And he turns 8...

You say you can't stay 7 because you need to turn 8 to become smarter. I understand your viewpoint but I am not sure if I agree that need to get older. I still remember the excitement of going into the hospital with you 8 years ago today. You were 10 days overdue and I was huge. This is saying something when I was pregnant with quads two years later and still feel I was bigger with you than I was with 4. We didn't know if you were a boy or girl but I only had a boy's name. My heart was already falling in love with a little boy named Drew and you coming out a princesses wasn't even a thought. You came fast. You were ready to be part of this world when you knew you couldn't stay with mom forever. The moment you came into this world you were ready for it and being the baby with 2 big sister's was no problem for you.

Here we are 8 years later and not much has changed except we realized having 4 younger siblings wasn't a big deal for you either and just gave you the bragging rights that you were a "single." You have a zest for life and wake with a can do attitude each morning. This year of being 7 brought so many moments when I just smiled to myself and thought "my son is pretty darn awesome."

• When asked what you wanted to bring for your birthday treat during the last week of school your response was "something Grace can eat. Twelve donuts and a pack of gluten free, nut free cookies." When dad sent your response to me I had tears well up in my eyes. Which 7 year old thinks of his friend who has to be gluten free due to a medical condition and then also thinks of this friends twin sister who has a nut allergy. This is my Drew Bear. 
• While swimming with your brothers this spring you got hit in the face and you got cut right on your scar from your cleft. You panicked thinking your lip was going to split again. You cried as I held pressure to control the bleeding because you didn't want people to make fun of you at school. This was the first time you have ever complained about having a split lip when you were born. I had never seen you upset about it ever. After a bit you stopped crying and said "Mom scars tell a story." That was it and you were good again. You were okay that God made you the way you were because you had a story to tell.
• There is not a sport you don't love and you will try anything I  am willing to sign you up for. You are frustrated that I won't sign you up for hockey but thankfully you found a sport that speaks to you this year. BASEBALL! You lived for baseball this spring and if you weren't playing it with Tate or Aubrey you were out on the field being part of the Gold Rushers. At the end of the year your coach gave a speech about every player. Dad was elbowing me when the coach asked "Do any of you know who Charlie Hustle is?" He was elbowing me and whispering, "This is Drew." I had no idea who Charlie Hustle was so I was still questioning how dad knew. Your coach went on to say how Drew is the Charlie Hustle of their team. You never came to a game and complained that you didn't get to play a certain position and instead ran to any position with a smile on you face. You gave your all at every game. Who would have imagined that my kid that loved first base last year would fall in love with being catcher this year? Your coach continued and by this point I had tears coming down my face and they didn't stop because your coach then said you came onto the field this year one of the youngest and quietest but it didn't take long and you were the leader of the team. He finished by saying he would be honored to have you on his team again next year. Buddy, I know you kind of giggled and were a tad embarrassed with all that your coach said about you but your mommy was so proud of you. This attitude is not because of something mom & dad have done with raising you but instead is who you are. 
• This year we challenged Natalie and Aubrey to get on the Principal's List which is something one can achieve when one gets into 4th grade and earns all A's and a 3 in conduct. Achieving this earned them a date with mom and dad. We started this during 2nd semester and unfortunately at the end of the semester you ended up with a 2 in conduct. You were so upset the night that we took N&A to sushi and a movie and you had to stay home with the babies. You told me that night that next semester you were getting a 3 in conduct. Each week you brought home your weekly folder and each week it showed us that you didn't have to pull a card. You were not going to allow another date happen that you were not part of. On the last day of school you handed us your report card and told us you didn't pull a single card all semester. You got that 3 in conduct which being a first grade boy I have no idea how you did it. All I know is you can't wait to go white water rafting next month with Mom, Dad, Natalie and Aubrey. 

Drew you are 8. You can get smarter but pretty please do not change your personality, your love for life, your love for your family, your determination or the love to be tickled at night. You are one amazing little boy, and though I knew this 8 years ago today, I can say it with even more conviction today. 

Happy 8th Birthday Drew-Drew

Double Digits

10...you are 10 and it happened faster than I ever imagined it would. Natalie, you told me this weekend that you wanted to be done with college by age 22. You said you wanted to be young when you finish. That means in nearly the time that I have been able to call you girls "mine" you will be graduated from college. How are you already planning for college? You only just started painting your own nails.

