Happy Holidays!!!!

These are some of my attempts at taking the kids picture for our Christmas cards. I could always get 2 out of 3 to look and smile and eventually I took "The One"!!!! The field in the background is part of our 6 acres. Isn't it gorgeous and peaceful??

The girls smooching on their brother.

C getting back at them by squeezing them tightly.

This was "The One" however we zoomed in our their upper bodies more b/c C was doing something weird with his thumb.

C posing in front of the tree for me. They helped us decorate the tree this year. That is why there are so many decorations right behind him.

Z posing for me.

M posing for me.

The kids with Santa at the OT/PT Christmas party at Children's Hospital. The girls have flowers painted on their faces and C has a snowman painted on his. Due to the large number of children there to see Santa, the kids were unable to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. C was devastated b/c he brought a catalog with the picture of the toy that he wanted to make sure that Santa got it right.

Baking sugar cookies with Daddy.

These are the chocolate covered pretzels that they made with me. They got a little wild with the sprinkles but the pretzels still tasted great.

Licking the chocolate bowl after making pretzels.

Christmas with Great Granny and the cousins. My brother-in-law's family and my in-laws came and stayed with us for 4 days b/4 Christmas. We had a blast!!

All the cousins piled up watching "The Star of Christmas"

My girls with their only girl cousin.

Papa giving the girls a wheelbarrow ride in the backyard.

C on Christmas morning with his new car table. This is what he really wanted Santa to bring him.

Z with her new bistro grill. She asked for a BIG kitchen (which cost $300) so we told her Santa could only fit this one on his sleigh (and in his budget).

M with her "Pretty pink mirror". She is very much into dress up and this was the perfect "accessory for her".

C spending his 1st night in his new big boy room by himself. He slept in it when the cousins were here but Christmas Eve was his first night to do it alone. The girls came in to tuck him in, say prayers, and tell him that it would be okay and that they would miss him very much. Up until now, they have all 3 shared a room. For Christmas, they received "big girl/boy beds, bedding, curtains, ect". I'll post pictures of their new rooms once we hang all of the pictures.

C on his "new" battery powered 4-wheeler and you can see their "new" bikes in the background. I put 'new' in parenthesis b/c we bought the battery powered vehicles and bikes from another family with older triplets. They were in great shape and are 'new' to our kids.

The girls in their "new" pink jeep. They are typical women drivers. They don't pay attention, talk to each other, talk on the phone, and mess with their hair.

The kids with Uncle K playing with their new Lincoln Logs on Christmas Day.

M as Barbie Island Princess and Z as Dora the Explorer. They LOVE dress up! (Thanks Uncle B for the dresses)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Pictures

Our Halloween princesses and dashing pirate. (Don't the girls look like teenagers with makeup on?) L to R: Z, C, M

Playing in a huge pile of leaves at the new house. They would ride their tricycles down the sidewalk and crash into the leaves. LOTS of fun!!!

Goofing around trying to take our Christmas card picture. Can you believe the girls are wearing sleeveless for Christmas pictures???? L to R: M, C, Z
Notice part of our 6 acres in the background. They is a nice large field behind them.

We've Moved!!

I am so sorry that it has been almost a month since I last posted. We moved at the beginning of November and were without internet until about 4 days ago. We have moved out to the county and have a huge house on 6 acres of land. We are still trying to get settled and unpack. We have to replace all of the carpet upstairs due to extremely bad dog, urine stains and a smell that is indescribable. We did not notice these things at any of our viewing due to a smart home owner who used lots of Glade Plug-Ins and strategic placing of furniture and rugs. Besides that, we love the house and can't wait to get settled. The kids are very upset b/c we haven't unpacked many of their toys and we don't have a Christmas tree up yet. They are afraid Santa will not find us now that we have moved and that he will be upset b/c we do not have a tree. I promised them that as soon as we get new carpet, we will put up a tree and unpack all of their toys.

