On two wheels

Ever since the weather warmed up this year, we've been spending a lot of time like this:

Today, however, thanks to the kindness of neighbors we'd never seen or met before, neighbors who just happened to be on their driveway when we rode by, our daily trike ride changed forever. We now have a bike! The boys are especially thrilled:

Since they've only ever ridden trikes before, it took a bit of practice for them to get the hang of pedaling without braking every rotation or two. I must admit that I was particularly frustrated trying to teach Isaac how to pedal without braking. He eventually figured it out, but not before teaching me a lot about perseverance: Every time he'd "mess up," he'd get right back on the bike and cheerfully say, "Let's try again!" Jude also struggled a bit, but he found his groove a lot more quickly than his brother:



The challenge now will be managing who gets a turn with the bike and when. I envision a bike purchase (or two or three) in our near future!

Our first Halloween!

Okay, so it wasn't technically our first Halloween, but it sure felt like it. First jack o' lanterns? Check. First Halloween costumes? Check. First time trick-or-treating? Check!

We kicked off the season with our first trip to a pumpkin patch, where we went on our first hayride and got to pick out our very own gourds:

Then, as Halloween approached, we gathered around the kitchen table for our very first pumpkin-carving session:

The girls loved touching pumpkin guts for the first time:

But the boys were content to just watch:

And direct Mommy and Daddy:

"Mommy, take out the mouth!"

When we asked the kids what they wanted their first jack o' lanterns to look like, Isaac said he wanted a happy face, Jude a scary face, Dahlia a rude face, and Lucy? Well, Lucy wanted a happy face with eyebrows ... and hair ... and bangs. HA!

The finished results looked pretty good in the daytime:

Left to right: Lucy, Jude, Isaac, and Dahlia's jack o' lanterns

But our jack o' lanterns really came alive at night!

When the big day finally arrived, the kids couldn't wait to put on their first Halloween costumes. The girls asked to be "ballerinas in long dresses":

Dahlia and Lucy in ballerina costumes

And, thanks to Benny the Bull in Dora's Costume Party, the boys wanted to be slices of pizza:

Isaac and Jude in pizza costumes (sewn by Abuelita!)

Halloween night was frigid, but nothing could have kept these kids from going trick-or-treating around the neighborhood for the first time!

And they're off!

All four of them had a ball ringing doorbells and picking out candy, and I think they had just about mastered the "trick or treat" and "thank you" routine by the time we finished our route. Many thanks to all of our neighbors who helped make our kids' "first" Halloween a great experience:

They had so much fun that they are already talking about what they will dress up as next year, on their "second" Halloween!

Bus-y bodies

Today I put four 3-year-olds on the school bus for the first time. Everyone was excited to wait for the bus:

 But not everyone was thrilled to actually be on the bus:

Nevertheless, I was delighted to wave goodbye to the bus:

And, a few hours of restorative silence later, felt just as happy to see everyone's smiling faces as they got off the bus:

As Isaac said tonight when we prayed before dinner: "Thank you, Jesus, for the school bus!"

Good neighbors

This morning I took the kids to a splash park for the first time. Whenever we do something new, I have concerns about whether I can keep everyone safe and in line, but today I wasn't too worried. After all, a friend had invited us to meet her there (so I knew I would have a pair of back-up eyes and hands), and she had assured me that it was entirely fenced-in, with only one opening (so I knew I wouldn't have to monitor multiple points of exit).

And everything did go fine ...

Fun at the splash park!

 ... until we decided to have lunch. At that point, the girls followed me to a nearby picnic table to get dried off while my friend made sandwiches. Isaac was not far behind. I saw that Jude was still playing in the water, so I decided to let him have fun while I got the other kids settled. The next thing I knew, a lady was tapping me on the shoulder, saying, "The kid who is wearing exactly what he [points to Isaac] is wearing is outside the fence!"

Sure enough, I looked up to see that, during the short amount of time that I was drying off the other kids, Jude had exited the park, walked along the fence (next to the parking lot!), and ended up in the grass near the playground, on the opposite side of the splash park from the picnic tables. He was standing there all alone, looking very small and helpless. Supremely embarrassed and more than a little bit horrified, I thanked the woman, left the other kids with my friend, and ran to retrieve my boy.

Safe and sound!

Turns out Jude realized that none of us were in the sprinklers anymore, and—even though we were just a few steps away at the picnic table—he thought we'd gone back to the car and went looking for us. The woman who alerted me to his escape was at the park with seven kids of her own to keep track of, just happened to notice during a head count that one of mine was outside the perimeter of the park, and cared enough to let me know right away. Now that's what I'd call a good neighbor!

