All about Blade!

Our sweet Blade turned THREE at the end of October! This boy (for the most part) is at such a fun age. His vocabulary is huge and his perception of the world at this age is adorable...yet trying at times.  He's "big nuff" to do it all and has no idea he's the youngest of the bunch. To think that the quads were this age when he was born is insane. I felt like we had a decent age gap between the four and Blade but now, sometimes I look at Blade and can't imagine having FOUR his age and about to welcome a fifth...he's just a baby himself!

The summer and fall brought some big things for our little guy. You probably remember the quads' beaming with pride when they encouraged and successfully coached Blade in climbing out of his crib a while back. We ended up dropping his mattress to the floor after that and finally transitioned him to an actual toddler bed when his siblings got their new beds over the summer.

Another huge success was....POTTY TRAINING! I did the three day method with Blade, just like we did with the quads and he was a total rock star. Having just one toddler to train, we altered our approach a bit this time. We didn't quite put our entire lives on hold like we did last time (who can with four other kids?) and we didn't feel the need to tarp the entire house like before! A potty, a sticker chart and some skittles was all he needed and before we knew it, we were diaper free and never looked back. Like his siblings, Blade didn't night train at the same time, but did on his own within a few months.

The girls were sick at the time, but here are all three boys enjoying some bowling at a friend's birthday party...

Blade's three year stats:

Weight: 33lbs (70th percentile)

Height: 40 inches (95th percentile)

He passed his hearing and vision with flying colors and is one healthy little dude, which we won't take for granted ;)

Another first for our lil dude was the movie theatre! We saw Inside Out... it was the best nap he ever did have ;)

To celebrate his big number 3, we rented several bounce house/obstacle course things and invited friends over to play. He still LOVES "Mouse" (not Mickey Mouse, it's just "Mouse") and so that's the theme we went with. He loved seeing all the balloons, piñata and party loot just for him!

Some of Blade's favorite things:
-His little pink blankets (yes) also known as his "mimis". He is attached and can't be without one at all times.
-He eats just about anything...with the exception of tomatoes.
-Like his siblings, he loves rain boots, being outside, anything that goes and playing in the creek.
-Like mentioned above, Mouse. The dude would watch Mickey Mouse 24/7 if I allowed him.
-He has a slight obsession with smelling things (like his blankets, for example) and he encourages others to use their sense of smell as well. He is constantly asking people to "nose it" when he wants them to smell something.

At three, I'm thankful he's still a faithful napper. Due to the quads being in school, he's up by 7am and takes a 2 hour nap or so after lunch and goes back down around 7pm. I'm SO thankful God gave me some good sleepers :)

Blade and Korbin

Love this sweet boy!

Now if time could just slow down a bit, that would be great!

First Grade... Then & Now

Like I mentioned on the previous post, I had every intention of getting back to blogging once the quads' started school. Here's the post I wrote the morning I dropped them off for their first day of first grade!


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"Seriously. Where does the time go? I JUST dropped them off for Kindergarten yesterday!

I’m happy to report there were NO tears out of the quads or myself during the drop off this morning. Mr. Blade had a harder time. “I big nuff” he told me over and over, he insisted he would stay and color like the rest of them. Luckily the dude can be easily lured by food and I got him to walk out of the school at his own will with a promise of a trip to the donut shop on the way home. 

Many have asked if they’re all in the same class again this year and what our reasoning is behind the decision we’ve made. Yes, they are. For all you non-Texans, it’s a law here that it’s the parent’s decision to split their multiples or not. Like mentioned before, they were all together in PreK (there at the same school). They did well so the teachers all agreed they would do fine in kinder together. Towards the end of their kinder year I discussed the option of splitting them with several of the teachers and other staff and was assured once again that they did fine together (they didn’t cling or depend on each other…etc.) and nobody saw any reason to split them up if I didn’t want to. Although it’s legally my decision, I’m so thankful for a supportive school that doesn’t “ strongly urge” me one way or another. After much consideration, Bret and I decided to put all four in the same class again. The way I see it, they will have the rest of their lives to be apart. As they get older, they’ll naturally go in their different directions, but I’m not looking to rush it! Keeping them together makes things MUCH easier on me when it comes to school schedules, volunteering in the classroom and communication with the teacher.

Here’s Mr. Brody, a little nervous, but ready for his big day!

 

Miss B. This girl was born to learn and having a coloring page there waiting at her desk made her all the more ready for the new adventure!