We have so much left to do before I will be ready to send you off to college; you have to have a bedtime later than 8, you have to get to an age where you can watch something rated higher than PG, we have to finalize which high school you will attend, we have to have the fearful days of teaching you to drive and then allowing you to go off and drive without us, you have dances to go to, crushes to tell me about, heartaches that you don't think you will every get through, you will have your first job in which you will earn a paycheck and I will be so proud, you have milestones in becoming a women that will happen and talks about topics you are too young for at this time, we have curfews to instill and you have to try stretching them, you will think your mom & dad are the dumbest people on this earth and don't understand anything, we have hours to spend driving you to and from practices along with hours cheering you on at everything you try your hardest at, you will have lots of friendships and some of those friendships you will have for the rest of your life and some will be for only a short while, we will get to watch your relationship with the Lord deepen and at times He will be who you fall upon instead of mom & dad, you have colleges to apply for and acceptance letters to receive, you will have English teachers who tell you that run on sentences are wrong, you will walk upon a stage and mom will be crying as you receive your high school diploma knowing that the rest of your life awaits you.

We have so very much to do and I know the time we have to do all of it is so very short. Another blink of an eye and another 10 years will pass us by. Being a mother is the best thing I have ever done and at the same time the most challenging thing I have ever done. It gives me the greatest high yet at other times it leaves me completely frustrated. Some days the two of you remind me why I spent years wanting nothing more than to be a mother and on other days I question why God saw me fit to be a mother. At the end of each day though I thank God that He chose me to be your mother and I pray that I can be what you need me to be to allow you to be the best you can be.

You are the best of friends, yet you have started to drive each other crazy. This is most often seen when you are getting ready for school. Aubrey you are a morning person and are ready to interact the minute your internal clock goes off at 6am. Natalie you also have a 6am internal clock but you like to take your time waking, showering and getting ready. This last year you both have found a love for reading and this love is most often found at the end of each day when you are being tucked in for bed and are trying to extend your bedtime. You both love to take on the mother role and for some reason answer whenever "mom" is called out and this has gotten you in trouble more than the double digits you are. You strive so hard to do the best you can in school and we realized all it takes is a promise of a date with mom & dad with no siblings if you land on the principal's list...we will gladly take you to a movie and sushi as was requested for this trimester of straight A's and a 3 in conduct. I wonder how long this little incentive will work? I am more than happy to still honor it throughout college as long as Natalie chooses somewhere other than North Dakota State as you currently state is your college of choice!

Today you are 10. Today you wanted to hear over and over what I was doing 10 years ago at the exact moment you would ask. You loved the 4 minutes of one of you being 9 and one of you being 10 and you giggled when your friends sang individually to you at your exact minute. Ten years ago today my life changed and I couldn't imagine not having you as the twins of the family. May your next 10 years be just as amazing as the first 10 but can they be much slower so I can enjoy each moment because I know I will look back in 10 years and wonder how in the world did 20 years go by because it was just yesterday when I held you for the very first time.

Happy Double Digits Natalie & Aubrey

Happy 5th Birthday...

Today marks the end of you telling everyone that you are "four & a half" as you hold 4 fingers up because you are now 5! My babies are 5 and this fact has me in total disbelief. How did this happen? Where did the years go? How are my youngest 5 and really not babies anymore? I am sad and in a way grieving that my days of parenting  a baby are over but at the same time I can say I love that my kids are all the ages they are. Are you easier now that you are 5? No, not at all, but the challenges are different. We no longer have to feed you every three hours or get you dressed or carry you to the car and buckle you up but now we do have to tell you why you can't use so much toilet paper and why "no" really does mean no and why we don't care that so & so won't let you play with their fidget spinner. All of this comes with the joy of watching you blossom into amazing kiddos who can introduce yourself to people and tell them you are not a twin but a "kwadwuplet", you can stand still and follow along at church, you can tell us thank you for making you a yummy dinner, you can tell us how excited you are to start school again because you want to meet your new teachers. You simply amaze your mom and dad every single day and though some days we may forget to appreciate those moments, we never lose sight of how proud we are that you are ours.

