multitude of multiples

post by mandy
. We are watching the show right now on TLC and the name of the show is now called multitude of multiples. the quad family that they finally found to do it. lost one of their babies. everything happens for a reason with us not doing the show. i couldn't help but to tinkle a tear for them. The mom just sobbed when they found out one of their babies had died. We are so fortunate to have what we have and are very aware of it. and are reminded of it when we meet complete strangers and they share their own stories and everyone else's too. i didn't want to go to the yearly nicu picnic because of all the hurt and sadness that comes along with not so great success stories there. maybe next year.

thats every bit of it

post by mandy
we went to nashville and spent the day. we went to shop downtown and could barely move 3 feet because people were crowding the babies. so about an hour into it. these 4 people came up. they were like 50ish. and one of the women asked if i was the God Damn Grandma to the quads. What the hell? Do i look that old? i bout fell off the damn bench. i have heard it all now. this one guy in the same group asked if i breast fed. Where have all the manners gone? Guess i'm getting paid back for how rude i am most of the time. hee hee. Then amy came up to me and ran her fingers through my hair and said, "oh my god, you are gonna be totally gray by this time next year" ok that is no way to win brownie points after cane lady just asked if i was the grandma. hello people i am only 34. i don't even have one wrinkle yet. botox is NOT on my christmas list. that bitch Amy doesn't have one damn gray hair.

boy bathroom rules

post by mandy
so bradley has wanted to go to the boys bathroom alone. and we obviously dont know what goes on in there or how to teach him what not to do or what to do in there. so we had amy's brother Mark and dad go over with bradley a few rules. and bradley was like "i know how to do it" this was on saturday. on sunday we were in the creepy white van and both kids said they had to pee. so we found a mug n bun cup rolling aound on the floor so they could go pee. so it's bradley's turn to pee and all be a son of bitch if he didn't pulll his pants down and his butt was showing. now mind you he said he knew how to do it. well guess what he DOESN"T amy and i were mortified. bradley needs another lesson in how to pee in public Good God.

random photo's

for connie

i was having fun with harper. there is something about little boys that melts my heart. Ok, little girls too.

Jenny Godby's Peanut chicken salad

Jenny brought this lunch to us just after the babies were home. She is a wonderful cook, and a better friend. Jenny came the other day with Mara to visit. I took her picture with kerry and Tillie...and wanted the world to see how beautiful she is and to share this wonderful recipe.

Love you Jenny and Mara!

2 chicken breasts cooked and chopped

1 pack of Rice a Roni chicken rice

Vermicilli, prepared according to box, and chilled

1 1/2 buch of green onions, chopped

12 oz can of salted cocktail peanuts, chopped coarse

1-2 Tablespoosn chopped ginger to taste

1 jar Jade peanut sauce from William Sonoma

Mix all, chill and serve w/ soy sauce. Add a bit of dried red pepper flakes to soy for extra kick.

This makes great roll ups or excellent in a pita.