The kids are still attending MDO 3 days a week and absolutely love it. Since it now takes us 40 minutes (one way) to get there, I have started working there as a floater. They didn't like the idea of me being there at first but now they think it is silly. This was my first week and it was fun b/c I never know what I will be doing from day to day. I will have to say though, that it was hard to get my mind and body use to being back in the working world (even if it is just 4 hours a day). I miss those 4 hours of alone time and that is when I did the bulk of my house work. At least I am making a small income to either pay for gas or their tuition.

I hope to update with pictures soon but it could be a couple of weeks from now. I don't know where the digital camera is.........

Happy 4th Birthday!!!

Sorry it has been a month and 1/2 since my last update! We have been quite busy. The kids turned FOUR three weeks ago. The 1st picture is of them on their actual birthday. They are wearing birthday crowns that they got from their MDO teacher. As you can see, they were very excited to turn 4 and very proud of their crowns. We had a huge birthday party for them in a gym. Lots of their friends and family came to run and ride around in the gym. The themes for the party were "Diggers" for C, "Strawberry Shortcake" for Z, and "Princess" for M. They each received their very own birthday cake decorated especially for their themes. (Thanks Mrs. A) In the second picture, C is wearing blue, M is wearing pink, and Z is wearing purple and they are surrounded by some of their friends.

Besides planning their party, we have been house hunting. After several months of looking and 2 failed offers on 2 different houses, we stumbled upon "The ONE"!!!!!! (or actually God knew best and made the 1st 2 offers fail and He led us to 'the One'.) It is a 7 bedroom and 3 bath brick home on 6 acres!!! I am so pumped. I have wanted to leave the city for a long time and with the kids approaching school age, we had to move to find a good school system for them and get settled. Once we move (which happens next week--9th & 10th), I'll post pictures of the new house. We will miss the convenience of being so close to daddy's work but we will love the freedom to roam in the woods, play in the creek, plant a garden, and play outside all day long.

We also just returned from Disney World. We went with my in-laws and my brother-in-law and his family. We were gone for 9 days total and were able to stay with some relatives in route and on the return trip home. We had a 'magical' time and the kids are still talking about it. Dear hubby downloaded the pictures to his laptop so I am unable to post pictures right now but I will after we move.

It will probably be another month b/4 I post again, so please check in regularly!

Latest sewing project

I only have a few minutes to write but I wanted to post a picture of the newest outfits that I made for the kids. I promised the girls at the beginning of summer that I would make them an Auburn dress. As you can see, it took me 4 months to finally make them. It is hard to tell in the picture, but the dresses and C's shorts are made out of small blue and white gingham and I appliqued the orange tiger paw on the front of the dresses. I hadn't planned on making C anything but he got really upset when he saw the girls dresses so I made him shorts that he could wear with his new AU polo. The dresses are a little too big but I think they look darn cute in them.

Date with Daddy!

Last Saturday, I signed daddy up to take the girls on a date to our local zoo to meet Barbie, the Island Princess. The girls were extremely excited and M talked about it every day until he took them. The girls both got to meet Barbie and have a picture taken with her. They got to view her new movie (Barbie, the Island Princess) that is being released on the 25th of this month and they learned about the red panda, which was in the movie. At the end of the presentation, the zoo gave out door prizes. As you can tell from the 2 pictures above, daddy won them both awesome prizes. He actually won to the largest and most expensive prizes that were given away at the very end. He said he could feel the eyes of all of the jealous (and maybe a little psycho) moms on his back. The other few dads that were there applauded him for racking up on prizes. After door prizes were given out, they were to go as a group to view the red panda. Well, daddy knew that he needed to pack up the girls and their prizes and head to the car b/4 he was jumped and mugged for their toys.

The toy that M has is an elephant that has a magnet in its snout. It picks up one of the little dolls and drops it in the seat on his back. Z and C are proudly showing off karaoke Barbie, whom they can also style her hair. The total value of both toys is about $80!!!! Daddy did good and the girls had a blast!! They haven't stopped talking about it.

While they were on their little adventure, C and I went shopping for supplies for their upcoming 4th b/day party. He had so much fun in the party supply store. They had all of their Halloween costumes and accessories out so I let him try on a bunch of stuff. He loved being mommy's little helper and planning for his party.


