Well, What Do You Know!

Well, it turns out there are pictures of all the swing set pieces laid out and organized in the garage. Jim took them! But he took them with a different camera, so I didn't know they existed! Anyway, here's the best one:

It's a little hard to tell, but those aren't single boards. They're stacks of boards. In the back, to the right, you can see the edge of the glider swing. The other two swings and the slide didn't make the picture. Jim had to put the slide together too! I was amazed at how he did almost all of it by himself! He really only had help to carry the large put-together pieces from the garage to the backyard. He's our SuperHandyMan!

Swingtime!

Our super-fun backyard has recently acquired a new addition to its super-fun-ness! (I know, I made that word up, but I'm an English teacher, and we're allowed to do that! It's part of our license!)

The Swing Set!!!!! Yea!!!!!

I realized when pulling up pictures for this post that mainly what I have done is take pictures of the kids on the swing set and not actually taken pictures of the swing set itself, but I think you can piece together a pretty good idea of what it looks like. If you'd like to learn more about it, you can go here! It comes in about 3 million pieces which Jim organized in the garage before putting it together, mostly by himself! I wish I had taken a picture of all the pieces laid out in the garage. It was a sight to behold!

Anyway, don't the kids look so big swinging on their new swing set! This was their big birthday present from Bud and KayKay. Thank you Bud and KayKay!!! We are so impressed with the way they climb up and down the ladder without any help and go down the slide by themselves! They are too short to get into the swings, and they haven't figured out how to swing themselves, but they will sit and hold on and not fall off. at least they don't fall off anymore...we did have a couple of "learning experiences" when a child let go of the chains and toppled out of the swing. Luckily, it's not very far to fall and no one has gotten hurt. And now they don't let go! Lesson learned!

Jonathan

Zachary

Reagan

Thomas

There's a slide on the other end. They love to climb up the ladder and do a little dance on the landing before heading down the slide.

They are a little slow going down the slide, unless they go down feet first on their stomachs. That's a little faster. Or if they go down after just getting out of the pool. Then they go down super-fast! You have to watch them in those cases...

...because this happens if you don't! Michelle was taking Reagan's picture at the bottom and I was watching her and not paying attention to Zachary who had decided it was his turn to slide. Down he came like lightning and crashed into Reagan. Nobody was hurt, but Zachary didn't expect it to be so fast and it really scared him, poor thing!

Nevertheless, the kids LOVE their new swing set! It's the first thing they head for when we come outside, all four of them running across the yard to claim their swinging spot!

Thanks again Bud and KayKay!

Nashville Moments

Whenever we drive to Memphis, we always stop in Nashville for a break. We go to Opry Mills Mall, usually to Bass Pro Shops where we can get shopping carts to push the kids around in, and we stroll the mall to stretch our legs and enjoy some time outside of the car. It will be nice when the kids are older and time outside of the car doesn't have to be confined to a shopping cart, but at least they can move around in the cart more than they can in their car seats.

On the way TO Memphis we skipped the Bass Pro Shops and hauled out the strollers instead. We entered the mall near the Aquarium Restaurant and let the kids look at the giant fish aquarium outside before touring the mall. We did make a stop at Barnes and Noble where there was a small play area inside the children's book section. We let the kids out of the strollers to play with the train set and run around a little. They loved it! They did not love having to get back IN the strollers to leave. Zachary hated it most, and cried LOUDLY the whole way out of the store. Lucky for me, Zachary was in the stroller that Jim was pushing. Hahahahaha!

On the way home from Memphis, we did stop at BPS and hunted up some carts. We entered the store and made our way their aquarium, positioning the two shopping carts in front of the glass so the kids could get a good view of the fish. I had Jonathan and Thomas in my cart, and Jim had Zachary and Reagan. We were separated from each other by a large rock column along the side of the glass. Up from the right comes this humongous catfish, swimming past us and off to the left. As it nears Zachary, he looks at it and roars his big dinosaur/lion/any other large creature roar. Then it levels out and gets face-to-face with Reagan who takes one look at those whiskers and promptly says, "Meow!" Can you believe that! Neither of us had said anything about it being a catfish! What a smartie!