Great happenings

This week has been fun for all of us. Let's start the week / my blog out from the beginning.
On Sunday Amanda, Mandy, Kim and I started out at the fair with all the babies. It was 88 degrees, hott HOT! We had fun anyway. We ate our way from one end of the fair to the other...including deep fried snickers, and deep fried pickles. Yummy. Gut wrenching.
We picked Bradley up from his cousins house on the way home where he had successfully learned how to skate board. He was hopping on his board. Excited. He also got a new pair of skate shoes while there. I think he thought he was being treated like he was at grandma's house. That's something Mandy's family always said... It means your being spoiled.
Tuesday was the Jason Mraz concert at the fair. Amanda and Bradley can sing every word on every song on the cd we have in the creepy white van. They know the songs by # and we spend a lot of time flipping back and forth to their favorite songs. Im not sure who...but someone gave Mandy free tickets to the concert so she could take the kids. We have been trying to do things that are inexpensive. So....all these trips to the fair have been expensive. Well, less expensive than one would think cuz here is how we do it. Now, please, feel free to take this advise and do it yourself, but do not hold me responsible if you aren't as good at is as we are. We have been doing this for a LONG time. We ride to the fair together....and just before we enter, everyone hides in the creepy white van. I pay for me...and the rest sneak in. HAHAHA....It's more fun than anything. The kids think it's a game. I know, responsible parents right? Well, there is a lesson in it somewhere I'm sure. Anyway, we spent $10.00 this week getting into the fair. $8.00 on Sunday and $2.00 on Tuesday. Pretty good huh! (back on track) We took the kids to the concert. They did love it. Amanda was exhausted from school and asked us to leave, and just as we got up Jason sang her favorite song. She turned that frown upside down! Thank you so much to the wonderful person that gave Mandy the tickets to the concert. It was a wonderful family night out! We had a blast!
On Wednesday I put on my facebook that I was looking for Colts tickets to take Bradley to a game. I didn't care when...Just thought he would like it. 2 hours later Bonnie called and said that her and SHannon couldn't use the tickets for Thursday nights pre season game. Did I want them? Uh, yeah! Bradley had a choice on who he wanted to take...he asked his mom to go with him. Now, Mandy hates football, and she was like,.... How the hell did you get me into this? But, she was so excited that he asked her. She went with her smile on. And, I haven't heard yet, but I bet he got a snow cone out of her! I'm sure the treats will outweigh the game at this age, but I was so excited for him to get to go. Thank you soooo much Bonnie and Shannon. You are wonderful for giving Bradley the gift.
Mandy's cousin use to take us to the fever games a lot when the kids were really little. THey remember going, because it was like the fair. eat fest. Today another fb friend sent me a note saying that she had fever tickets that she couldn't use and did we want them? Uh.... Yes! We are on such a tight budget right now that anything of this sort is a good deal ... Amanda and Bradley love to do things like this, and it isn't in the budget. It's a win win for all of us. Love the friends who think of us at times like this. Generous is all I can say! Thank you so much Jocelyn!
Today was the adoption for the babies. When I carried Amanda and Bradley- Mandy adopted them. I thought that she had to do that because they biologically weren't hers. And because in a gay relationship there are such unfair people that could/ would possibly try to take our kids god forbid anything happen to us, and that happen. So we wanted to protect each other. Well, I got to adopt these babies. Even though that doctor took those eggs from my loins...and one of them looks just like me, and the other looks just like my dad, (teri calls her stevie) and one looks just like Bradley....well Im on a rollllllllll !!! So Indiana is so freaking screwed up that I got to adopt them. In the end, that is fine to protect us, but can you believe that? Wierd huh? During court the judge asked me to say all the babies full names. I told Mandy that I did not need a cheat sheet...cuz that would look really stupid of me not to know the babies. I forgot one....the judge laughed and told me that I was off to a bad start. HAHAHA....then, to really test me they had me spell all their names. So I got smart and did them in birth order. I secretively counted on my fingers. Then one of his questions was "who takes care of the babies?" I decided to be funny and I said "well, I do!" But no one laughed but me....so I had to say that Mandy and I both do. When Amanda and Bradley were babies I wouldn't let Mandy help cuz IM a control freak. But this time, I get to let her help because Im a lot older now and a lot sleepier, and sometimes in the middle of the night when they cry, I ignore it and let Mandy get up!~~~ HAHAHAH...Really I do. Sometimes she tried it...but I can outlast her now because I really have given up that control! And, if there was a fly on the wall, all the grandparents jump up to get the babies when they cry. Not me. I let them cry this time. I learned my lesson with Amanda and Bradley! Crying babies isn't that bad of a deal. Tillie actually falls asleep on her own quite nicely.
Bradley came home from school today able to read a book. Here is the book.
"I am a cat. I am a dog. I am A. I am B. I am C. I am D. I am E. " He was so proud of himself he read it to 5 different people. I love his spunk.
Amanda went to the mall with my mom tonight and went to the bookstore. She bought a new book to read. She is reading a 5th grade level. She'll tell you that. She is so proud of her own self.
Oh, We went to PF Changs for lunch after the adoption. We told the server we were celebrating..because it isn't everyday you haul quads to the mall for lunch. At the end of lunch the manager came over to tell us he was taking off 50% of the bill for the special occasion. (he was gay by the way).... when he walked away I informed our parents that sometimes it pays to be gay.
Mandy bought a new wallet at the fair, and I bought a new purse at the fair. Mandy swears that they are bringing good money energy. Cuz god knows we need it!
Thank you all for reading the blog, and telling us when we haven't blogged. We love including you in our journey. And what a journey it is. FUN. Makes me think of this quote ... "LIVE LAUGH LOVE!"