 

Kylee Mae. Slightly annoyed at my picture taking and need to squeeze and kiss all their cheeks before leaving. This girl is growing up too quickly. 6 going on 16, I’m afraid :/

Korbin, my handsome dude, was luckily enough to be seated next to two of his friends from his kinder class!

Korbin, Kylee, Mrs. Lane (their new teacher) Baxlyn and  Brody at this year’s Meet The Teacher!

 
Good Luck, my sweet first graders!

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

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Fast forward about 5 months and they're all LOVING school, as am I! We were so blessed with an awesome teacher last year, I was afraid nobody could measure up. I was wrong. Mrs. Lane is not only a fantastic teacher, but she truly cares about these kids in every way. Nothing puts a mama's mind at ease like knowing her kids are cared for when they're away from her!

I watch a couple of other sweet boys a couple days a week but Friday's are just Blade and I. When we have nothing else going on, we like to go up and volunteer at the school. I go from classroom to classroom helping teachers with sorting, making copies and filing papers while Blade tags along or hangs out with his favorite librarian, Mrs. B.

Here's Brody who was named Top Cardinal last week! My sweet boy was recognized for his leadership and for setting a good example!

 

So hard to believe this school year is already more than half way over. I'm trying so hard not to blink. Before you know it, Blade will be off for kinder! 

Happy Monday!

Hello....Hello... Anyone Out There?!

Hello out there! It's been a (long) while, I know. First I have to say is WOW, you guys sure do keep me in check on the whole blog thing. Over the past few months, I have received your comments, emails and voiced concerns to Bret and other friends at work. We are all fine and doing well, busy as most people are these days. You'd think life would free up when four of your five kids go off to school, but in reality, I think you get busier. Crazy to think I haven't blogged since MOTHER'S DAY. I had every intention of getting back to blogging when Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee and Korbin went to first grade (what?!). I came home after dropping them off on day one, wrote a post, went to publish and Blogger threw me for a loop with some techy stuff. Ugh. That post, along with an added school update, will be up next!

I'll play rewind for the next week or so to share (and document!) some of the things that went down over summer and fall in our house! 

Dr. Reyes, our beloved pediatrician, spoiled us once again and sent Bret and I to the Kenny Chesney/Jason Aldean/Brantley Gilbert concert. Talk about a fun, kid-free date night!

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee and Korbin had their first field trip AND first trip on a school bus to the Dallas Zoo to finish up their kindergarten year. I was able to attend as a chaperone and enjoy the day with them!

L-R Brody, Baxlyn, Korbin and Kylee at their Kindergarten end of year celebration!

Our small town offers sport camps during the summer. We let each of them pick one camp. Brody chose basketball. He had fun, bless his heart, but it was a challenge to say the least. Kylee chose softball, another challenge but an accepted one! Korbin & Baxlyn were brave enough to endure the Texas heat during a week of outdoor soccer. I'm not too sure any of our little quadlings will be an all-star athlete, and that's ok :) Here's a pic of Kylee, who was awarded "Best Attitude and Hardest Worker" for the week! (Yup, they spelled her name wrong, she didn't notice.)

Fourth of July fun!

One BIG deal this summer was (finally) transitioning out of their toddler beds. Yep, our kids were in their cribs/toddler beds until just before first grade. We bought the convertible beds that would go from crib, to toddler to full sized beds but decided we didn't want to take up that much of their floor space in their rooms with two full beds in each. I wanted something that didn't take up all of their floor room, that would grow with them and offer them some personal space as well. After debating for a longg time as to what type of beds to invest in and getting input from other moms of multiples, we finally found what we were looking for at Nebraska Furniture Mart. Each quad now has their own twin bed that has a dresser and shelving built right in! Having the dresser drawers under the beds allow us to eliminate the need for a dresser (or two) and the shelves are perfect places for "THEIR" stuff.

 One of my favorite parts of the bed is the extra storage space beneath them! There are doors on either side of the bed that allows kids to crawl straight through. As you can see, ours are pushed against walls but the kids love going under there and having yet another space to put their own things. I added one of those battery operated push-to-activate night lights under each one which makes it that much more fun. They love to hide out under there, color...etc. I swear after the beds were delivered, I didn't see a kid for like 3 days ;)

We, of course, spent many days of our summer swimming. We put in a pool last summer and goodness do we love it. So many people told us a pool at home isn't worth the maintenance, SO not the case at our house!

 Although they're getting close, they're not quite swimming yet in the deep end with no puddle jumpers. This past summer was the first summer I've felt comfortable taking them all into the pool by myself. Baxlyn can jump into the deep end and swim across but it still scares the crap out of me. Slowly but surely, they'll all get there!