Incidentally, our literal neighbors have been pretty good to us this summer, too. Already we've enjoyed one's playroom and bouncy house, another's hand-me-down clothes, another's sprinkler and water table, and yet another's amazing trampoline:



Thank you, God, for good neighbors!

We all scream for "ice cream"

A few days ago, the same show that gave the kids the idea to make a pie inspired them to start asking if we could go to an ice cream shop. Not one to ever turn down a chance to eat ice cream, Mommy said YES!

We waited until Saturday so that Daddy could go with us. And don't tell the kids, but we didn't actually go to an ice cream shop—we went to a frozen yogurt shop. The kids loved watching Daddy operate the self-serve soft-serve machines:

We got two big bowls of frozen yogurt to share: one with chocolate and vanilla, and the other with passion fruit and pineapple. At Jude's request, both were topped with a generous helping of maraschino cherries. We sat down to eat our treat in the fun orange and white chairs—one for each kid!

Dahlia, Lucy, and Jude loved their "ice cream," but Isaac was not a fan:

He much preferred reading the sign: "Orange! Weaf! Yogurt!"

The frozen yogurt was good, but I think next time we'll try a frozen custard place (that's Mommy's favorite kind of ice cream). And who knows—by then Mommy and Daddy might even be brave enough to try ordering CONES!

Our first pie!

A couple of days ago the kids saw a pie on television and asked if we could make one. Amazingly, we had all of the ingredients on hand to make a pumpkin pie, so Mommy said YES!

The next morning, the kids watched Mommy unroll some refrigerated pie dough and helped press it into the pie plate. A little while later, while our pre-baked pie shell cooled, everyone gathered around the kitchen island to make the filling. First Mommy read the directions on the can of pumpkin puree, and then we all got a chance to smell the spices. Lucy didn't like the cinnamon, but Jude thought it smelled like "yummy smoothies!"

Smelling the cinnamon

After everyone got a whiff or two, Mommy measured the dry ingredients and let everyone help to mix them all up. Then it was time to beat the eggs! Obliterating the yolks was Isaac's favorite part:

Beating the eggs

After everyone had a turn with the eggs, Mommy added the pumpkin puree, and we took turns stirring our little hearts out:

Mixing in the pumpkin puree

By the time Mommy needed to add the evaporated milk, though, we were done waiting for turns!

Too many cooks in the kitchen?

When the filling was ready, Mommy poured it into the pie shell and stuck it in the oven to bake while we napped. A couple of hours later, we woke up and—ta-da!

Admiring our pie!

Everyone was excited to eat the pie, but reviews were mixed. Jude loved it:

Dahlia tried it, but immediately spit it into her hand:

And Isaac and Lucy played it safe by eating only the whipped topping:

Oh, well! I guess that just means more pie for Mommy and Daddy, right? Can't complain about that!


* Thanks to Play At Home Mom for inspiring me to try making pie with my 3-year-olds!

Thankful for today

Today, when our morning rest time was over, Isaac sat up in his bed, smiled at me, and exclaimed, "Hewo, Mommy!"

Today, as I was getting lunch ready, Isaac picked up a plate from the counter, pointed at the picture on it, and asked me, "Weez dat?" I told him it was Winnie the Pooh, and he proceeded ask what was on each of the other plates.

Today, as we were finishing lunch, Isaac looked at me and said, "Miss Stephie!" (his speech therapist). I replied, "Yes, you're going to see her at school today. And you'll see Miss Jen and ... who else are you going to see at school?" Isaac beamed and (correctly) answered, "Miss Kawen!"

Today, as I buckled in the kids for the ride to school, Isaac looked at the temporarily vacant space next to our van and asked, "Where za car?"

All things that the parents of most 3-year-olds take for granted. All things that made today a very good day ... because Isaac said them.

Today we are thankful for answered prayers!

Giving thanks

We give thanks for our food before each meal, and in the past few months the kids have started jumping in and thanking Jesus for all sorts of other stuff before I can say "amen." Last week on Thanksgiving, I explained to them that, although we offer thanks to Jesus every day, this is a special day when the entire country comes together to express thanksgiving. Then I asked them, "What are you thankful for today?" Here is what they said:

Isaac

blueberries! cat!

