18 months in review

Life gets busy, days turn into months, before you know it a year and a half has gone by and there is nothing documented.  I felt that our blog was an easy way to stay in the know of what was going on with our family without ever having to really participate in their lives and hoped that when I stopped sharing they would attempt to be more present in the quads lives.  Although this hasn't happened, I have realized that it was their loss not ours and that one day we, the six of us, will want to look back at these moments that are quickly forgotten and see all the special times we forgot about. Here is my attempt to play catch up!

October 2016 -  Gone are the days where I get to pick the Halloween theme and dress them up in group outfits.  This was the year where they all decided to show their individuality and dress up in their favorite costumes.

November 2016 - We made our annual trip to the Beloin Tree farm in Columbia in search of the perfect tree.  With 4 very opinionated littles it is hard to find one they all agree on but in the end they found the perfect tree and did a great job cutting it down. 

December 2016 - We took a ride to the North Pole via the Polar Express!  It was a fun morning of singing Christmas carols, hearing Christmas stories while drinking warm hot chocolate and having gingerbread cookies.  Santa even gave everyone a bell! Cameron was in awe that he could hear it ring because you only can hear it if you truly believe and he was not so sure that he did!  

 We spent a day at Jay Peak waterpark where they learned to surf, got to play in the waterslides and enjoyed the "crazy" river.  It was a long fun day and by the time we left I wasn't sure who was more tired out...the kids or the parents!

Lots of warm winter days lead to fun in the snow.  Even Callie was enjoying a little fresh air with the kiddos.

 We continued our tradition of Christmas Eve at camp!  Cam was not impressed by the tree they chose, he wanted a Charlie Brown tree so we told him next year was his pick...you better believe he remembered it when the time came!  We got another year's use out of the awesome Christmas jammies before passing them on to another quad family.

January 2017 - The quad squad completed their final year of basketball at Col Town!  Next year they will be able to play for GES.  Although they will miss some of the friends they made through Col Town sports, they are excited to be playing with their class mates next year.

 For Christmas Grammie and Papa Brann gave the kids ski lessons at Bretton Woods as their gift and they discoved they love skiing!  It was great seeing how far they came in the 6 short weeks of lessons they had.  It took Cam a few lessons to learn that just saying "Pizza, PIZZA, PIIIZZZZAAAA!"  won't make your skis stop.  Aubrey was so scared to start the season but became less timid as the time wore on.

February 2017 - Time for our annual Mother/Son Day Out and Father/Daughter Dance!  Aubrey always looks forward to getting all dressed up and going for a special day with dad. This year the boys and I went out to see Batman!

March 2017 - A month with nothing big on the calendar, how can that be?  We spent our down time teaching the kids card games and they all have a love of gambling.  Yatzee became a family game night favorite. They brought their friends over to learn about making maple syrup at Papa's sugar house.

April 2017 - Happy Easter!  The kids were surprised with a basketball hoop for Easter and got to have TWO egg hunts, one at home and one at Grammie and Papa's.  

May 2017 - The boys opted out of baseball for the season but Aubrey was excited to play softball again this year.  She even got the opportunity to try out being catcher!

June 2017 - End of school field trip to Squam Lakes Science Center was fantastic.  We had never been there before and spent the day exploring and learning.  We had many trips to Santa's Village with our season passes...so many that the boys requested they not get passes again this year!

July 2018 - What a busy month!  We spent the first weekend at the family reunion at Uncle Dave and Aunt Susan's playing in the water with all the family.  On the way home we went to SkyZone and the kids jumped out what little energy they had left for the day!

As I got ready to head off to Kansas City for our Annual Scentsy Family Reunion I was able to spend the first part of the camping week at Jellystone with the kids.  They love getting together with all their cousins and enjoying the pool and of course the Gaga Ball Pit!

August 2017 - Aubrey participated, and won, the Little Miss Lancaster Pageant!  The quad squad road the float in Lunenburg's Old Home Day parade and helped me work my Scentsy booth.  We got to spend some time with Aunt Hillary, Dominic and Jake at the campground and Santa's Village.  We hiked up Mt. Prospect, went blueberry picking and dad took the kids to Old Orchard Beach for a weekend all before getting ready to go back to school as THIRD graders...how did that happen!?!?

September 2018 - Fair, Fair, Fair fun!  The Quad Squad turns 8!  They celebrate with friends at Santa's Village then a family party at camp.  Soccer season was fun traveling all over to play in tournaments!

 

 

October 2017 - The boys joined Cub Scouts and attended their first activity day.  It had everything from an obsticle course, target practice, cpr training and a rain gutter regatta!  We had fun apple picking at the orchard in Stark and they decided to do a theme Halloween!!!  The Hickeys and The Hamiltons present "The Descendents!"

November 2017 - The Hickeys and The St. Cyrs took over NYC!  We packed a lot into a weekend and saw all the sites.  Cameron was insistent that an Asian guy was following him through the city, Matt was excited to see the Naked Cowboy...and the Cowgirls...Aubrey couldn't wait to spend all her money shopping and Brady just took it all in!  They learned that in NYC, you can shout out things at the top of your lungs and no one even looks twice..that was a fun game!  It was a long couple of days but we made a lot of memories...

Our first stop...Statue of Liberty!  The kids loved playing the find the park ranger game that was going on for Lady Liberty's birthday more than any part of the trip to the island.  

A walk through Central Park

They loved the excitement of Times Square

Our first Subway ride brought out all sorts of reactions! 

Ground Zero.

Some time at the Central Park Zoo...think they would notice if we left them here?

Dinner at Dave and Buster's then off to the Empire State Building before calling it a day!

December 2017 - The hustle and bustle of Christmas season was once again upon us.  Our weekends filled up too fast and we ended up having to break tradition of going to Beloin Tree Farm and stay close to home to grab a tree at the last minute.  Of course my phone died and I was only able to get one picture of Aubrey trying to cut it down.  They did a great job decorating it all by themselves this year!  We paid a visit to Santa and made lots of yummy cookies for family and friends before settling into camp for Christmas Eve.

January 2018 - The Quad Squad was super excited to have another year of skiing and being able to play basketball for GES this year.  It was a couple busy months but seeing how far they came in such a short time was amazing!

February 2018 - Time for the Father/Daughter Dance again!  This means the boys and I get Mother/Son date...off to the bowling alley and pool we went!  It is unbelievable to see how grown up our little lady is already!  The Pinewood Derby and Powder Puff Derby were run with Matthew and Cameron taking home trophies for best crafted and Brady placing 4th in the race!

 

March 2018 - March was our month to relax...all our sports were done, skiing was done and now we could just catch our breath before moving into another season.  The boys completed their boy scout ranking for Bears and attended the ceremony where they "ranked up" to the next level.  They made bird houses and did a good turn by raffling them off at the ceremony.