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!

Our 15 seconds

In case you haven't heard, we're a little bit famous right now. Our adventure as (very minor) celebrities started on Wednesday night, when one of my friends discovered that the Huffington Post was featuring one of our videos. I was absolutely floored! The next morning, I was astounded again when another friend informed me that our video was hanging out on AOL's homepage:

I thought that would be the end of the story, but yesterday my aunt noticed that another YouTube user has uploaded our video as his own (probably to increase traffic to his channel). And today I woke up to find that our original video is closing in on 1 million views:



Can you believe it? All because of a little video that I took to remember the first time that Tío Ner played his guitar for the Fab Four—crazy!

Spelling boy

Well, Mr. Alphabet has struck again: No longer content to just read, Isaac surprised us this evening by starting to spell! I was busy getting the other kids ready for bed when I came around the corner and saw him arranging letters next to a picture book. See what he did here?

So proud of himself!

I have a feeling that the days of spelling things so that the c-h-i-l-d-r-e-n don't u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d are numbered!

Getting schooled

Today Ted and I loaded the kids into the van and took them to school to meet their teachers. That's right, I said their teachers. Believe it or not, the Fab Four are starting preschool tomorrow!

Couldn't be more excited about walking into school!

We never thought we'd be able to pay for four kids to attend preschool, but we started considering our options last year when we realized that Isaac would benefit from participating in our school district's early childhood education program. As we expected, he did qualify for free placement and, because we feel it's so important for our kids to have a shared school experience, our parents are making it possible for Lucy, Jude, and Dahlia to attend this semester as "typical peers."

This means that, four afternoons a week, Isaac will work on his kindergarten-readiness and social skills (as well as receive speech and occupational therapy) in the "developmental" classroom, while his siblings attend the "community" classroom next door (where half of the kids are on target with their development and half of the kids need a little extra help). Win-win!

Look at these big kids!

Many people have been asking me what I'll do with all my free time now. Unfortunately, I won't actually be getting that much of a break since school time is just replacing nap time. Still, I know that the structured time apart will be good for all of us, and I can't wait to see the kids, especially Isaac, flourish in their new environment. It's going to be a whole new world!

Table for six

Notice anything missing in this picture?

Yep, a few days ago we had our last supper at the feeding table:

And started eating together at the "big" table!

Ted and I are thrilled to have our pre-quads dining table back in place, and the kids love the new arrangement, too. Life feels just a little more normal now!

As for the feeding table, it's gone to a good home. We hope you make as many memories around that table as we did, Hamer quads!

They're 3!

One week ago today, our Fab Four turned 3 years old! As usual, we celebrated with family, cupcakes, a ton of balloons, and lots and lots of presents. Jude got his wish for a blue cupcake and a blue birthday hat; Isaac tolerated his green birthday hat long enough for a picture; Lucy got the purple cupcake, purple dress, and purple crown that she'd been dreaming about; and Dahlia was thrilled with the "yellow" (gold to you and me) crown that we bought to coordinate with Lucy's:

3 years old: 
(l to r) Lucy, Isaac, Dahlia, and Jude

A good time was had by all, and Ted and I were again reminded of how blessed we are to be parents to these four miracles. Can't wait to see what the year ahead has in store for all of us!

One of our favorite things

Forget Paul McCartney or our wedding video—the latest craze around here is the singalong feature on our Sound of Music DVD. Every night before bed, I pop in "Maria" (as the kids call it), and the playroom is magically transformed into Salzburg, with the Fab Four taking on the roles of various characters in the movie—including, of course, Maria:

Dahlia as Maria 
(she came up with this ensemble all by herself!)

The kiddos have a great time copying every twirl and gesture they see onscreen, and Ted and I get a big kick out of seeing them perform (and perfect) their routines. I especially love watching them do "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," with all of its leaping and spinning and—the best part—the kiss at the end:



Who knows—maybe one of these kids will end up on Broadway someday!

A new tradition: DIY Advent calendar

One of the many things I've learned in the past 3 years is that, when you have four birthdays to celebrate on Christmas Eve, Christmas itself easily can—and does—become an afterthought. And recently, with both big days already around the corner again, I've been thinking a lot about how to change this. How can I teach my children that their birthday, while wonderful and exciting, is not the most important birthday of the year? What should Christmas look like for a family such as ours?

Although I don't think there are any perfect answers to these questions, I've decided to try to address the issue this year by starting a new tradition for us: For the first time, our Christmas celebration will include an Advent calendar. And not just any Advent calendar—once I realized how pricey ready-made calendars tend to be, I decided to make my own!

First I bought a small hardware storage box with 25 compartments:

Then, to dress it up, I lined the drawers with leftover Christmas wrapping paper and numbered them with punched card-stock circles (labeled with a gold-leaf pen and attached with foam dots). For the finishing touch, Ted spray-painted the case with some Rustoleum for plastic. Here's how it turned out:

I've filled each drawer with four pieces of Christmas candy, one for each kid to eat while I read a story from our illustrated children's Bible. Since the kids are so small, I didn't bother coming up with symbols to place in the drawers; instead, each one contains a "coin" (bottled water lid painted gold) that tells us the name of the person we will be reading about on that particular day. (I figure I can use the next 12 months or so to come up with something a little more elaborate.)

