Our first tenting adventure...part 2!

So this is kind of what it looked like in the tent when we were trying to get them to lay down...one tired quad momma plus four babies thinking there is no way that we are going to make them lay down when they have all this freedom! Don't you love Matthew trying to explain to me why he can't go to sleep in the tent?


Our morning started bright and early but hey, all our mornings do so that was nothing new. To our surprise the quaddlers were all in great mood for having no sleep! They wanted to have a fire so Ben built them one and they sat in their little chairs eating breakfast.

Ben and I were both in need of a shower so I had put out the crayons and coloring books that I brought and let them color on their little picnic table. That was going great until Aubrey spotted the Play-Doh! Immediately crayons were no good any more and they all wanted to get into the Play-Doh. It amused them for a few minutes until Brady dropped some on the ground and saw that he could cover it in dirt and just had to show the other three how to do it. Needless to say that stuff went straight to the trash when they were done using it.




After our showers we took them on a walk...without the stroller or wagon. Ya, I am thinking we had totally lost our minds by this point! It started out great, everyone wanted to hold hands and walk.


Then Cameron decided his new hobby was collecting rocks then dumping the bucket and collecting them all again! Brady decided to help him out getting all the rocks into the bucket while Aubrey and Matthew looked on like they were crazy!




One, Two, Three Jump!


Matthew decided he needed a little break and wasn't moving until he was good and ready.


Aubrey let us know she was "going get Mattchew!"


Brady walking like a big boy.


Cameron carrying a bucket of his latest obsession...ROCKS! Little does he know his college fund just got cut in half to fix the pain on my new van that he decided to draw on with his rocks.


We told them all if they were naughty we were going to put them in the cage. They showed us by getting in and shutting the door behind them!


We attempted naptime, which went better than bedtime but they discovered the air mattresses were like their bounce house and thought jumping from one to another was the cool thing to do. Cameron jumped then just stayed down and fell asleep, soon after Brady did the same. Ben ended up laying with Aubrey and the two of them fell asleep and finally Matthew gave in and fell asleep too. I of course couldn't manage to get to sleep before Kyle, Evan and Ella came for a visit.

When the kids woke up we went down to the big beach and was surprised to see how much they had let it go. It used to be a nice beach but now grass is grown up on the beach and it isn't very well maintained.

The kids had a great time there playing in the water with daddy!




Brady thinks he is bigger than the others and "I do myself" has been his catchphrase lately.


Can you say hot mess?


Mr. Cool


Cameron decided to dump water over Ben's head!


Daddy getting Cameron back.






Brady wanted in on the fun!


Aubrey dumping a waterless bucket over her head.


Matthew minding his own business!


We listened to the weather forecast for the night and the next morning and decided it was best to pick up camp and go home so we weren't stuck picking up everything wet and having to reset it up at home to dry out. I can't say that I was sad to get to sleep in my own bed and have the kiddos in their crib sleeping soundly through the night. Good thing our next attempt at camping will be next summer, by then the memories should have faded enough that I am ready to try again!

Where did our easy bedtimes go???

Ever since the babies were born we have always been able to lay them down and they go to sleep on thier own. The past couple weeks have turned into a pain in the butt! As soon as we lay them down they start asking for "covers up". The hard part of having four babies to put to sleep is that by the time you cover up the 4th one the 1st one is standing up with their blanket in hand asking for "covers up".

This tends to go on for a good 5 minutes before I leave the room and someone...usually Matthew ends up crying for 5-10 more minutes before laying down and going to sleep. It is driving me crazy and I want my easy bedtime babies back! Reason #13805354 for keeping them in cribs! :)

Out of the mouth of babes...

I don't know where these kids come up with half the things they say. They are too smart for their own good. They make me laugh, even when I know that I shouldn't be laughing at them. I want to remember all these things so what better place to write them down than in our blog!

"Oh No! Daddy's driving!" says Matthew with his hands over his eyes.

As I was out grilling dinner I told the kids to stay in the house because it was raining. Brady decided it was his job to tell me "Mommy in house right now...1...2...3" then he spanked my butt because I didn't listen to him.

We got new cups this weekend and Cameron is in charge of keeping everyone's straight. He follows me to the fridge and tells me who gets which one. This morning I decided to joke around with him and tell him that Brady's cup was Matthew's and he said "no, Matt's...Crazy momma!"

Whenever I am looking for something and Aubrey hears me say it out loud she comes running from any room yelling "I get it!"

They are little tattle tales lately! "I tell mommy" "no, I tell mommy" then they proceed to tell me whatever they think is tattle worthy.

They chase each other around the house all crouched over saying "I gonna get you!"