I also have to add a funny story that happened tonight at the dinner table. The kids were talking about their day at school and what they learned in chapel. Z said that God was in the house with us. We agreed with her and said that God (or Jesus) are everywhere and that they could live in her heart if she wanted him to. Without hesitation and very matter of factly, she said, "No thanks!". We could not contain our laughter. I know we shouldn't have laughed. We do want her to have Jesus in her heart, but the way she answered was so funny. We decided to ask C and M if they wanted Jesus to live in their hearts and they both said yes. We went back and asked Z again and she still said no. I can already tell she is going to be our little rebel!!!!

War Eagle!

The first picture is of the kids literally "tailgating" in the back of my SUV on Auburn's opening game day. Daddy was grilling burgers and the kids were listening to the pre-game show with him. Every time they see a football game now, they yell, "Touchdown Auburn!" regardless of who is playing. Unfortunately though, they were not able to cheer Auburn to a win this past Saturday. It was way past their bedtime.

The 2nd and 3rd pictures are of daddy with the kids on the 1st day of Mother's Day Out (MDO). The girls had already finished breakfast and C was being a slowpoke as usual. They were so excited to see their new teacher and they have 2 friends from their class last year in their room this year. It amazes me that the teachers at their school still have trouble telling the girls apart. We think they look nothing alike. M has really long and curly brownish hair while Z has stick straight, shorter, blond hair. M is taller and thicker while Z is shorter and petite. Their personalities are TOTALLY different. Z is very talkative and outgoing and M is extremely shy and quiet. I don't get it but they are my children and I do see them everyday.

This year in MDO they will have computer, music, dance, Spanish, and chapel as well as art, story time, centers, and outside play time. Their teacher is awesome! She is very spunky and LOVES children. She is also very "crafty" and creative (which I love). They do have a little boy in their room that is a trouble maker. They have only been to MDO for 3 days and he was put in time-out all 3 days. Z loves telling me about other people getting in trouble.

I am spending my 'alone time' now house hunting. We have a buyer for our house and now it is just a matter of us finding the perfect affordable house in a great neighborhood w/a good school system, that isn't too far from daddy's work. That should be easy huh????????

August update

At the beginning of the month, a small group of my friends (who also have multiples) got together to sell each other our kid's outgrown clothes, shoes, toys, ect...... I was able to purchase most of the kids fall/winter wardrobe there along with some "new" toys. The first picture is of C proudly showing off his "new" toys. As soon as he got the costume on, he ran around the house screaming, "I'm SPIDERMAN!" while showing us his new, big, strong muscles. He was hysterical. Now the girls put it on and say, "I'm Spidergirl".

Toward the end of this month, we went back to my hometown for a family get-together at my Gran's old house. Gran is 87 yrs. old and just as feisty as they come and she loves getting together with family. The second picture is of her with her ELEVEN great-grandchildren. The 3rd picture is of her with 8 of her ELEVEN grandchildren and the great-grandchildren. The last picture is of her with her FIVE children, now 9 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Of the 2 grandchildren missing, one was in Tennessee and the other was in Africa. Once the festivities were over, Z looked at me and said, "Momma, we got a lot of cousins!". Boy is she right!!

After the family get-together, we went to the beach for a very short vacation. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera down with me to the beach and pool so no pictures to share. The kids had a blast though and no one ended up in the ER this time. Z and C can swim a little with their heads under water and M loves the ocean. They all attempted to build sand castles but mostly destroyed mine. They all love to eat fish and shrimp at the "restaurant". (that is their name for any place that we go and eat and sit down...........as opposed to the drive-thru windows at fast food places)

Daddy is extremely busy with work and we are trying to make some repairs to the house. I just finished selling the rest of the kid's old clothes, toys, cribs, and junk at our annual multiples fall garage sale. This year's sale was gigantic. I have never seen so many clothes in all my life and most were priced $1.00 and $2.00. Needless to say, I finished clothing the kids for the fall/winter and picked up some "gifts from Santa".

