This just happened…

So I’m getting things ready for our fun night out with Daddy tonight. A little dinner, a little school shoe shopping (OMG KINDERGARTEN!!) a nice evening out with our little people. While jamming to my oldies and doing my thing I start hearing a choir of cheering…

“GO BLADE GO! GO BLADE GO! YOU CAN DO IT BLADE! GO BLADE GOOOO! YOU ALMOST GOT IT BABYYY!!!”.

I was a little nervous as to what I would find as I followed the screeches of laughter and excitement. I turn the corner to find Blade being highly encouraged by his entourage of siblings to CLIMB OUT of his crib. Rather than try to stop the action, I ran quickly for my phone.  Let’s face it, Blade KNEW what he was about to do, there was no getting back him being blissfully unaware he could get out his crib if he so desired. I might as well capture the moment on film, right??

Although I am disappointed in the quads I will say I’m glad they at least put down a bean bag chair in the event their lil’ bro took a hard fall. Umm, thanks guys.

Brody & Baxlyn quickly moved out of the way and Blade made his landing safely on the bean bag chair as planned. Victory was theirs and I all of a sudden found myself left in a desperate search of a crib tent. That would be no, I am NOT ready to transition to a toddler bed ;)

I made my entrance into the room of my proud, giddy, over-the-moon excited children and they all shouted at once “Mom, LOOK!… Blade got out of his crib ALL BY HIMSELF!… He is SO big! Look what he did Mom!….He did it, he DID it, HE DID IIITTTT!” Perhaps they don’t remember what happened when each of them escaped (seen here here and here). All I know is Blade was just beaming with pride. Super cute but worries me that this will be an ongoing occurrence since he was so successful the first time! Grr.

Here’s to us embracing toddlerhood and all it’s goodness once again!  Yipeeeeeeee!!!

Quad Mama - MIA

Total slacker lately. Boo. I’ll blame it on five crazy, loud kids keeping me busy while they’re awake and a beautiful, constantly calling my name swimming pool recently put in my backyard keeping my busy when the loud and crazies are sleeping! Lots to come including our last pool play date before our Tew Triplet friends moved to Florida, our trip to Michigan and more! For now enjoy some random photos from summer in quadville…

Kylee’s last horseback riding lesson, Doc got his hair done just for the occasion! She and Brody are both looking forward to taking private lessons together in the fall!

Daddy :]

The boys and I had a special date after our trip to check out a local fire station!

B, Brody, Kylee & Korbin checking out the John Deere tractors! The lady told us that if we could start one up, we could take it home… Brody was determined to find a key somewhere. Needless to say, we went home empty handed!

I think they’re beautiful if I do say so myself ;) Kylee & Baxlyn

I’d like to say I caught this shot without them knowing, that they so sweetly held each other’s hands while entering the the lake together as a loving group of siblings…but I’d be lying. This is totally posed but made for a nice group shot!

 

My sweet Blade. Because you can never be too safe while playing your piano…

 

Mommy & Broman. So thankful for this chatter box.

The Squad with their friend Kenadi on the 4th of July!

 

Kylee & Brody before they ventured off at Cook Childrens for an entire day of neuropsychological testing! (May update soon on that one!)

Until next time!

Kylee & Doc – Therapeutic Horseback Riding!

That’s right! Our little animal lover, Kylee, is now taking horseback riding lessons and she is over the moon excited!

We’ve had multiple therapists over the years tell us they think Kylee would benefit from therapeutic riding lessons and we’ve never done it. Their sweet Granny Linda mentioned a couple of months ago that she would like to make it possible for Kylee to give riding a try (thank you, Linda!!!!). While each of the quads would love the experience and both Kylee & Brody could really benefit physically from it, we opted to let Kylee take lessons alone to start with. Something SHE got to do, that was special and just for her, something that set her apart from her brothers and sister. She is in a 5 week riding program and has lessons once a week at a local, Christian based, facility where trained instructors work with her to improve overall development. Below, Kylee & Linda say hello to another horse while her horse, Doc, gets prepped for their ride.

If you know Kylee at all you know she’s alwayyyyyys loved animals. The ONLY animal that has ever scared her…..are horses, believe it or not. Granted it’s been well over a year, but each and every time we offered to let the babies ride the horse at the zoo, Kylee was terrified and wanted nothing to do with it. She’s had maybe one or two pony rides over the past couple of years at festivals and such which has gotten her a little used to riding such a large animal, and apparently that was all she needed. We went to the ranch a few weeks ago so she could meet the horses and she fell in love instantly! Her first lesson was a week ago and she couldn’t wait to get on!

Kylee is in private lessons so she is the only one in the arena during her designated time. She had a total of 5 trainers/volunteers walking with her the entire time she was on the horse. Talk about attention ;)

I tagged along for her first lesson to snap pictures, of course. Not sure if it was the Batman shirt I was wearing or the braided pigtails, but I was asked by several people if I was Kylee’s sister! I get the “are you the babysitter” question pretty often, but never the sibling. If it means I’m looking young in some people’s eyes, I’ll take it ;)

Linda and I sat in a nice shady area watching her do her thing! She enjoyed every minute of it and her big grin never faded. She loved saying “Walk on, Doc!” to get him moving! I couldn’t help but laugh as she was easily distracted by dogs she would see out on the farm that she had met previously. We could hear her from across the arena asking “where was that dog? where did he go? why was he back there?" where is so-and-so?”

She practiced guiding the horse and holding the reigns tightly with both her right hand and “lefty”. She weaved in and out of poles and practice putting rings over them with both hands as well!