Kylee Mae and those sweeeet freckles!

 

Baxlyn, oh dear Baxlyn. I went into her room one day and my mouth about dropped when she turned to ask me a question. She could NOT understand why I didn't believe her when she said she didn't cut her hair. LOL!

Another exciting adventure this summer/fall was CHEERLEADING! Kylee mentioned last year that she wanted to be a cheerleader. Having been a cheerleader myself through Jr. High & High School I was TOTALLY onboard with the idea! Not only did I sign her up, I somehow got roped into coaching the squad of 32 girls ranging in age from 3 years old through 2nd grade, along with a few other amazing moms. Miss B ultimately decided she wanted nothing to do with being a cheerleader. If you know Baxlyn, you know she would rather stay low, color, organize and clean. Although very strong and independent, she wants nothing to do with performing or being in the spotlight. This whole being a quadruplet thing has brought her more than enough attention as far as she is concerned. Here's a picture of the adorable cheer buckets the other cheer moms and I made. While they're gear included embroidered bags, these buckets worked well for carrying their needed items AND we added a padded seat/lid which allowed the girls to sit without burning their little rears on the hot Texas ground.

The girls had one practice a week and cheered each Saturday for the tackle football team of little boys their age. It was SUCH a fun season cheering on our boys and watching our girls grow! I'm excited to say that Baxlyn had a change of heart once the cheer season began. Once she realized many of her friends were cheerleaders and that she was great at doing the cheers herself, she decided she wants to join next year!

For now I'll leave you with that! Over the next few days I'll catch you up on school, all the updated medical stuff and more details on our sweet number 5!

Test test....

............... did you get excited? :)

Stay tuned!

Mother’s Day 2015

Due to some CrAzY TX weather including tornado watches and some MAJOR local flooding, we opted to stay home sweet home this year for Mother’s Day. Bret spoiled me Friday evening by taking me to get my nails and toes done and treating me to a fabulous, kid-free dinner at LaHacienda Ranch while my sweet mom and sister stayed with our crew. A decent group picture of all 6 (or 7) of us is next to impossible these days so I snapped some selfies with each kiddo this evening…

My sweet girls, Baxlyn & Kylee

 

The boysss. Brody (is he not the cutest in his new specs?!) & my handsome Korbin

And then we have Blade. This little one is every bit of 2 years old right now. He wasn’t in the picture taking mood, CLEARLY. God love him and all the ‘tude he packs sometimes!

 

I was happy to discover each of the quads made their own “Mom” book at school to bring home as a gift. THIS is what it’s all about, y’all, and I’m lucky enough to have FOUR of these gems to look through. So sweet, sometimes surprising and very entertaining, these kindergarteners!

First up is Brody’s book. Love my lopsided hair and facial features going on…

One of the pages read: To relax my mom likes to…. “Let me ride on her back.” Yes, buddy. Because after riding you (and the rest of the kids in line across the living room) this mama who’s got some serious abdominal separation, hernia & daily back pain feels SO relaxed!

Baxlyn’s cover page…

I found this picture of hers entertaining. “I love it when my mom…helps me and helps me get down.” Clearly her picture shows me helping her get down…. off of the ROOF via a ladder. Not that I wouldn’t help her if the occasion should arise, but it’s yet to really happen!

While unpacking their folders on Friday, I was a bit concerned when I came across Kylee’s book (and then more so to find Korbin’s looked very similar). What at first I thought was a serious case of acne, turns out to be “ALL of my freckles”. In reality, I’m not sure I have even one freckle on my face, but I appreciate the detail they were aiming for…

“I love it when my mom… goes out of town so I can spend time with Daddy.” #ouch

Korbin’s cover, again, so proud to show me the freckles he drew…

“It bugs my mom when….I talk too much.” Let’s face it, he was right on the money with this one. Notice he added the “I like my mom.” at the end so no hard feelings ;)

Some more cards they all worked on while staying with Nana & Aunt Beth. Korbin’s (the green standing in the back) has markers glued to it and it reads “For Mother’s Day. Dear Mom I know you hate laundry. I can do some laundry for you.” He’s yet to touch any laundry during the 10 loads I did this weekend, but the thought was sweet!

A super special Mother’s Day to my own Mom and Mother in law! Thank you two for ALL for you do for us and for being the best Nana & Mamaw to our crazy bunch! Love you so much!

Because…

…because no father’s wedding ring should slide up to his daughter’s shoulder.

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