mraz

post by mandy
so i sat the intention when we heard jason mraz was coming to town to get free tickets because manda and bradley REALLY wanted to go. so i put it out there a couple of times on facebook trying to find someone with connections to free tickets. we are on a formula diaper budget!!! so i still hadn't scored free tickets i had tried everything. email brokers, calling them seeing if they had tickets they were stuck with. NOTHING. so at 4:30 one of the guys in the office heard me talking bout getting free tickets. so he says hey text message zickler, he's getting ready to go into a meeting with dave. so i did. "hey ask dave if he can get me 4 seats to jason mraz tonight" now zickler owns the media company that produced Big Mammas and who created the piece of artwork in our living room Great artist. And Zickler is also best friends with Jon, who i work with. and dave is the guy who started Sunshine Promotions, Deer Creek, The Eagles. blah blah blah. 10 minutes later i had my FREE tickets to the show. compliments of Dave with the help of Jon, Zickler, Dave and Johnny. Now that is the power of intention. I just got finished reading a great book. The Power of Who. Great Great book. We already know everyone that we need to know to get want we want and where we want to be. Isn't that amazing and true. It's just leveraging those contacts and watering them and not being an ass:) The kids had an absolute blast at the fair and the concert. maybe my intention today should be to lose weight. Na why rush into anything!!

cardiologist/ weekend

Kerry had her follow up appointment with the cardiologist today. She had a heart murmer that was detected in the nicu.

Kerry was cleared from having any problems from her heart murmer. It is so small that he doesn't want to see her until she is 5 !! Wow! We were excited about that!



This weekend Kim Sheckles came to stay with us. She took pictures of the babies. I am going to attempt to post one on here...if there is a picture I was successful. If not, I will have to call kim for some more tutorial.

We took the 4 babies and Amanda to the fair with us on Sunday. It was H. O. T. T. hot! The babies fussed and fussed, and we ate and ate and ate. Amanda asked to go to the horse show. We stayed and watched the klydesdales for a few ..... that was exciting. Amanda was so hot and worn out she fell asleep on the way home. That isn't like her.

We picked Bradley up on the way home from Dylan's house. He had fun. Learned how to skate board and got a new pair of skate shoes. He was exhaused too. We all woke up tired today.

call me kim about uploading those photos....tried, no dice.

quick update

post by mandy
i'm at home with all 4 babies while amy is running kids at soccer with kim. they have to be 8 different places at 7 different times. crazy so we called in the troops to help. i just did some laundry and am meeting later today with some investors. wanted to mow the grass and get a tree moved. i have some scheduling conflicts. um have i told you lately i have no sense of time. oh and i'm signing a lease at 6:30. whew what a busy saturday. i just had to take a 15 min. break and feed harper then put kerry to sleep. fussy princess. i have laundry going waiting for it to get done. then i can mark that off. the dog from hell "vancouver" ate all the bark off our trees and they died" so we lost 2 of them. think i smell poopy pants hold on....false alarm. i have an investor friend of mine who is a "gazzillionaire" and he is 74 and cuts trees down for fun. and for free. He's my go to guy when i have a tree that needs cut. I went to go to work late one night this week and bradley says, "are you going to get to be a gazzillionaire like the guy who cuts are trees" He catches on quick. Love it!! we teach our kids if you learn to love school and what you do for money when you grow up life is much more fun.