We started our Advent today with the story of Creation. In the tradition of a Jesse Tree, the following days will take us through the Old Testament and into the New, with the last 5 days focusing on the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. I am trying to keep things as simple as possible by just reading a story and then letting the kids color a picture related to what we've read (as they get older, perhaps we can make some sort of craft or ornament instead).

Time will tell whether this Advent calendar will end up being the solution to our Christmas quandary, but at least it's a start!

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?

Keeping busy

Cold weather is upon us, and I've been keeping busy trying to, well, keep the kids busy! Thank goodness for Pinterest (my new best friend), where I've found a ton of ideas for fun and ridiculously easy ways to keep little ones occupied indoors. Best of all, the materials cost next to nothing! Here's what we've tried out so far:

Isaac with the Letter Box

The Letter Box: You can't get much easier than this. Just cut out letters from food boxes before you throw them out! I pull these out at restaurants when we're waiting for the bill, and the kids (especially Mr. Alphabet) love trying to find all the letters in the alphabet or putting random letters together and asking me what they spell. I keep the letters in a clear zipper pouch and sweep them all back in when we're done. And if the kids drop some on the restaurant floor, no biggie ... I'll always have more boxes to dissect!

Jude with Pom Pom Stuff-It-In

Pom Pom Stuff-It-In: Cut a hole in the lid of a disposable storage container, supply the kids with enough pom poms to fill it up, and—voilà! This simple (and, as it turns out, very popular) activity holds my kids' attention for a surprisingly long time as they push in all the pom poms, one by one, and then dump them all out to start over again. We also like to count the pom poms or sort them by color (and it gives the kids great practice at taking turns, too).

Lucy with Popsicle Puzzle

Popsicle Puzzle: Glue a picture to a row of popsicle sticks, and then use an exacto knife to separate the sticks—instant puzzle! Since my kids are obsessed with the royal wedding, I chose a lovely photo of William and Kate for them to assemble. Lucy is an especially big fan of this activity, and she's pretty good at it, too!

Dahlia with Ribbon Snake

Ribbon Snake: For a great fine-motor activity, sew buttons to each end of a ribbon to make the "snake," and cut slits in square pieces of felt to thread the ribbon through. Now I'm no seamstress, but I was pretty sure I could handle making this. When I asked my friend Lindsay (of Craft Buds) for materials, though, she surprised me by creating—and presenting the kids with—the cutest version I've ever seen. The girls especially love the colorful flowers and often ask to play with them.

Can you tell I've been having fun with Pinterest? I'm just so happy to have my creative juices flowing again!

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!

My baby can read

Remember how Isaac learned his alphabet before everyone else? Well, now that he and his siblings have all mastered their letters (including what sound each one makes), Mr. Alphabet has decided to step it up a notch—by starting to read!

I didn't realize he was doing this until about 3 weeks ago, when his speech therapist told me that she thought he was reading the colors in one of her books. So after she left that day, I sat down with him and wrote down every word I could think of that appears in the books and DVDs that we have. From what I came up with off the top of my head, he recognized about 60 words, including his name, all of his colors, a bunch of animals, several types of instruments, and more! Here's a quick look at Isaac doing his thing:



The most amazing thing is that no one sat down and taught him any of this—he just picked it up on his own. This kid sure knows how to make his English-major mom happy!

Laundry goddess

When the kids were really little, they loved to line up at the gate and watch me fold laundry on the other side. Lucy, in particular, was fascinated by the process, and as soon as she learned how to say everyone's name, she participated by calling out the owner of each article of clothing as I pulled it out of the laundry basket.

More than a year later, she still knows exactly which piece of clothing belongs to whom. But now she is more than just a laundry onlooker: Two weeks ago, she surprised me by independently folding a pair of socks and placing them in my hand:

Lucy's first attempt at folding socks

Not having ever instructed her in the art of folding, I was astounded by her precision. Today, however, she went even further. While I folded the big towels, she found all of the washcloths, carefully folded them one by one, and neatly stacked them in the laundry basket (all without being asked!):

Lucy's first attempt at folding washcloths

Here is our little laundry goddess in action:



Hm, now that Lucy has shown me what she can do, I'm thinking I may never have to fold a washcloth again!

Follow the leader

Jude has a little shadow. His name is Isaac, and although he may be a little bigger than his younger (by a minute) brother, he thinks his hermanito is the bomb. Watch how he tries to mimic everything Jude does here, from the way he goes down the slide to the way he falls at the bottom, and more:



Yeah, Jude is loving every minute of this right now. But I can just hear him a year or two down the road: "Mo-oom! Isaac is copying me!"

Daddy knows best

Ted claims that he doesn't remember anything about the babies' first year ... but I know better.

A few days ago, he saw Lucy trying to give her doll a bottle and promptly sat down to demonstrate how he used to feed her when she was a tiny baby:

Minutes later, I found him showing both girls the correct technique for burping a baby as little as they used to be:

It almost made me think that he might be feeling a bit nostalgic for those early days of endless bottles, marathon burping sessions, and a whole lot of spit up ... but I know better.

He's just a daddy who loves his girls.