{Littles Learning} Orange & Yellow Weeks

Several weeks ago, I worked our way through the colors of the rainbow (ROYGBPV), focusing on a different color each week through various activities, crafts and books with the quads. You can read about Red Week here. I hadn't completely gotten my plans together so Orange Week barely happened, but Yellow Week was a big improvement, so I thought I'd include both in one post.

I had one of those cute dollar books from Target that had pop-up animals inside and had already spied a simple construction paper tiger craft on Pinterest, so paired those together for our orange activity of the week. We read the book and talked about the tiger's orange color and black stripes, then I gave each kiddo pre-cut pieces of construction paper and helped them glue-stick the pieces onto their paper. I assisted with the ears, legs and googly eyes but let them do the square body and black stripes completely on their own, so we ended up with lots of funky-striped tigers. I drew on the faces with a permanent marker and hung them up in the play room so the kids could admire their work and we could reference the color throughout the week!

The only other activity we managed during orange week was an orange-themed matching game I downloaded in this orange color pack for free. Thanks Pinterest for another handy find!

Moving onto yellow, we visited the same website for our yellow color pack and used the yellow coloring book and yellow-themed flashcards.

While they colored with various shades of yellow crayons, we talked about items that are yellow and the kids each got a lemon to hold, feel and roll around on the table.

We reviewed their yellow books later in the week (after they color the pages, you cut them apart and staple together to form a book). Super easy and they liked flipping through them!

On a sunny morning after breakfast one day, I put the kiddos water table in the front yard with yellow bath coloring and gave them yellow plastic cups and they went to town. I had to remember to discuss the color frequently as we used objects in that hue and point out items that were of the same shade throughout the week.

Check back in for the rest of our color series posts coming soon!

Claiming My Crazy Life

Eight years ago, I got married. Yesterday was our official wedding anniversary and I didn't even have time to sit down and think about it much. Granted we were elated to have the opportunity to go out for dinner over last weekend to celebrate a bit early (the husband's parents offered to come put the kids to bed so we could leave!), but things have remained busy as usual since and there's little time left for pondering in all that. So I just have to claim my crazy life and keep moving on.

Sometimes I get a bit upset because I don't have many spare minutes during the day. Other than nap time and bedtime, I'm with the kids most of the time, doing a lesson with them, reading books, working puzzles, refereeing bicker matches or showing them how to share toys. It's a rat race—I run the same maze over and over again, day in and day out. Sometimes it doesn't bother me and other times it does. Even during the one brief break I get in the day while they nap or play (semi-quietly) in their rooms, I feel like I should be doing approximately 26 different tasks and making the most of my alone time. I think the pressure gets to be so much that sometimes I just lay on my back on the couch and stare at the ceiling and feel my mind go blank.

Please tell me I'm not the only one!!

It's a constant, frantic effort to find balance. Even trying to find the balance will stress me out sometimes. When the quads were just over a year old, they reached that sweet spot where they had enough mobility to get around nicely, and any and all toys occupied them. They played so well in their play room in between meals, naps and activities and I could accomplish things during naps and even, gasp, daytime hours. Now that they're nearly two-and-a-half, they require so much more involvement, just like any toddler! And I get so tired!

I've talked to other quad mommas, and converse daily with some of my BFF quad mommas, about the level of exhaustion we battle each day. And I know it's not just quads. Other moms with kids of various ages, working moms, moms who work and stay at home, whatever combination it is, it's always such a challenge to find a harmonious blend of all your responsibilities. Granted, I have my good days where I feel like I've got it all together and wish the entire world could witness my grandeur, and other days I'm a basket case and you don't see any new posts on the blog for two weeks because the only news going on in my house is how long it's been since I've washed my hair. Ick.

Then there's Pinterest, Facebook and, yes, blogs (even like mine!) that all share everyone's most picture-perfect moments—or seconds in my case, when one of the kids actually poses for a photo and everyone thinks my crew is made of angels. Those pictures and posts can smack you down and leave a bruise on your cheek because you didn't DIY your holiday ornaments or make an organic dinner from scratch for your kids or curl your hair into beautiful wavy tresses while your toddler sits calmly at your feet. Leave it to our online entities to inspire and encourage us while simultaneously driving us batty at the same time! I'm not hatin', either. I've had people tell me they envy my ability to cook yummy meals, make cute crafts or do pre-school lessons with my kids and how do I keep it so together!? And I try to assure them that my house is crazy and I'm partially crazy and those were just some good photos I snapped, and then I try to remember to share a post on this blog so that none of you think I have it all together all the time, either. True story.

Basically, it's like this. When I exchanged vows with the love of my life eight years ago, I never in a million years could have possibly even crazy-dreamed that this would be my life today!! And every once in awhile I'll get five seconds where I sort of zone out and I'll try to remember what my life was like before quadruplets and it seems so foreign. I'd be lying if I said I didn't pine for the days again when I'll actually have time. It's a constant challenge not to lose myself in all the chaos of our "new normal" these days. How do you find the ability to maintain who you are as a person? To not let yourself become the last priority?