Lucia

Abuelita, Abuelito, babies, "jammie socks" [footie pajamas], diapers, and wipes

Jude

a lot of church, a lot of clocks, a lot of dump trucks, a lot of diggers, a lot of race cars, and rocks

Dahlia

lemons, Abuelita, Abuelito, and neighbors

As for me, I am thankful for a husband who is in the trenches with me, works hard to provide for our family, and lets me know that he appreciates what I do. And both of us are incredibly grateful for the gift of these four healthy, feisty, almost-3-year-old children:

Did I mention that I'm also thankful to still be (relatively) sane?

Pumpkin Picassos

Our abuelitos bought us our very first pumpkins last week. We were pumped!

But Mommy wasn't ready to teach us how to carve a jack o' lantern yet. Instead, she stuck some decals on our pumpkins ...

... and then let us loose with the finger paints. We had a blast!

When we were all done, Daddy set the pumpkins on the back stoop to dry.

The next day, Mommy pulled off the decals, and—voila!—we had "jack o' lanterns"!

Our first jack o' lanterns 
(left to right: Isaac, Lucy, Jude, Dahlia)

Tomorrow is Halloween, but Mommy and Daddy haven't told us about trick-or-treating yet. Maybe next year!

Puddle of fun

Ah, jumping in puddles. A pleasure that most kids take for granted, but something that mine had only seen on television ... until yesterday, when an overnight rainstorm left a tantalizing puddle on the walking trail behind our house. As soon as Jude saw it, he knew exactly what to do with it—and the rest of the crew soon followed:



Puddles of the world, you are no longer safe: If the Fab Four see you, they will jump in you!

Sprinkle, sprinkle

What do you do when it's too hot to go to the playground and there's no one to go to the pool with? You make Daddy set up the sprinkler in the backyard—for the first time ever, believe it or not! Happily, we just happened to have a round stationary sprinkler stashed away in the garage, perfect for four little people to share:

First time in the sprinkler 
(l to r: Jude, Dahlia, Lucy, and Isaac)

As I expected, Jude and Isaac dove right in and stayed under the spray almost the entire time we were outside. Dahlia and Lucy were more cautious, watching from a distance while the boys got soaked. Eventually, however, neither girl could resist the siren call of the "waterfall" (as Jude likes to call it), and soon everyone was enjoying the refreshingly cool water. We stood under it, drank from it, pretended to wash our hands in it, and, of course, ran through it:



I'm pretty sure we'll be doing this again!

Fun with the abuelitos

April got off to a great start with a visit from my parents, who stayed with us for a whole week. As always, I loved, loved, loved having my mom and dad here, and the kids had a great time with their abuelitos! Not only did the Fab Four get a whole lot more personal attention while my parents were here, but they also got to do some really special things like ...

Take their first trip to the zoo! It was colder than we'd hoped (the kids had to wear their winter coats for most of the morning), but a chilly day meant no crowds and lots of opportunities to view the animals up close. We got to see penguins, seals, a polar bear, sharks, a bald eagle, lions, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, cheetahs, a porcupine, and more! The best part? My parents gave us a membership so that we can go back anytime we want. Thanks, abuelitos!

The Fab Four also ...

Got their first tricycles! Rather than put a bunch of candy in the mail at the end of the month, my parents chose to give each kid their very own Radio Flyer as an early Easter present. The chicos weren't quite sure what to do with the trikes, but the adults had a good time helping them to figure it out. I think we're going to have a lot of fun cruising the neighborhood trails once they get the hang of it—my problem is going to be keeping track of all of them! Watch as the Fab Four check out their new rides for the first time:



And, last but not least, the kids got to ...

Eat at Mommy and Daddy's favorite pre-quads restaurant for the first time! The night before my parents left, we all went out to eat with Tío Ner, Tía Harriet, Tía Glenda, and Glenda's brand-new fiancé, the soon-to-be Tío Bill. The kids were fantastic, and a lady at a neighboring table even took the time to tell me that she couldn't believe how well-behaved our four toddlers were. Let me tell you, I was one proud mamá! Here we are enjoying some chips and some Chavo:



Thanks for celebrating your 40th wedding anniversary a little early by coming to see us, abuelitos! We love you and can't wait for your next visit!

Saying goodbye to the abuelitos 
(left to right: Jude, Isaac, Dahlia, and Lucia)

We're swingers

While on a walk with the kids yesterday, I was thrilled to discover that our neighborhood now has a swing set! Since the kids had never been in a real swing before (we don't have our own, and my one attempt at taking them to the park last year was a huge failure), I was itching to put them in the swings and see how they liked them. There was just one problem: This particular swing set has only two toddler swings. Clearly the neighborhood association didn't take our family into account when deciding how many of those to order!

