In my opinion, it's truly one of the best things about being a mom to my quad squad. I get a little desperate sometimes hoping I don't miss anything, since I've got four little kiddos seeing or doing things for the first time all together. I don't want to miss a major expression that one makes while I'm watching another one to see how they react, meanwhile I've got two more that I don't want to overlook either! Photos, videos, memory books, blog posts—it's all part of my plan to record as much as possible so that I have all those important first moments and experiences to keep forever, and so each child has plenty of their own memories to revisit when they're older. We take a lot of group photos and make a lot of group memories, but there are still so many individual pictures, videos and outings that the kids have enjoyed on their own with myself or the husband. It's equally important to me that they can look back on their childhood and find those singled-out events; like something as simple as finding a cute photo of when they're two years old to include in a slideshow at their wedding that's of them as an individual and not just all four of them together.
Nostalgic, much? Ha, maybe so. We're talking about "firsts" and all and I've been giddy all weekend to watch the kids faces light up with excitement, hesitation, shock and awe when that first firework explodes! We've been talking about it all week, explaining how they look, the noise they make, that they only go up in the sky when it's dark. We've read a few books about the holiday and its celebrations (thanks to a sweet friend for sending those!) and have watched a few snippets of fireworks on TV thanks to news coverage we recorded from last night. The kids know we're grilling a big dinner this evening and then going to a field to watch the fireworks when the sun goes down! I even snagged some red, white and blue glow wands from the Dollar Store yesterday to surprise them with in the dusky light.
This exact day two years ago, we were sweating our asses off moving into this house of ours. It was a monumental day since we'd just spent four months living in a crammed-full apartment with quadruplets that were just learning to walk and get really mobile. Plus, we fell in love with this house after less than five minutes of seeing it for the first time and I have known ever since that it's our "forever home" where we are supposed to be! Sometimes we feel like we've been in it for quite awhile and get overwhelmed at the big to-do list of things we still want to improve or accomplish, then other days we realize it's only been two years and we've actually already accomplished a fair amount of things—especially while parenting quadruplets! So, you know...
This weekend so far has been a nice, quiet one filled with family time. The husband had Friday off work and the kids kept asking when he had to leave, thus also being repeatedly and happily surprised when he kept reminding them he was home all weekend! We spent a few hours at the splash pad...
...and stopped for hair cuts for the guys. (Harrison is a pro with this now, by the way! He gets up in his own chair and gets his hair trimmed while dada gets his cut one chair over. Harrison would give me a sly smile out of the corner of his eye every now and then and beelined it for the jar of suckers when he was done. Boy doesn't miss a thing!)
Everyone napped pretty solid this afternoon, which is good for their late night adventure this evening. Poor Harrison is now running a temp and I've no idea if it's a virus or cold or what, but he seems to be in better spirits after a long rest. Kailey was the first one to wake up, though, and got a few minutes of exclusive couch time with dada watching bronco riding. She kept saying, "Giddy up! Hang on!"
And while we're all on the hunt for any clothes that are red, white or blue to wear this evening, it seems perfectly acceptable to me in the interim to wear Cinderella undies and fairy wings. Because, you know. That is totally normal. ;)
Happy 4th! And, if you're a parent, happy 4th "kid watching!" Seeing life through the eyes of child has become one of my greatest privileges...
It was an amazing night!! Thank you so much for including us! I wouldn't have missed it for the world!!!
ReplyDeleteThat dinner was grilled to perfection! Actually, EVRYTHING was just perfect! The easy peasy way to watch fireworks - and NO TRAFFIC!!!