So far, I've learned that I can't have control over everything. I just can't and if I try, it'll drive me to insanity. Sometimes it's best/easiest to just let things go. I've also set more specific short-term goals rather than broad ones, which results in a quicker feeling of accomplishment. And most importantly, I'm constantly trying to keep things in perspective. Like yesterday, when I had a flashback to when the babies had just come home from the NICU and we were feeding them 32 bottles every 24 hours and sleeping in 45 minute increments every two days. Exhausting. I remember the husband and I telling each other we couldn't wait for the day when they could feed themselves and there would be no more bottles. And I realized we were there. We had surpassed that enviable milestone and were barreling toward more and I needed to remember nothing lasts forever. One day, my kids will be teenagers and dealing with life lessons, and I'll long for the time when all we had to do was change their diapers and cut their food into bite-sized pieces!

Yesterday was a long day and left me completely drained. Today has been reasonably better. And tomorrow could even be great, with a chance of possibility. Claiming my crazy life, 24 hours at a time...

{Daily Pics} 8 Year Anniversary!

Because I'm totally exhausted and it's only Tuesday, here's some photos from the weekend plus Monday that I wanted to share...

Celebrating eight years of marriage to the love of my life TODAY!!! 

Lighting our unity candle at our wedding on September 30, 2006!

Sporting support for my home team and was happy to celebrate their victory!

The husband cleaning up the leftover signs of child's play in our front yard :)

Monday morning at the park!

Watching Frozen with their daddy, such sweet moments.

Speaking of Frozen, the girls got new Frozen gear from Target yesterday after Logan spotted a girl at the park wearing a Frozen shirt. She couldn't believe it!

And Harrison was ecstatic over his Paw Patrol shirt, also from Target!

The best smelling coconut vanilla candle and fresh roses, which always make me happy!

Here's to not getting my ass kicked by four two-year-olds this week!

{Tyke Bites} Easy Prep Meals & a Chicken Crockpot Dinner

Food, food, food! I bring you another Tyke Bites post, featuring what a typical day of meals looks like in Quadville...

Breakfast was a super easy mix up of freshly pureed strawberries with vanilla full-fat Greek yogurt, topped with a dark chocolate Cheerio variety. A fan favorite among the crew!

Lunch was another easy make, consisting of ritz crackers and peanut butter, blueberry yogurt-covered pretzels, cheese and raspberries. The kids just don't seem to like sandwiches that much right now—with the exception of grilled cheese—so my go-to PB and honey sandwiches just aren't getting eaten. But crackers are always a win and PB has plenty of protein so figured it was a decent trade-off.

I can thank Pinterest for this dinner inspiration, a simple crockpot chicken recipe with potatoes, onions and carrots. For the quads, I added cheese, raspberries and clementines. And how cute are those plates!? Snagged them for a buck each at Target. The kids call them "new plates" every time I serve food on them. It's adorable.

Thanks for reading!

{Littles Learning} Red Week

Earlier this summer, I vowed to begin adding more structure into each week with the quad squad. They are growing and picking up so much so fast these days that I really want to take advantage of their curious, inquiring, impressionable minds and pack them with as much learning as I can. I'm no teacher but I was homeschooled until I was 15 years old then attended a junior college and earned my associates degree when I was 18. Two years later, I graduated from Texas State University with a journalism degree. Considering I pretty much have an instant classroom and value education, I'm determined to do my best with the kiddos until they head off to kindergarten. (We won't be doing preschool since it's a hefty investment times four, though we're contemplating a day or two of mother's day out per week starting in the spring.)

Anywho, I've shared a few book-and-craft related projects under my new Littles Learning category and now I'm sharing the color series we did, in which we worked through each hue of the rainbow, spending one week on each color. 

Here's what we did for Red Week! And keep in mind these activities all took place on various days during the week...

*We started off with a simple activity using threaded beads and red pipe cleaners.

*I had everyone tear up red construction paper, which they loved demolishing.

*Then we added the torn paper to boxes filled with red tissue paper, filler paper and random red objects I gathered from their toy bins.

*We also did painting with various colors using Melissa & Doug paint brushes and cut up sponges (art smocks are from Ikea). We discussed all the different colors and practiced identifying red many times.

*The red piper cleaners made a second appearance inside empty Voss water bottles, and the kids were able to practice twisting off the lids and emptying and reinserting the pipe cleaners into the bottles. Sounds simple enough but kept them occupied on and off that afternoon!

*Lastly, we did a red discovery bin for the whole group with random red-hued items from their play room as well as a few red-covered books. 

*We also read several books on colors and general and practiced identifying all the colors throughout, and took a bath with red bath coloring one evening and only red bath toys (the foam letters and shapes are great for that). 

Stay tuned for more Color Series posts!