First thing in the morning they always ask me "I go bye bye?" if I say not right now or not today they will ask me "It raining out?"

When it is time to get ready for something at least ine if them will dive into the ball pit, cover with balls and say "You can't find me!" We would never guess you were hiding in the ball bit for the millionth time!


When they are playing they will take their stuff and say "Bye Bye, see you tomorrow". I think somedays they wish they went to day care so they could leave this house every day!

"I" goes in front of everything! "I slide?", "I eat suppie", etc. EXCEPT when I ask who did something wrong... 90% of the time they throw Matthew under the bus whether he did it or not!

Ben and I really need to watch our mouths a little more closely. No matter where they are in the house they can't hear us telling them not to do something you know they can hear us if we even whisper a swear and little Miss Potty Mouth likes to sit there and repeat it all the while smirking at us when we catch her. Thankfully she keeps those words to her self after getting "the look".

We talk about what the animals say and they sound so cute making the animal noises. They can also make car noise, bike noises, and when Ben asks them what Grammie says they always answer "No, No, No" the more Ben laughs the louder they say it!

They always announce very loudly that it is their turn when they want to do something that one of their siblings is doing.

Cameron finally will call himself "Ca-Cam" instead of Matt, Matthew calls himself "Maaachew", Brady calls himself "Braylee" and Aubrey calls herself "Aubee".

The absolute best sentence they have been saying to me lately is "Love You Mommy!" It melts my heart every single time!

Bye Bye beach!

Our last stop before heading home was supposed to be at Pine Point beach but with the sunny and 85 forecast everyone else had that idea! The parking lots were full so Ben told them he would take them down to the boat launch and see the boats. To our surprise there was a little beach right there that was small and very few people were there. They had a ball playing there! Finally it was time to take the trip home. We were all exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep!

"Bye bye beach...bye bye boats...bye bye sand...bye bye waves...bye bye birdies!" Oh yeah, that's what we get every time we leave somewhere!

Bailey's Campground

Ben's family is camping this week at Bailey's so we decided to join them for the night. The kids had a great time playing and swimming at the campground but bedtime without any cribs or pack and plays was quite the adventure. This has cemented my thought that they should really be in cribs until college. They thought getting up and jumping on their siblings was the thing to do! After about 45 minutes of wrestling, laughing and bossing each other "I tell Mommy!" "No, I tell Mommy!" "I had it first" they finally fell asleep.

Matthew woke up around 12:30 and he obviously thought 3 hours sleep was sufficient for him. I ended up bringing him into bed with me so he wouldn't wake everyone else up and I honestly don't think he slept any after that. I kept waking up to him 2 inches from my nose saying "Hi Mommy!" Makes me a little nervous for our tenting adventure this weekend!

We got to get them into the pool with a lot of extra hands and Brady mastered his Puddle Jumper! The other two boys were getting pretty brave with theirs as well. Aubrey, well, she had Uncle Tom and Auntie Kate there so she couldn't possibly handle doing anything herself...she knows how to wrap them around her finger.

The next day when it was time to pack up and head to the beach before heading home none of them wanted to leave. We all wish we could have stayed longer but there are these little things called jobs that we had to get home for so we are able to do these fun things.

Swimming!




Uncle Tom and Aubrey


Daddy and Cameron


Grandpa and Matthew


Crazy Matthew!


Mommy and Aubrey


Auntie Kate and Matthew


Grandpa and Cameron


Brady and Mommy


Waiting for some ice cream!

Old Orchard Beach

Ben and I decided to take the quaddlers to the beach for the weekend! We had a blast but I soon discovered a trip that used to take us 2.5 hours now was a 4 hour trip with kids. They ride fairly well but it is easier to get out and play at a park or find a place to just run around for a little bit then let the crankiness take over the entire car.

They absolutely loved playing in the sand with their beach toys and Cameron even discovered that he could get sand on his shovel and fling it really far to hit someone. Matthew loved being buried in the sand then standing up and breaking free.

The ocean water was warm and the waves were perfect for them to jump. Aubrey was not too happy to have the sand wash out under her feet as the tide went out but she loved it when I held her in the water and the waves crashed on us. Brady loved the water so much that he decided to try running in alone to catch up with Ben as I tried running with Aubrey and Cameron to catch him. Of course he ended up falling and a passerby grabbed him out of the water.

We walked the pier and the streets looking at the shops and had a bite to eat and they were sound asleep before we left the parking lot!

So excited to head to the beach!


Looking at the airplane flying over the ocean


Mr. Too Cool for Pictures aka Brady


Cameron trying to figure out the shovel


The little super model


Matthew sunbathing


Buried in the sand


Playing in the water










Building in the sand