2013...a year in review!

How quickly the past four years have flown.  I always like to take the time to put our highlights from the past year in a short blog post to look back on in the years to come...

January 2013 - We started the year off with some fun!  The boys went to their first Monster Jam show and Aubrey and I hit up the pedicure salon for mommy and me pedis.  Cameron had ear tubes put in and adenoids removed and was able to hear again!

February 2013 - Our first broken bone award went to Cameron with a broken leg.  He took it like a champ though!  Aubrey and Daddy went to their first Father/Daughter dance and had a fabulous time at the Ball!

March 2013 - The peacefulness of nap time had come to an end as we outgrew that stage in our life.  Bed time became much nicer though!  We had a playdate at the Children's Museum in North Conway with some of our best quad friends.  They discovered music beyond circle time songs and learned the words to many new songs.

April 2013 - Our daycare fundraised for a new swing set and the kids enjoyed seeing it be built!  Finally the quads were old enough to play t-ball!  They loved playing and haven't stopped talking about next season since then.

May 2013 - The quads and daddy stayed home while I headed for a long weekend in Nashville with my best quad momma pals!  Our family proudly walked in the March of Dimes walk in honor of Samuel, Andrew, Kendall and Aryelle.

June 2013 - The kids participated in two fishing derbies and Matthew took home the trophy for biggest fish in his division!  It was a winning month for Matthew as he also took first place in the bike races at Riverside.  Aubrey took home 3rd!  We wrapped up the T-ball season and I headed to beautiful Hawaii with my mom courtesy of Scentsy!

July 2013 - It was a month of vacationing!  We went to MA for the 4th of July family reunion and got to see the McAllister side of the family.  We took a weekend to head to Old Orchard Beach and explore the beach at Pine Point collecting shells, sand dollars and hermit crabs.  Our first go-carting experience and a stop at mini golf ended our month!

August 2013- We had our first, of hopefully many, annual quadventure camping trip with the MacLeod's!  So many memories were made.  We flew a kite for the very first time with much success and our family grew with the addition of Callie!

September 2013 - September means two things...the Lancaster fair and BIRTHDAY!  We celebrated our pirates and princess turning 4 in a fun afternoon at the Col. Town gym.  The kids took up soccer and we went apple picking!

October 2013 - The quads and Daddy experienced the circus for the first time.  Nearly 3 hours of glued to your seat, don't blink your eyes fun!  Halloween brought us Dorothy, a lion, a tin man and a scarecrow who won for the best group.

November 2013 - Courtesy of the Canton's and the St Cyr's we spent a day splashing around at the water park in North Conway.  Our first trip to the Fairbank's Museum and the Planetarium was amazing.  A fun time had by all.

December 2013 -  Christmastime at the Hickey house was full of fun and laughter.  We made treats and delivered them to family and friends.  We visited Santa's Village and Olde Tyme Christmas.  We had lots of fun courtesy of Jingle B and Santa.  Toddler beds were replaced with big kid bunk beds!

Our motto for 2014..If you believe it, you can achieve it!  I believe it is going to be the best year ever!

Operation Room Transformation take 3...

In the past four and a half years the kids room has undergone three make overs.  The first one was by far the best...new sheet rock, fresh paint, new carpeting but the other two have been pretty special as well.  It seems impossible that they have out grown two transformations already in their short lives.

From this...

To this...

and now this!

Christmas 2013

For weeks and weeks the kids have asked Santa for new bunk beds...they were so sure they were going to get them!  Christmas morning I snuck down and turned on the lights on the tree and the lights on the banister and when I got back into my bedroom, where we had all had a sleep over on Christmas Eve, they all asked if Santa came.  I told them I wasn't sure, let's go check!

Brady was the first one down the stairs and he walked over the the tree, looked behind the tree and said "Well guys, Santa didn't bring our bunk beds!"  They all quickly got over it and moved onto their gifts.

The first gift from Santa was a group gift with a note on it that said they must all share it well.  They were psyched to open a Kindle Fire!

When the final gift before the stockings was opened ended up being bed sets they were happy but you could tell a little disappointed.  I convinced them they needed to bring their bed sets to their room and their surprise and excitement when they walked in and saw the bunk beds was priceless...this is what Christmas memories are all about!



A huge THANK YOU goes out to...
Ben Stinson, Tom Hickey and Ben Hickey for building the bunk beds and to Larry and Charlotte Amadon for coming and helping me take out the old and set up the new just in time for a Christmas surprise!

My little elves!

We continued our annual tradition of making LOTS of goodies and then bringing them out to some of our favorite people.  We wish we had more time to get so many more out there to everyone we love.  Our final count was:
6 batches of fudge
28 dozen assorted cookies

300 cream filled chocolates 

30 chocolate dipped pretzels

Delivering them with a "Merry Christmas" was the perfect way to spend our Saturday!

Smarty Pants!

I cannot get over how much these kids have learned over the years.  Sometimes they even surprise me by knowing things that I have no idea how they learned them.  They are with me 24/7 and I know I didn't teach them some of the stuff they come up with!  It is unbelievable to me that they will be headed to kindergarten in 9 short months but I think they are on their way to being ready!

They come up with stories and explanations that 90% of the time make total sense.  It is amazing.  My favorite one they have come up with lately is that Aubrey is the Princess, Daddy is the King, I am the Queen and the boys are the Guards.  They guard her because it ts winter and polar bears come out in winter.  They might come attack!  LOL!

How many Santa's???

We thought we would have several more years before they started questioning Santa and all the magic of Christmas but boy were we wrong!  Last weekend they attended two different fair which both had Santa on their line up.  They each told me, separately, that the Santa at the second fair wasn't the real one.  They all noticed his real mustache underneath the Santa costume and wanted to know why there was more than one Santa.

Thinking quick we told them that Santa sometimes needs to have his helpers come and help him because he can't be in two places at once and he doesn't want to disappoint any of the kids.  That seemed to satisfy them for this year but I don't think it will be long until they make the discovery.

51 months....

With each passing month they amaze me more and more!  Through our good days and our bad days these four faces have brought so much into our lives. 

Oh do these pictures ever show their personalities!  

Matthew the charmer!

Brady masterminding his next plan!

Cameron being a goof ball!

Aubrey the Princess...anyone who thinks different needs to just ask her.  She will set you in your place.

Working on growing her hair as long as Rapunzel's!

The kids wanted to try dance class again this year so we signed them up to try with Miss Jody and they are loving it!  They had a little open house last week where parents could come in and see what they are learning.  They looked adorable but need to learn that paying attention and being quiet are two things that will benefit them in the coming years!

Stretching out!

Circle time!

Getting ready to do "parachutes"

All lined up!

Parachutes again!

Amazingly, this guy is the one to pay attention and do well!

All I can think of when I see this pic is "SUPERSTAR!!!"

Showing us their dance routine!

They are too cute!  I cannot wait for the recital.  I am sure they will do well and it will be adorable!