The kids start back to MDO (mother's day out) next week and will attend 3 days a week this year. I am very excited about this b/c my 'Prissy Pieces' business is taking off and I need all the extra (kid free) time I can get to catch up on orders. I am currently working on a new prissy pieces website. It has taken forever to switch hosts sites. I hope to have it up and running in about a month. I know that sounds like forever, but I am getting someone to create me a new site and I have a lot of pictures to upload.

That's our monthly summary in a nut shell!!

Van Gogh???

The kids have been begging my to "do some fun games" so tonight after dinner, I decided to let them paint. What started out as harmless painting on a piece of construction paper (with newspaper underneath) turned into full body painting. At first I scolded them for painting on their hands, then I thought, "What the heck?" and let them go for it. As you can tell, they had a blast. They even painted each others "missed" spots.

The first picture is Z. The second picture is M and the 3rd picture is C imitating me saying, "oh my goodness!". The 4th picture is the finished product and the last picture is remnants of the fun that we had.

Could there be a Van Gogh in the group?? Only time will tell!!!

Dog Days of Summer

As most of you probably have been, we are finding ways to beat the heat this summer. The kids 2 new favorite places are the library and the pool. The first picture is of M putting her arm around C while he watched a movie about diggers that he chose from the library. She put her arm around him and said, "It's your favorite movie Clay. Good job!". Z decided that she wanted her picture taken too, so she went over for a pose as well.

At the library, I allow them to each pick out a movie and then I pick out a family movie. It is fun to see what movies they are interested in each week. It could be princess. It could be Bob the Builder and one week their favorite movie was "Puff the Magic Dragon". The next exciting (and stressful) part for me is the hunt for the perfect book. They haven't quite learned that you don't pull out every book just to look at the cover to decide if you like it or not. At our very first trip to the library, Z found a book this way entitled, "Z's Hats". She was so excited that her name was on the book and that she found it. C loves any books about cars, diggers, firetrucks, or machines. M loves books about Barbie, princesses, and anything that has a pink cover. She will say, "Oooh! It's so pwetty. I want dis one". After they have chosen their books, they get to play on the computer or with the 50+ puzzles that are out on the tables. They also have some birds, fish, and other animals around the room that they can look at. The library has definitely been our favorite indoor weekly activity.

I don't have pictures, but we went to Pump It Up one day with 2 sets of quadruplets. My kids had so much fun. For those of you reading this who don't know what Pump It Up is, it is a room full of large, inflatable slides, mazes, and bounce houses. The kids 1st went when they were really little. M and C had just learned to walk and Z was still crawling. This was there first time to go back since then and it was awesome. It gave me a workout as well. Z had trouble climbing to the top of some of the slides so I had to help her. As you can guess, I also had to go down the slide with her too. I'm sure that was a real pretty sight to see.

The kids other favorite summer activity has been swimming. They are all swimming so well with swim floaties on. The next set of pictures are of M, C, and Z getting ready for the pool. (Don't you love M's boots?) She is big into dress up now and those are her favorite accessory. The last 2 pictures are of them in the pool. Z and C are floating on their backs and M was just swimming around. They still don't like to go completely under water yet but they will jump off of the side and swim the length of the pool. Today we had to cut our swimming short b/c it was 101 degrees. The pool water felt like bath water.

Other than going to the library, Pump It Up, the pool, and the occasional playdate at someones house, we have been hanging out at home. I am trying to get ready for my big multiples garage sale at the end of this month and we are trying to sell our house to move to a better neighborhood with a good school system. I am also continuing my "Prissy Pieces" business; however, my website is currently down for those of you who check it often. I hope to have it back up and running by Sept. and I will have lots of new items on there.

The kids are all over 40 inches tall now and weigh between 34 and 37 lbs. As you can tell from the pictures above, they are very tall. The girls hair is extremely long. Since the pictures at the very top, I have cut 3 inches off of M's hair and about 2" off of Z's hair. Some of their favorite or cute sayings these days are:

C: "I need to tell you a question." "Rest with me mommy" "My po is sticky"

M: "I like your pwetty ______!" "I am wearing a handsome suit" "

Z: She is so smart. She repeats a lot of what we say. She is also testing the waters with being sassy and demanding. She also thinks it is cute to call me "Kim" every now and then.