TATE

Oh how badly you want to be exactly like your big brother. You have been like this for a while but over the last year this desire has only grown. You dress like him, you play the same which means sports and guns, you make the same faces right after him and you are frequently seen dabbing because Drew loves to dab. Out of all of our kids you are the one who voices their opinion the most on choices of clothes. You only want shorts and it doesn't matter what the temperature is. You will only wear short sleeve shirts and for the entire school year you threw complete fits if they had buttons. Thank goodness you would wear sweatshirts but of course only certain ones. You are worse than any of our girls and you were only 4!! You have a love for sports and are so excited to turn 5 because you know that is how old you need to be to join swim team with your brother. You were the first to decide you didn't need puddle jumpers anymore this summer while in the pool and you haven't stopped for a second as you dive and jump to be just like Drew. You have an amazing arm and even your t-ball coaches were impressed every time you threw a ball to 1st base this season. Tater Tot I am so lucky to be your mommy and I can't wait to watch you on those sports team just like I do with your Big Brother.

KENZIE

You remain our peanut even though you have grown but you have no problem being the littlest and wear this badge with honor. When asked what you want to be when you grow up your response is always "Baby Annabelle". I think you would be happiest if you could stay attached to my hip because you love to be carried and still dislike when I tell you that you can walk. I don't think you've gone to mass yet in your 5 years in which I haven't held you for the majority of it. I will not complain for a second though because I know my days of carrying you are limited and someday the weight of you on my hip will just be a memory. You are, for the most part, a pretty laid back person but when you don't like something a very loud whiny, screechy voice can be heard. You haven't figured it out yet but you will be my child that someday I will have to wake and tell you to get moving because you love to sleep. You wake at 6am but you are so not ready to be up. You come downstairs with your hair a complete mess, sucking on your thumb with your blankie in your hand. Your eyes shout to us that you are still tired and even though you go lay down on the recliner chair you tell us you aren't tired anymore. I wonder at what age you will realize you are still sleepy and just how awesome sleeping is? You started gymnastics this year and it is so fun to watch you flipping all over the place and just simply loving life.

RYLAN

Rylan James you are such a character. You are so, so sweet and at the same time you are such a pain in the bottom. You have a way to know how to pick on everyone and for the most part you think you can get away with it but when we catch you your response is "what?" with the most sly voice and if we ask you why you did something you again use the same voice with an "I don't know" response. You are also by far our biggest crier. Anytime someone does anything to you that you do not like you cry like you are being tortured. I know you think you are going to get someone into trouble by doing this but in the end it's yourself that gets the bad rap because of your outcry. You would be most happy if we would just allow you to sit all day with the tv on. You don't care what is on but you will sit and watch as long as we will let you. You very seldom sit on the couch and instead love to watch from the table. Surprisingly, mom and dad do not just let you veg all day so instead you keep busy putting together perler bead projects, playing baseball with the other boys, finding ways to annoy your siblings which usually means deciding you were playing with the same thing as someone else and screaming at the top of your lungs that you had it first! You were the last to realize you could swim this summer and you figured this out when mom basically said "I need to know you can swim so either you show me or you watch from the side." It was a game for you to wear your floaties because we knew you could do it but you refused. You quickly, well after you threw a fit and got thrown in, realized you did have the ability to swim without drowning and haven't stopped swimming since. You love school and the minute you are inside you are off and playing. Very seldom did mom get a hug or kiss from you at drop off because you had other things to do. You remain our trouble maker but there is a side to you that mom just loves and that is the part of you that will take you so far in life.

ISABELLA

You may be our 4th and final girl in the family but you are such a little mommy. You also have so much of your older sister's personality in you! You are head strong, independent, have your mind made up and stick to it no matter what anyone says yet you are so caring and nurturing. Your life goal is to be a mom and you plan to have 2 girls, 2 boys and 2 babies. We have explained that the girls and boys start out as babies so you will have 4 kids but in your mind you are having 2 girls, 2 boys and 2 babies no matter what we try and tell you. You are our one child out of 7 who enjoys playing with toys. You love your baby dolls and coloring the most. You are always making mom pictures and you get annoyed with me when I throw them away. If you were not part of a set of quads you would be the only one I would consider sending to kindergarten this year. You enjoy learning and will soak preschool up this year even more than last year. Telling us the color of everything is a favorite of yours. Actually talking in general is probably your highlight each day. According to Google the average person uses 16,000 words/day. I am pretty sure you use up your allotment by 9:30 in the morning. Sometimes I just have to tell you to be quiet for a moment because you will fill any silence with announcements such as the sky is blue and has white clouds. You are a beautiful young lady Bella and you are 100% girl and love to be in dresses and the more they twirl the better. I hope your birthday wishes are grand and that they all come true for you.

