Surfacing for air...

Ever since I got back from my incredible quad momma trip, I've just been trying to keep my head above water. Although that's really not true, since I've sort of been drowning in "busy," but we'll pretend it's been manageable. It's been a couple of those kinds of weeks that just pile it all on and somehow you get to the end of every day more tired than the one and feeling even less accomplished.

At least I've remembered to capture sweet moments with the kiddos and our numerous backyard playtimes thus far this spring, as well as various outings and highlights from May until now. Seriously, I take a lot of photos. I love to document things with pictures.

With four active, impatient, short attention-spanned toddlers, I've literally gone from one to the next to the next. It's rare to have less than three minutes of peace at any given point in the day when the quads are awake. (They still take a glorious three hour nap break, where they sleep and play quietly individually in their cribs. Heaven.) I'm constantly flitting between the laundry room, the kitchen cleaning and prepping meals, the play room to dole out snacks and drinks and break up fights, the upstairs to get cribs ready for nighttime and retrieve pajamas or put away laundry and so on. It just never ends. Eat, diapers, play, eat, diapers, sleep, eat, diapers, play, eat, diapers, sleep. Exhausting!! You know you're a quad mom when you serve your meal like this and have faces looking at you like that...

With the springing of, well, spring, I decided it was time to take the Easter craft down from the doors and replace it with a new one. So we made construction paper bumble bees with wax paper wings. Kailey's bee is the one with completely crumpled wings because she wadded them up as soon as she got ahold of them. Bam Bam crippled that dang bee before it ever had a chance to fly.

Speaking of the spring that's sprung, our entire front yard has completed a wonderful makeover since we moved in. We've actually been taking care of the rose bushes that are all over our front and back yards when we arrived, and they're rewarding us with beautiful blooms this season. Plus I'm about to plant a whole buncha new pretty petals in the front beds, where the winter pansies are starting to wilt.

Meanwhile I've been continuing to deal with knee pain and ended up having to get steroid injections in each of my knees last week. (You'll recall I've already had the same shots in both my feet for plantar facciitis a few weeks ago, which has since improved dramatically.) The shots hurt soooo bad, especially the left knee where I have a cyst and suspected meniscus tear, and I had to take it easy for a couple days. But that didn't stop me from reading bedtime books to a lapful of babies. 

I also celebrated my second Mother's Day, marked by a group photo with my crew, a brief reflexology massage and a trip to the grocery store by my lonesome. All perfectly appreciated. :)

The kids helped me plant flowers to hang around our backyard patio. In fact, we've been spending a lot more time outside with the addition of their new playground the husband built! 

With the outdoors and four toddlers come fun snacks (like watermelon oreos) and , cheap easy wear shoes like Garanimals crocs from Wal-Mart (a wonderful idea taken from my fellow quad mom, Amber)...

And to my extreme happiness, my parents spent a few days with us this week catching up with the babies and spending time entertaining the fab four and giving me some much needed help! Kailey kept us all entertained the day they arrived, sporting her brother's skull sweater and pink polka dot shorts (she dressed herself), then laying on the bottom stair while singing and chomping on a stick of celery. Funny girl, that Bam Bam. ;)

Grandma brought along their cat—who resembles my beloved Snowball, who passed several weeks ago—and the quads loved getting to pet and cuddle with her. Maggie was very sweet with the kids, too.

Some good friends of ours were very thoughtful in handing down a large play set for the quads, so my step-dad and I picked it up and hauled it to the house where he unloaded it and I assembled it! The babies are loving their outdoor play space and so is momma!

We have all loved sitting on the small patio outside the play room and watching the kids' sheer expressions of joy and hilarity as they play outdoors! The fresh air and extra exercise has served them well, they've been sleeping wonderfully sound at night. Thank the Lord.

And with outdoor play comes al fresco dining, which means way less cleanup. We just lack the straps that usually contain the babies in their seats, so it's a constant game of reminding them to sit down and finish eating but they tend to do pretty well with the concept. Especially when they're hangry!

We've also captured a few cute selfies, like my kissy face with Lolo Bear....

...and the husband and I got to sneak off for a dinner and movie date night last night, which was a great chance to relax with a beer and fajitas then sit through the extremely long Spiderman 2 movie!

I'm trying not to lay awake at night thinking of the quad's birthday photos I'm taking tomorrow, how I'm going to wrap their gifts I've got stashed in a closet, what other details I need to address for their quickly approaching party (we're hosting at the house), if I've left yet another load of laundry sitting in the washer, bills I may or may not have forgotten to pay, the home maintenance call I've been meaning to make for weeks, meal planning and grocery shopping for the week and when I can take a nap. You know, just a few things.

But I do have some posts planned and hope to get to them all soon! Including the incredible quad mom trip I took recently with some of the most amazing women I've ever met, a couple new recipes as well as a Tyke Bites post, new details and fixtures around the house and more.

Now excuse while I go count my kids to be sure no one's escaped....