Once her riding time was over she got to help lead Doc back into the barn and put up equipment too!

Can’t wait to see how she continues to progress and if she develops a love for riding. If you have a child or loved one who has benefited from horse therapy, leave a comment or email me! I’d love to hear all about your experience!

Father’s Day – Beach Style!

After church we headed out to Papa & Lynn’s house to spend Father’s Day! Below, Papa with his GrandQuads! (Blade was attached to Daddy, of course!)

 

There is a beautiful lake near their house with the perfect beach for kids. Our crew has never had a real “beach” experience so they were thrilled to learn we were spending the afternoon in the water!

Baxlyn, Korbin & Brody having a blast waiting for waves… if you could only hear their laughter!

Like always, Blade was right there in the mix of things, giving me mini heart attacks as he ventured out like a big boy. At nearly 30lbs, he does well in his Puddle Jumper. Walking in the sand against the waves tipped him over quite a bit but he thought it was hysterical!

 

While I LOVE water and LOVE to swim, I’ve never been one for lakes or oceans. I like to SEE what’s creeping up on me below the water and the thought of a fish even getting near me terrifies me……eeeekk! While I enjoy going out on a boat occasionally, I have no desire to jump off into the deep unknown for a quick swim! One of these years, I’ll get to vacation some place like you see in the magazines…. a beautiful white sand covered creature-free beach, clear blue waters, tropical fish that you can see a mile deep….ahhhh ;) Luckily, we were at this beach for several hours and the only living thing I saw in the water/on the beach was one little fly – now THAT I can do!

My love and I. We rarely take picture together anymore. This one I forced him to take while snacking on sunflower seeds, hence the look.

My sweet girls. They have no fear and would have kicked their way out into the middle of the lake had I let them!

Me, Papa & Kylee who couldn’t stand to take moment to smile for a picture and miss out on more fun!

Korbin & B. Two peas in a pod.

Lynn & Korbin relaxing in the sand…

Blade and I playing a game of “I get youuuuuu” around the tree :)

I think Baxlyn probably enjoyed the water the most. She’s like me in OH SO many ways and has always been a fish out of water since she was a baby. This smile never left her face the entire time we were there!

Papa & Brody :)

Back at the house,  Brody double fisting the watermelon before enjoying a delicious rib dinner!

This sweet boy did SO good the entire day. He finally had had enough around 8pm and crashed quickly once we got in the car to head home!

People are always amazed that I capture so many pictures but I tell ya it’s hard. All day I kept telling myself to remember to get a picture of the 5 with Bret…. did I? Well, of course not. UGH! I did manage, however, to capture a “real” non posed picture of Korbin, Kylee, Baxlyn & Brody joining in on a rare group hug! So crazy, how big these little people are getting…

Thanks again, Papa & Lynn, for a fun-filled day! We can’t wait to come back and do it all again!

Our last T-ball game!

 

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin had their last tball game last week! I’d say they all enjoyed their season but they were not too sad it was over. It will be interesting to see what their interests are in the coming years. Bret and I were fairly athletic growing up so we’re kinda *hoping* one will follow in our footsteps, but who knows! My little Pirates left to right: long legged Kylee, Korbin, Miss B & Brody!

 

The crew with Coach Z (and little Aaron photo bombing the shot!) at the Cicis Pizza celebration after their game was cut short due to rain…booo!

They were all pretty excited to receive their very first and very OWN trophy for having such a great season…

L-R Baxlyn, Korbin, Brody & Kylee (check out her left foot – looking SO good!)

 Congrats my little Pirates on your awesome T-ball season!

Letter-Hat Day!

So today was Letter-Hat Day at school. It’s projects like these I imagine will be a HUGE challenge when it comes to having quadruplets. Art projects, science projects, research papers TIMES FOUR….Ahhhhh! Luckily we have close friends and family that I’m hoping we can depend on over the coming years for extra hands ;) The quads’ “Uncle Chirs” is SUPER artistic and helped us create Brody’s hat last year, he jumped at the chance to help with their hats again! Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin each chose their letter and helped us come up with an idea for each of their hats. The get to wear their hats at school today and show them off in a little parade! Here are the final products…

Brody was up first and chose to do a chef’s hat. He’s OBSESSED with Shogun, a hibachi grill type restaurant where they cook in front of you, so we did the letter “C” for Cook/Chef. Chris drew a grill, fire (because Brody is also obsessed with fire), a chicken leg, spatula, and other cooking items for Brody to color in! The poster board we used started off about 8 inches taller than what you see here. We debated sending him to school in a 4 foot tall hat but decided to make it a bit easier on the teachers ;)

Baxlyn is super into rainbows lately so we went with this… it’s a little on the… ahem… large side, but she loves it ;) She chose the random letter “N”.

 Kylee was dead set on a princess crown. She chose the letter “B” for Brooke (the dog) of course!

Ok Korbin’s, I won’t lie. Chris and I came up with this design. He originally wanted a Wizard hat but we couldn’t get the cone shape down just right. After some doodling we came up with elf ears, which you can clearly see, turned into Yoda. Although he has no clue who Yoda is, he LOVES his hat an enjoyed “scaring” the assistant principal this morning when she went to help him out of the van. Silly, dude!

Then we have sweet Blade. At 19 months old he has no idea he’s younger than the rest of them. As far as he’s concerned EVERYTHING they do, he does too. He insisted on wearing each hat, crawling up into Chris’ arms and cheesing for a picture like the others. Oh this boy!

Thanks again, Uncle Chris, for helping us with the second of MaNy projects!