Babies you are 5 and it simply amazes me. August 9th, 2012 will always be a day I want to go back to. As I watched your birth video a couple nights ago I just sat with tears in my eyes as each one of you took your first breath. Those 4 minutes of listening for each of you to cry as we found out if you were a boy or girl where minutes I never knew if we would get when I was pregnant with you. Now looking at you 5 years later I wish I could go back and whisper to that scared mom on the OR table that each of you would amaze me more than I could ever imagine. That you all would be perfect. That you would all hit your milestones even if delayed. You would all give me more love than I deserve and that 5 years down the road I would never imagine life without the 4 of you. Today is your day Kenzie, Isabella, Tate & Rylan and I hope your 5th birthday is one of the best yet.

Happy 5th Birthday Babies!!! 

We all love you like crazy...

And Then He Was 7

When I started writing birthday blog posts over 5 years ago it was because I was writing just that...a blog post. Over the years though this became a highlight of your birthday and turned into a tradition. About a week before each of your birthdays, which often coincides with when you start counting down the days until your big day, you start asking when we can take birthday pictures. I usually push it off for a couple days and then a day or 2 before your birthday I can't take the constant asking any longer and we get them done. What I realized last night while taking your pictures was I had been looking at this all wrong the last couple of years. It is more than just a blog post to you. It takes less than 15 minutes total but for you it is time I devout to you alone; letting you direct where we take your pictures, letting you pose however you want to pose and allowing the plans you have made over the last week for your pictures to be captured forever. Your smile never left your face last night Drew and I couldn't believe my little man was turning 7.

This year you went from being a preschooler to a kindergartner and now you will be a 1st grader in just a few short weeks. This year you grew more than any other year and I am not talking height. Never once were you nervous to go to school. You walked in on your first day and didn't think twice about it. Yet at the same time you still wanted me to walk you to your room and wait for you to use the restroom so that you could give me a kiss and hug before I left you for 8 hours. You love school, I will never say you love the learning part of school,  but you do what you have to do and you do it well. What you do excel in is sports. It doesn't matter what sport it is, you give it your all. You haven't found a sport you don't like and are willing to try anything I sign you up for. You don't care if you are with all of your friends or go on the first day to a team that you know no one. You become quite competitive when you are out on the field but you never put down a team mate for your own competitiveness. You had one baseball game in which you tried out smack talking but Dad and I put a stop to that faster than you could get the trash talk out of your mouth. You never tried it again!

Making friends comes so easy to you and it doesn't surprise me. You are your father's son which means you get along with everyone. When you arrive at school you have kids from preschool all the way to 8th grade that know you by name and call out to say "hi". You have multiple girls vying for your attention but you were dedicated to one in particular all year long. You listen to your teachers and you are respectful. Your teacher didn't believe me when I told her you often fall apart when we get home by becoming whiny and throwing fits when you don't get what you want. That was until this spring when it had rained for days, school had been busy and you were exhausted. This combo lead up to a day that you fell apart at school and you had to change your color on your behavior chart. I believe this may have been the only day you ever got in trouble your entire kindergartner year and Mrs Childers finally saw the side of Drew I occasionally mentioned.

You have a love for life and are so willing to always help me out around the house. You still call your older sisters "the big girls" and I continue to love it. You have a best friend in Tate. You are so gentle with Kenzie and Bella or at least until they don't want to play your game with your rules. You love to wrestle with your brothers and act how brothers do but this year you found you have a little more strength and often forget that you can't hit or push your brothers when they are driving you crazy. You are also still really good at throwing a tantrum when things aren't fair. This most often happens when you are overtired and often we know it is all for show because if you are not careful you will start to laugh and then you know your gig is up. You eat like a teenager but are only 7. You despise being cold at swim team and will swim a whole practice crying if the water is anything but warm but will refuse to quit early. You are not to big to need cuddles with mom and you get pure joy from dad spending even 10 minutes with you playing baseball. You officially graduated to a 50cc motorcycle this year and you couldn't wait to ride it. First Uncle Jess had to clean it and check it, next you had to wait for daddy to buy you gear and finally when you were ready to ride it you lost your motorcycle privileges after the first ride because of lying to mom and dad. That week was so hard for you and I both; you because you were looking so forward to it and me because I needed to be strong and follow through with your consequence. 

