More birthdays

Last night we got together to celebrate Scott and Julia's birthday.  By "we" I mean all the usual suspects, the Fuqua's, Boverie's, Zickafoose and Jones'.  My sister LaToya and her husband came by later and unfortunately my other sister Melissa does not live close enough to pop in for a mid-week dinner on short notice.  Daddy made a giant pot of delicious gumbo and we had cupcakes and coffee ice cream dessert.  YUM!!

After eating and visiting until 9-ish we headed home.  Walking home the boys were comparing notes on who got to consume the most dessert.  Landry only got two cupcakes, and Ash had 2 cupcakes and some of the ice cream.  Seriously unfair, I know this because it was announced loudly and with feeling.  Why would I ONLY allow 2 cupcakes per child? Why did Ash also get ice cream?  Truthfully, this 2 cupcakes and ice cream thing was because I wasn't paying close attention.  Anyway Ash told Landry if he hadn't been so busy playing with Jacob (the Jones' 15yo son) he could have gotten both desserts too. Landry promptly informed him that "Jacob is cooler than chocolate cake!"

How cool is that?  I would love to be cooler than chocolate, but that is a dream I will likely never realize.  This is just an example of the blessings that God has placed in the lives of my children.  Jacob is a young man who impresses me constantly.  He demonstrates such patience and concern for my boys it often brings me to tears. He makes them feel special and important, yet he makes sure he doesn't intentionally or inadvertently expose them to anything potentially harmful to keeping them close to God. 

Thanks Jake for being such a Godly young man and for keeping the hearts of my boys as near to Him as you can.

Once again it's Wednesday......

My becoming a star witness doesn't seem to be panning out.  I embraced a child at church tonight, gave him instructions as though he were my own and then he turned around and said "Hi, Ms. Candy!"  So I am discouraged, if I can't pick the child of my womb out of a line up what hope is there for me?

I also seem to be failing in the mature woman of 40-something department.  Although I am not quite 40 I should at least be semi mature right?  Well not so much.  Allye was telling the boys and me something about her friend saying of you lick someone's elbow they can't feel it.  Well obviously I had no choice but to put my elbow in Tucker's face and insist he lick it.  Then I licked his and Ash licked Allye's and Allye licked Ash's. Landry not excelling at hand washing was not included in this activity.  It was a grand experiment but probably should not have taken place while driving down the road.  It is also possible that in class tonight when a certain charming young lady was painting her picture of Moses and said "I am getting some orange for my tits (instead of sticks maybe)."  I laughed out loud.   Yes, I am a grown up....kind of......

I took the boys to the glorious wonderland of the Wal Mart toy aisle today and they bought a new toy.  Yes that's right all three of them got a new toy that compliments the purchase of their brother's, it was a rare and beautiful moment of peace and harmony that lasted through the check out line and into the car where a heated discussion ensued about who went first........

Then it was off to laser tag, a new activity for us.  Apparently it was AWESOME!!!  You can run inside, in the dark, yell and scream and point your gun at someone.  What, I ask you, is there not to love?  So they played 3 games and according to the polls the villains prevailed each outing.  So today at "recess", we learned that the bad guys win and when shooting shoot to kill.

It was off to the Jones' home for dinner.  I must say it was excellent and made me feel very happy inside.  The boys being very excited about their new toy brought it in to force Jacob to play with them.  Tucker excitedly informed me that buying these toys was a great investment because they had given up video games ever since they got it. So let me recap.....3:30 purchase of toys, 4:00-6:00 laser tag, and 6:15-6:30 said statement of video game abstinence.  Yes I think I changed their lives today!!!!

Where does the time go?

Hugely Preggers!!  with 2 months before delivery...

9/9/99 was a big day for us.  I was hugely pregnant and not sleeping well.  Scott wasn't hugely anything but he still wasn't sleeping well because I needed the house to be 65 degrees.  At about 4am I got up went to the bathroom, took Allye to the bathroom, laid back down and went "uh-oh I think I just peed on myself!"  (There isn't much glamour in pregnancy and with multiples it just decreases proportionally.)  As it turned out I hadn't peed on myself,(that's a post- pregnancy related side effect that is only problematic on the trampoline) my water had broken or one of them had or something crazy like that.  Hey I don't know there were A LOT of things happening in there!  So we make some calls, one mis-dial, and then off we go to the hospital to have us some babies.  It's possible that I cried.  I'd love to say it was because I was overcome with joy and anticipation about the arrival of our 3 bundles of joy, but that would be a lie.  I was a little ticked about the contractions since I knew I was having a C-section that I'd most likely die from so why the added insult of contractions?  Turns out I didn't die despite the major surgery, and there we had it 3 healthy baby boys!  Ash weighed in at 4.8lbs, Tucker 4.7 and Landry at 3.12.  I may have cried some more...again I wont lie, I was not emotionally overwrought in a good way, I was scared to death!  I was supposed to feed them, clothe them and nurture them into normal people?  YIKES!

First days at home...

Well eleven years have come and gone, and  I can't imagine how that has happened.  I have managed to feed them although not always nutritional masterpieces, clothe them, despite a heartfelt disagreement on what matches what and we are still working on normal....  How, you may wonder, have I managed such feats of parenting?  Well not alone!  We have been blessed in countless ways, and even though I began my journey of mothering multiples in such a faithless fashion, God has never allowed me or my family to go without what we need. Through friends and acquaintances and friends of friends we have been served and showered with love beyond measure.

My boys are a treasure and a bright spot to everyday.  With their bonds of togetherness I see how lovely the relationship of brothers can be. Through their individuality, I see the beauty of God's creation in our free will and his love of us. 

One...

Two...

Three...

Four....

Five.....(don't ask)

Six...

Seven...

Eight.....

Nine...

Ten....

Practically Eleven........