire time she was there!

Once we said goodbye to the animals we all enjoyed hot dogs with all the fixings that the men had been working on. Kids were playing, babies crawling, adults visiting, music playing it was everything we hoped it would be. After lunch we gathered what kids we could to play a little game of "Pin the tail on the Goat". Of the 5 who tried to play I think two actually got the point of the game :] Maybe next year! We then opened presents. I was surprised that none of the quads understood the "open presents" concept. We had a few older kids there who were more than willing to give them a hand at unwrapping!

We saved the cake for last, knowing it would be a royal mess. Like last year I ordered each of them their own small cake as well as a BIG cake for all of the guests. Bret and I want to try to make each one of them feel special on their birthday, which is hard to do when you come into the world with 3 others. Getting them each their own cake is one way of "individualizing" them along with singing the Happy Birthday song 4 times, one entire song for each of them. Their individual cakes were simple over sized cupcakes each topped with a barnyard animal that we took off and replaced with two candles when it was time to sing. The big cake was decorated as a field with an adorable barn with the animal figurines around it; a pig in the mud, cow behind the fence etc. that read "Happy 2nd Birthday Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin!" As our guests left we gave each family a custom made CD with the party music we had played throughout the party (Old Mcdonald, The Farmer in the Dell, Mary had a Little Lamb etc.) as a party favor and thank you. Each CD had a picture of the quads along with "Thank you for celebrating with us! -Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin 2011".

I've added just a few pictures from the party, you can see the entire gallery at the Amy Horton Photography website. Simply click here and use the password Quads.

A huge thank you to all who attended our party and had a hand in making it so special for our family. Mom, Dad, Bill, Anita, The Millers, Amy, Bethany and Debra - a huge thank you to you for helping in the ways that you did, it wouldn't have been a success without you! I'm excited to see what we come up with next year...hee hee :]

The Best Birthday Yet: Part 2!

Part two of the Quad's 2nd birthday we spent at the ZOO! Big Surprise, huh? I'm teased by everyone all the time on how often I take these kiddos to the zoo, but we LOVE it! Last week was one of the best trips so far. Daddy was with us, the weather was a perfect 68 degrees, and it just happened to be the same day our local moms of multiples group went too so we met up with a couple of triplet friends to spend the afternoon! Below we have the Ballew Triplets, the Tew Triplets, and our lil' clan ready to roll...

Angela and I go to the zoo often together and completely wear ourselves out pulling the choo choos around everywhere and up and down hills, Bret did most of the pulling this time....ahhhh thank you Bret! Pretty funny to walk 20 feet behind him and watch the reactions from others when they see him and his parade of babies!

Another first for Bret was keeping track of a 7 toddlers and a 4 year old while us moms did the diapee changes after lunch. He had an audience watching him from the cafeteria windows!

The babies' favorite stop at the zoo is the goat pen. It's a small area that the kids go into to pet (or in Kylee's case ride, pull on, poke, smell, kiss...etc.) the "Doats". This was our best shot at a group pic...

Baxlyn and Daddy

I would seriously consider getting a goat if I had to... they are SO patient with kids, it amazes me. The first time we let the babies in with them, I was a little nervous I would be with an unfamiliar dog. Now days I swear you could drop em off, go for lunch, come back and they would still be there having a bawl and the poor goats would just be sitting there like they always do. Here's a picture of Korbin playing with this poor guy's ear flinging it back and forth over and over and ovverrr... he thought it was hilarious.

Sweet Kylee is in Heaven when she's around animals and cares nothing about anything else surrounding her. She loves (almost) any animal and doesn't hesitate to touch! Here's my sweet girl getting up close and personal with a "Doat"..."Doat? Doat? Eat? Doat?"

Korbin, Kylee & Brody

Before heading out after a long day at the zoo, we decided to let each one ride the horse. We paid $2 for each baby to walk in a 50 foot circle one time. Really? It's their birthday, nobody else is waiting in line, you have nothing else to do, ya can't take em around twice?! Anyways, Brody was up first and enjoyed every second of it, he would have stayed on all day. The entire time I could hear him yell "Woohooo Woah! WOW!" it was ADORABLE!

Next up was Miss Baxlyn, a little more cautious and still, but had a good time none the less!

After B was Korbin. Love this picture of Baxlyn watching him through the fence!
Poor Kylee, as surprising as it is, wanted NOTHING to do with that horse. Each time we would put one back to grab another she would cry and say Nooooo. Once the other 3 had gone I asked her "Ky Ky, do you want to ride the horse?" to which she quickly replied "Nooo Nooooooooo Buh-bye Buh-Bye NOOO!!!!!". It broke my heart that she was so terrified. Here she is waving and yelling "no". My poor doll!Once we chuggalugged away from the horse Kylee was fine and the rest of our day was nothing but smiles. We packed up and the babies napped on our way to our final destination to end our day of celebrating their 2nd birthday. Stay tuned for Part 3 of The Best Birthday Yet!