You are so excited to turn 7 this year. I don't think it has anything to do with you getting older though; instead it is because you have been looking forward to getting the mail all week to see if there is anything with your name on it, you get to pick the snack out at Vacation Bible School, you get to spend the day with your whole family, you got to pick your dinner of tacos and you get to have a cake with a motorcycle on top while opening presents and let's not forget about your birthday pictures that you planned all week! Turning 7 had nothing to do with being 7 but everything to do with a day dedicated to you. Drew Bear you are 7 and though I keep telling you I only want you to turn 4 again I am okay with my little man getting older. The only reason why is because I love who you are becoming. I love seeing you as my athletic, caring, responsible, life loving, smiley boy who I hope will always know how much brighter you made my life on this day 7 years ago.

I love you buddy in a way that only a mother can love her "single" child!!

Happy 7th Birthday my little Dabber

Big girls are 9!!

I started to title this post "My baby girls are 9" but that did not seem fitting at all. Natalie and Aubrey you have not been my baby girls in years. You have always been so much older than your actual age. Thinking back I don't think this happened when the babies joined our family or even when Drew made us a family of 5; I think maybe you knew that you were going to have a big role in our family and you just started filling it from a very early age.

You are 9. I remember in years past I couldn't believe that my girls were turning 5 or 7 but this year it seems totally appropriate that you are turning 9. You are still kids at heart but yet you are yearning to be one of the older kids. This year your birthday list had one thing...an apple watch! You also have asked how old you have to be to get a cell phone (at this time the answer is 18), you have already started counting the years until you can drive and you really want to start babysitting. At the same time you have trouble reading time on a hand clock, you get scared to go to the chicken coop at night and you still love to play with your American Dolls. You may want to be older than 9 but you are still just 9.

The memories I have as a kid are really sketchy until around the age you are now. It makes me wonder which parts of your childhood will you remember? Will it be that Natalie was always the fashionista? That Natalie loved helping mom until she was actually given tasks. Will your wooden spoon book report that you loved doing be something you always remember or will you forget all about Jane and her yellow house? Aubrey will you always remember that you hated to have your hair combed and had no problem going to school with bedhead? Will you remember how you found your birthday presents ahead of time and opened the box and then acted like you never found them? Maybe the time of going to see Beauty and the Beast or Moana will forever be etched in your memory.

When I look back at you at age 9, I hope I remember that this was the time in your life that you learned the words to the songs on the radio and asked us why "damn" was in a song if it was a bad word. I want to remember that you had no fear to be in front of people. If there was a reading, a part or a solo you wanted to have it. You volunteered yourself for things before checking with mom and dad if it was okay and it was pretty hard to tell you no you couldn't be in the Christmas program or the choir for Easter mass. I want to remember that this was the year that you became best friends with each other. You are more than just sisters; you have found a person that gets you no matter what kind of day you are having. You haven't slept in the same bed in years and all of a sudden you can't imagine not sleeping together. You are with one another all day in school and in the same activities yet the minute we get home you are off together. There have been times we have had to separate you because you get silly when you spend too much togetherness! You get annoyed with your other siblings but for some reason you two very seldom argue or get frustrated with each other. I don't understand it but I'm guessing its a twin thing. Today you thought it was so cool that at 2:41pm Natalie was 9 and for four minutes you were different ages. Natalie was 9 and Aubrey was 8. You both counted down the minutes on your new "fitbits" (that aren't really fitbits) until Aubrey was your twin again. I never thought I'd have two girls who are the same age but you two complete each other.

Natalie & Aubrey, now that you are both 9 I can officially say Happy Birthday. Each year I say what my wish for you is and this year is no different. For the next 365 days my hope for you is that you can just continue to be a child. You have years to grow up and I know your innocence of being a child will be gone sooner than I want it to be. And may you also always remember that your best friend is right next to you even if for 4 minutes you are different ages.

I love you Talie & Aubrey and Happy Birthday!!