Little Imaginations!

The quaddlers have been playing a lot with their imagination. They will bring us little plates and play food and tell us that it is our supper. We of course have to pretend to eat it and they especially like it when we pretend it is too hot to eat. They love to play house and pretend they go in the car to go bye bye. They will sit on the couch and yell "see a tomorrow" as they drive off! They feed their babies and give them "bobbles". I love seeing that they can entertain themselves so easily!

One morning I got them breakfast then went upstairs to get more diapers. When I came down they had moved all their bowls and cups into their playroom and were sitting at the little picnic table eating. I asked them what they were doing and they all yelled "CAMPING!" They must have enjoyed eating their meals on the picnic table while we were at the lake!

Aubrey's photo shoot

Aubrey asked for me to do her hair this morning then in true diva fashion as soon as she was done she asked for the camera. She is something else!











Of course the boys needed to say "CHEESE" too!

Playing in the sprinkler

It was a hot day out so Ben went up to Grammie's house to borrow the sprinkler and we stripped them down to their diapers and let them play. They loved getting sprayed and running up to the water.












Their diapers were so saggy that they decided to take them off before walking into the house. Too cute!

Our first tenting adventure...part 1!

I must start off by saying we are typically very brave and love to bring the kids on new adventures often but my word of advice to other parents of multiples is that tenting in sleeping bags with four nearly two-year olds is definitely not recommended if you would like to allow your camping neighbors a peaceful night sleep!

The day started off great! We got there and started setting up camp. I unpacked the van, the kids ran around and Ben attempted to put up the tent, a few other people from our town were there, saw Ben needed some assistance and came over to help get it set up. Within an hour we were ready to sit back and enjoy some relaxation in the beautiful setting of Maidstone Lake.






What is better than a picnic for dinner? They were so excited that camping dinner consisted of CHIPS...their new favorite food to ask for!


After dinner we took a walk down to the lake with no intention of going in but the kiddos had other ideas so they ended up in the lake with diapers only. They were amazed by the huge frog that was down by the water when we first got there and Cameron loved playing with a little doggie that was down there too.



Watching the boats go out and Cameron giving them thumbs up!




The little diva not wanting to get in the water because it was too cold for her.


Throwing rocks in the water!




Splashing in the water!


After the water play we went back to the campsite to get on some jammies and have a campfire. They thought the fire was awesome!










Having a little sing-a-long


Cameron getting some love from Daddy!


Soon it was bedtime...and here is where our perfect day turned into a nightmare! It was 2 hours past normal bedtime and they were not ready just lay down and go to sleep. I am sure they were thinking "Are you freaking kidding me...no cribs...freedom to attack our siblings and you want us to LAY DOWN?!?!?" Three out of four were asleep within 20 minutes with Ben and I each sitting down by an air mattress with 2 kids on it, any guesses on who the lone ranger still awake was??? Of course it was Matthew, my pain in the butt in the sleep department since day one!

It took him well over an hour longer than the other 3 to finally give in all the while letting out his signature screeching cry and wanting a "PAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOWWWW". Unfortunately all the pillow's he wanted were being used by his siblings. I guess having 4 identical pillows doesn't mean a thing when you are almost two and want to have something to throw a temper tantrum about.

I tried ignoring him, I tried giving him my pillow, Ben's pillow, his pillow, I tried giving him the 1-2-3 warning, I tried cuddling him and nothing! All I got in return was him screaming "NO, MOMMY", hitting me, biting me and pulling my hair. Never has he thrown a fit that went on like this! Finally Ben got back from the shower and it was like a switch flipped and he laid down with me and fell asleep.

I was hopeful that this would be the end of the night issues and that we, and our neighbors, would be able to get some sleep but alas Cameron decided to wake up and start crying not long after we had all fallen asleep. This created a domino effect as Matthew awoke as well. His screaming ended up waking up the other two and I ended up with all three boys sleeping not with me but ON me for the remainder of the night and Ben ended up sleeping with Aubrey. Needless to say no one got much sleep at all and as the sun came up and woke everyone I was very nervous to see what the day ahead had in store for us.

Stay tuned for part 2!

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!