summer rundown

Our summer was a moment by moment ... summer. The babies kept me inside most of the summer. Our pool was used about 1/4 as much as last summer. Our good friend Cindy came and gave the kids some safety tips if they were out at the pool without me. In case someone needed help what to do. We caught a couple free movies at our local theatre. We went to chic fil a for free food. Ok, seriously, our kids watched more spongebob and more iCarly than any other kid in Indiana. Seriously. Summer is at an end and school is about to start. We went to meet our teachers today. The kids are really excited. The kids will both be riding the bus home together and that is a thrill to them both!
The quads are growing. Fast! Once upon a time Tillie was the largest baby. Kennedy has passed her up and is now noticeably larger than all! She has grown into her eyes, and is so sweet. She still squeels when we pick her up...as if we've hurt her. Drama queen. She is our Hodgin. My Dad's grandmother was a Hodgin. Kennedy looks like she belongs to that nitch of our family. The other night in the middle of the night I was calling her "gladys".....my great grandma's name. If we'd known she was gonna be a look alike, we would have named her gladys.
Kerry is still the smallest of all. She has what the nicu called a "toaster head". She has a preemie head. It is skinny. You know how babies get a flat head in the back from laying on their back? Well, Kerry has the oposite. I lay her in her crib at night and wedge her head so that she can't lay it sideways. I'm trying to correct it a bit. She has the most beautiful blue almond shape eyes.
She doesn't smile as much as the other's. She is a bit to serious at times. Their personalities are so "there"!!! She would love to find her thumb. When I put it in her mouth her eyes roll around.

Harper is the fussiest baby we've had. And out of 6 who could complain getting one fuss budget?
He was so good today. Happy Harper. Until 8:00. I was getting the big kids ready for bed and could hear Harper downstairs screaming. He is laying beside me in his crib and cries about every 2 minutes. He's fussing himself to sleep. (fingers crossed) He is beautiful. His eyelashes are starting to curl up, and it's soooo cute.
Tillie is the happiest of all. She smiles all the time. She is the only one with a nickname that has stuck with most of us. "tillie girl" My mom started calling her that. Amanda and Karley both call her that too. She is layed back and doesn't care about much. She loves her binky!
I will have some time tomorrow to post pictures. Im on the wrong computer to post.
I just watched a show on conjoined twins. We are / and have been so fortunate with the birth of these babies. Being so healthy. The only follow up we are working on right now is Kerry's heart murmer. She goes back to the cardiologist later this month for a check up.
Sorry it took so long to blog. I have had more hate mail about our blog.....sorry folks....We really have been busy....

little treat for ya. it's gonna be a long one.

post by mandy
we are all doing great. i am officially back in real estate. i am loving it!! it's hard for me because my brain is confused if you all want to hear about anything or just family stuff. i am very family oriented and also very career oriented so i like to talk about philosophies, misspelled words, and blue ice cream cones. If you want me to blog i can't say what it'll be about. for real though the next book i write is gonna be only 100 pages, have big print and not taken through spell check. Dude no lie, here. i used to be a kick ass speller. now that i'm old, have gray hair, and a truffle shuffle that won't quit i can't spell worth a damn shit. gees. you can buy my first e-book on real estate investing at http://www.thewealthcorp.com/ if you go there and buy it now i promise you that all proceeds will go to diapers, toys for bradley and amanda and trips to kings island. LOFL i am seriously for real no mandy lie here (harper is laying on me and his feet keep kicking the keyboard and messing me up:) gonna right a book about my come back in real estate. how i got my ass kicked and what i go through to get the world champion title back. everyone has been affected by this economy good or bad. i absolutely refused to sit on my ass and let this economy dictate what's gonna happen to me and my family. i am so sick of everyone being victims and not doing something about it. 60% of people are laying off and back peddling, 20 percent are deer and the headlight eyes afraid to do anything, and 20% are making money and growing their businesses and busting ass to grow their businesses while the other 80% sit around and talk about how bad everything is. Fuck that!!! i am tired of sitting around. I'm growing. damn so is my wasteline. I burned the notes by the way. sat around the fire with a few friends and laughed our asses off at some of them. now i am feeding haper. marmee is feeding kennedy, amy's feeding tillie, kerry is swinging, and 3 big kids are fighting with each other. bradley and marmee of leaving right now. he's going to stay the night with her. they are big buddies. cuz she spoils him and lets him be the boss. no one EVER lets me be the boss. EVER, not even the kids. did you know i won't eat bread if it's older than 2 days old? i rarely eat leftovers. i hate drinking milk by itself. damn i have to poop and harper is asleep on me.