Undeterred, I considered my options: I could turn around and go home (no way, Jose); put two kids in each swing, back to back (nope, the kids are already too big for that); or put two in the swings while the other two waited in the choo choo (possibly tricky, but probably doable). I knew what I had to do.

The girls got to go first, while the boys looked on:

Then, when it was time to put the boys in the swings, I beeped (yes, you read that right) and switched everyone out:

Another mom who was there with her older kids remarked on how patient my kids were while they waited in the choo choo, so I explained my beeping to her: At home, we have a timer that we use to manage turns on our indoor trampoline, and I've discovered that—any other time I want someone's turn to end—all I have to do is make a "beep beep beep" sound, and they go along with it, as if I had used a real timer. I don't know how long they'll be cool with this charade, but so far it's been a lifesaver!

Oh, and by the way, all four kids LOVED the swings and can't stop talking about them. I have no doubt that we will be making good use of the neighborhood playground this year!

Snow fun

Four sets of hats and mittens from Walmart: $20

Four snowsuits from Kohl's: $10*

Four pairs of snow boots from Target: $5*

The Fab Four's first time in the snow: priceless

Exploring the winter wonderland in our backyard
(left to right: Lucy, Dahlia, Jude, and Isaac)

Jude was fearless, wading knee deep in snow drifts right away, 
while Isaac took a while to get used to all the cold stuff

Dahlia roamed free from the start, but Lucy preferred  to plant herself 
in one spot until she was more sure about this thing called snow

* Incredibly low out-of-pocket costs for snowsuits and snow boots made possible by a 
generous gift from Great-Grandma C; a 50% off sale at Kohl's; a forgotten, pre-quads 
gift card from Grandma T; a mystery coupon the cashier informed us that we "forgot;" 
and a wonderful gift from our weekly angel, Tante Gabi. 

~ All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided ~

2010 in statuses, part 2

I'm taking a walk down memory lane, Facebook style. You can read the entire series here.

With the arrival of spring, my excitement about first steps and solid foods soon gave way to thrills of the outdoor variety.

MARCH
2 Gave the kids mazamorra morada for the first time today. They loved it!

3 Snot monster(s) in the house. Hopefully it's a short visit.

16 Just took the kids on a walk. Ah, fresh air! Ah, sunshine! Ah, we're OUTSIDE!!!! (P.S. The stroller is a LOT heavier than it was last summer ... I think I just burned 1,000 calories in 30 minutes.)

20 Took our first family walk this morning. Yes, our first family walk EVER! It was fun. :)

The last time all four kids fit in Abuelita's lap (14 months) 
clockwise from bottom left: Jude, Lucia, Isaac, and Dahlia

22  During our morning walk, the rain lulled the kids to sleep ... I was soaked yet exhilarated by the time we came back. :) Love my Adventure Buggy with its rain shields and super-cozy sleepy bags!

23  Walked the kids to CVS today! Takes just under 20 minutes to get there from our house. Didn't buy anything, but was THRILLED to be "shopping" with my children! The kids liked it, too ... first time they've ever been in a store! :)

24 Took two of the kids for their 15-month checkup today. One of the receptionists looked at me and said, "You look great!" Which would have been a wonderful compliment, if she hadn't followed up with, "I remember when you first brought the babies in. You were much [mimes fat person, then stops short] ... I remember you." Uh, thanks???

27 It's official: My children are white Hispanic-Americans of Peruvian origin in the 2010 Census. Now Ted and I must raise them to be worthy of this designation. :)

30 On our walk this afternoon, a gentleman on his deck saw that I had four babies in the stroller and yelled, "FOUR babies? You the BADDEST gal I EVER seen!" Why, thank you. :)

The Fab Four dig in to Easter baskets from their tios (15 months)
left to right: Lucia, Isaac, Dahlia, and Jude

31 Walked to the grocery store with the kids for the first time this morning. Got so distracted fielding questions that I paid and started to walk off without my groceries! Not sure how to concentrate on what I'm doing without appearing rude.

APRIL
5 It is HOT out there. Must brainstorm other outdoor activities that don't involve me pushing a mammoth stroller with 80+ pounds of baby in it.

7 Tornado sirens going off. To wake the babies, or to not wake them?????

16 Spent the last couple of hours garage-saling with the kiddos and MS (mammoth stroller). Got in some good walking, met several neighbors, answered LOTS of questions, and even found a few good deals! Fun morning. :)