Our Week in Numbers

I have so much to catch up on! We just spent a wonderful week with just half of our normal crew. Megan and Bridget spent the week with Mop and Pop, galavanting around Orange County. They went to Disneyland, Buckets of Fun (not even sure what that is, but apparently it was a lot of fun!), lot of parks and even attended "school" at Mop's kitchen counter. Needless to say, they did a lot more than they normally do in a week around this house!

Meanwhile, Matt and I stayed home with Tessa and Annie, who relished being our only kids. We even went out to dinner with the babies one night! It was refreshing and relaxing not to be outnumbered by our children. And, we took the opportunity to get some work done around the house that is nearly impossible with four kids underfoot (and still overwhelming with the twins, but much easier!!).

While they were gone, we had:

• One big girl room cleared, painted, painted again, touched up, organized, and decorated, complete with a newly assembled set of bunk beds, a newly painted bookcase, and lots of pink and green. Did I mention how spoiled our kids are??
• One nursery organized for Tessa and Annie to call home very soon. This involved the dreaded task of going through all of our little girl clothes, and taking out all of the twins' 6-12 month clothes. I think we could clothe quadruplets from birth-2T with what we have stashed in bins throughout the house.
• Zero sippy cups, princess plates or bottles to wash. The kitchen actually stayed clean. I didn't realize how much of my day was spent in the kitchen preparing and cleaning up after every meal!
• Three nice trips out shopping with just the babies. Weird to not be making little people conversation while driving in the van or pushing a shopping cart. I missed it.
• Two babies who missed their big sister entertainment. The best part about having a large family at this point is the constant distraction the girls can provide for the babies. They dance, sing, talk to, and grab toys for Tessa and Annie whenever necessary. With just me around during the day, I caught them yawning and looking around for something more interesting :)

And, since the girls have been home, we've been jerked back to reality, most notably with:

• One accident in the middle of the night that required the stripping of one of the afore-mentioned bunk beds. I don't want to embarrass anyone so I won't say who it was. But, I will say that it involved me climbing to the top bunk and stripping the sheet and waterproof mattress pad (thank god for that!!) in the dim light of a Disney Princess nightlight.
• One more load of laundry the next morning to get those sheets back on the bed before naptime.
• Three accidents on day one of potty-training Bridget.
• Eight pairs of Tinker Bell undies that will not be enough to last through this day.
• Two successful trips to the bathroom, each rewarded with a purple Pez from her Tinker Bell Pez dispenser.
• A grocery store excursion with all four girls (one on me, two in the stroller and one unhappy shopping cart rider). Yes, this involved the pushing of the stroller with one arm and the pulling of the overflowing shopping cart with the other, all while navigating my way through looks of pity and horror from fellow shoppers. Remind me to never do that again. Ever. I don't think I've been that stressed in a long time!
• Oh, and one big reveal when the girls saw their new room for the first time. We got it on video, HGTV style, but I'm not sure that video, or any other video, is going to land on this blog anytime soon. Unfortunately, I didn't spend any of my spare time last week figuring out how to edit or upload video. Let me paint the picture for you, though. Just imagine Bridget, mouth wide open, saying, "Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh." And, imagine Megan overly focused on the Princess hamper in the corner.

I took one last picture of the nursery while it was still Megan and Bridget's room. Snif sniff.

Shortly thereafter, the babies rolled in and claimed it as their own:

And Tessa met Sophie - it was love at first nibble.