Road Trip!

The weekend after Gammy's visit, we packed up the minivan and hit the road for a trip to Memphis. Wow! What a difference 6 months can make in the ability for four children to be amused while traveling! In other words, my sincerest thanks to whoever invented the portable DVD player and to my children for actually watching it this time! What a lifesaver! Not that we didn't have a few meltdowns, but at least there were no marathon screaming fits like we have endured in trips past.

Friday evening found us safely in Memphis where we didn't have to wait long for the cousins to show up. Kinley is enamored with "her cousins" and apparently talks abut them all the time despite having only been around them a handful of times. This was Kinley's birthday weekend, so I was really excited to actually be in town for her birthday, having missed birthdays 1 and 2 due to pregnancy and small children.

Birthday girl!

I was also excited about this trip because Kallen had just recently gotten her cast off, and I was looking forward to seeing her relish the return of her mobility. She was still holding her legs spread apart like they had been in the cast, but she was starting to get the hang of crawling and was pulling up on everything, the stairs seeming to be her favorite! And I have to admit, it was kind of cute to see her crawl across the room dragging one leg behind her. She hasn't yet really started using the leg that actually had the surgery. Or at least, she hadn't a couple of weeks ago when we were there. She's probably doing better now!

Little Kallen, what a cutie!

Reagan helps Kallen out at the bottom of the stairs

Kallen wasn't the only one enjoying the stairs. Since we don't have them at our house, stairs are a real treat. The kids love going up and down them, a skill we've been practicing at Michelle's house. It was nice nt to have to mess with the baby gate at the foot of the stairs this time, and we only had a couple of minor tumbles. Mostly, they are pretty good on stairs, as long as someone is there to watch them. Thomas prefers to descend sliding feetfirst on his belly. This is a pretty safe choice, as well as efficient. He zooms down past the other kids, but you have to watch him or he zooms down into the other kids and knocks them down. Not so safe or efficient.

Sat morning we took the kids to Kirby Pines to visit Uncle George and Aunt nancy. Here we are posed outside the grand front entrance.

Kirby Pines is a retirement community so you can imagine the attention we received from all the residents! We joined George and Nancy for lunch in the main dining hall, where the staff was very accommodating and helpful and even brought each of the kids a balloon, all of which we managed to lose before returning to the car.

Sat afternoon we attended Kinley's birthday party at a very nice but very crowded sprinkler park. The kids had a blast, except for one incident. There was a row of metal bars that curved to form a sort of sprinkling tunnel. The water was not coming out at the moment and Thomas ran through the tunnel cackling gleefully. Jonathan headed in to follow him, but the water kicked on then he got about halfway through. He ran forward into water, stopped, turned around to run the other way only to run into water again, found himself trapped by water and just hunkered down with his arms over his head. Jim swooped in the rescue him, but then stood up and brained himself on one of the metal bars, a hit which sent him to his knees. Eventually, both Jim and Jonathan made it out alive. Other than that, it was a pretty good time for the kids. If was much more stressful a time for the parents trying to keep up with four small, very active children in a sea of people. I'm glad we went, but it was a tremendous relief when we left.

Kinley was very nice about her youngest cousins wanting to "help" her with her presents.

Sun we all went to church and had plans to meet up with Jodie, Jeff, Kinley, and Kallen for lunch afterwards, the service ended with a couple of meltdowns, so we met them for lunch at home instead. We decided the kids were mostly just very tired after not sleeping much on the trip and having so much excitement the day before and being awakened early to go to church. They were kind of cranky even at the house, so I'm really glad we didn't decide that that would be a great day to take them to their first restaurant. Yikes! nightmare potential!

That afternoon we had a pool party and tried out Bud and KayKay's new Slip 'N Slide.

None of the kids understood the concept of running and sliding down the slope, so they had to be drug down the slide, but they had a good time! Daddy needed the exercise anyway, right?

Princess Reagan lounging in the pool

Reagan and Kallen splashing each other

Yeah, I know, I'm adorable!

At one point, the boys all sat down just like this. I swear they did it by themselves. So it was a no-brainer to stick Reagan in the empty spot and snap a pic of the four of them. Too cute!

Then it was party time! Kinley's birthday is early June, the quads is late June, and Kallen's is early July, so this was a perfect opportunity to celebrate all the birthdays together. Bud rigged up this little table for the kiddos KayKay gave them each a cupcake.

Then it was time for presents!!! Each of the kids got their own little folding chair, so perfect! Among other presents, JonZReaTom each got their own little Doodle Pad, a major hit! They played with them the rest of the evening and in the car the next day. They have also since been very well-used during church services and trips to the dr!

from the left: Thomas, Kallen, Zachary, Jonathan, Kinley, Reagan

Thank you so much Bud, KayKay, Aunt Jodie, Uncle Jeff, Kinley, and Kallen for all our presents and a really great weekend! We had a lot of fun!

And you, readers, can look forward to posts to come about the BIG present the kids got from Bud and KayKay, which they absolutely LOVE, and the kids' birthday shindig here at the house last weekend! Stay tuned!

Gammy!

The weekend after Uncle Clay came to visit, Gammy (the grandmother formerly known as Grammy Pammy) came to visit. Gammy is what the kids seem to be calling her, and I think it's pretty cute!

Hey, Gammy, have you tried this creamer? Pretty tasty!

It's empty, of course!

Reading Zachary a story

A little Gammy-cuddle time with Jonathan

Peek-a-boo!

In honor of Gammy's visit, we blew up the pool for the summer's first pool party! Luckily, it didn't leak, and Zachary was much happier to be in it than last year! Last year we had to hold him while he cried and cried!

Zachary

Jonathan

More Zachary

Reagan is having a good time here, but please notice the giant elephant in the background. He makes a fun tunnel to slide through, normally. But today was a little windy, and inevitably, every time the wind blew enough to bend the elephant over, Reagan would be standing just right for the trunk to come down and poke her in the top of the head. She was none too pleased, so eventually Daddy came to his daughter's rescue and removed the elephant from the pool. However, for the boys, this was just an invitation to go elephant-hunting and take down their first wild beast!

Jonathan, you hold his feet while Zachary kicks him in the head!

He won't mess with OUR sister again!

Alright, boys, let's show this beast the door!

Reagan watches from afar

Thomas has him by the nose

Do you think he's learned his lesson yet?

Thanks for a big fun day, Gammy!

Let the Festivities Begin!

To start off this quadruple second birthday post extravaganza, I need to tell you a little something about the kids that I'm not sure I've mentioned before. Actually, I probably have mentioned it, but you might not remember! However, if you've ever physically been around the kids, it doesn't take long before you notice something about them.


They like to jump and bounce pretty much every waking moment of the day, and sometimes in the non-waking moments too! They jump when they dance, they bounce-rock back and forth when they're seated (in their high chairs, on the couch, in the floor leaning against the couch or the wall, in their beds against the sides), they jump in their beds until they fall asleep, the first thing they do if they happen to climb on top of a table or platform is jump on it.


They just really like to jump! Given that fact, this first birthday present was a HUGE hit! So take off your shoes and join them in their BOUNCE HOUSE!!!!!!!

Ready to inflate

It has this great big slide on one side! The kids like going up and down the slide almost as much as jumping in it!

The back has an opening as well

Everybody out!

Come on in! I won't jump on you too much!

Silly Daddy!

Up and down, up and down...

Hey! Have you guys SEEN this thing? It rocks!

So the kids want to say, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" to Uncle Clay, Aunt Carey, and Cousins Tyler and Avery for the great present! They would also like to say thank you for the picnic table! We use it all the time!

If you'd like to learn more about the Bounce House or the picnic table, both of which are quad-tested and approved, click on the item you're interested in and check them out! Both are made by Little Tikes. The House inflates in seconds; it's SO fast! And it stores pretty easily too. And although I haven't tried it yet, the table folds up for easy storage also.

Oh, and what post about a Bounce House would be complete without a video clip of the kids actually bouncing in it! Enjoy!