Better Days!!! Quad Wednesday, Amber's Foot Surgery and LOTS of Movies!!

Better days are here again and I am SO happy to be feeling more and more like ME every single day now!! Louis Dean and I could hardly wait for the quads to arrive here on Wednesday!!!

I think they grew even cuter in the 9 days since we had seen them!

Harrison and Trystan are Best Buds to each other!

You will never guess what they are saying!!!

Here!

Just listen!

"Starfish eat and poop out of the same hole!!"

You just never know what will stick in their minds when you are teaching about something!

The kids seemed as excited to be here as we were to have them!

They all have their special things to play with and can thoroughly entertain themselves!

We had breakfast for lunch! Pancakes and sausage on a stick, hash brown patties and fruit.

The girls were great little helpers!

We ate in the den because it was just too hot outside.

LD fixed the blankets for them to nap on and I read the latest chapter of 'On the Banks of Plum Creek' from The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The quads keep up with all the characters and even know that Jack is a brindle bull dog!

After each child had slipped off into sleep, Granddad sat with them while I went to the bedroom and napped in my own bed. They were watching Bubble Guppies when I woke up!

Amber is teaching unit studies this summer and they were on the second week of an Oceans theme.

It was still too hot and sunny in the back so we took our stuff to the front yard under the shade of the pecan trees.

We did an Oceans craft!

Earlier in the day they had colored and cut out several fish.

Now we painted white cardboard to look like an ocean.

We used Modge Podge at the bottom on the brown color and the kids sprinkled small shovels of sand on it. You should have seen their faces when I turned it upside down and the sand STUCK!!!

They glued on their fish and seashells and called it DONE!!!

They dearly LOVE to eat and play outside so as soon as the sun had gone down enough, that's where we went. Another easy meal since I am still recovering - chicken tenders and sweet potato fries.

I love to hear their sweet little voices!

Watermelon for dessert!

We had settled in the gazebo while the kids played in the sand box by the time Amber arrived.

It just makes my heart feel good when, after they have been here all day long and Amber tells them it's time to go, they ask if they can play just a few more minutes!!

Thursday morning Louis Dean and I did our normal routine of reading and coffee before we headed over to Quadville.

Amber was having her second foot surgery and we were taking her in for the procedure and then bringing her home with us to recuperate for a few days.

The kids were helping Granddad put her bags in the car.

What a sweet picture!

They do love their mama and their mama sure loves them!

Before I left, Kailey asked me if I was going to stay with her mommy and take care of her?

I promised her I would!

Kailey had just had tubes put in her ears a couple of weeks ago and she was VERY concerned about her mommy having surgery. The other grandparents took good care of the quads while we took good care of Amber. It is a group effort!

Amber shared this thumbs up photo and update on Facebook Thursday after her surgery! 

"Surgery done 👍🏻 Bilateral knee injections and fasciotomy and surgical tenotomy on my left foot went well. Some pain but we are managing it. Damn these post-quad pregnancy issues that keep plaguing me but hopefully I'm one step closer to being a stronger, healthier version of myself. Now to eat because I'm starving then recovery at my mama's house. So grateful for my family's wonderful support system."

From the surgery center we went straight to Luby's Cafeteria for a good meal! Mike met us there!

He gave me a hard time because I forgot to call or text him after the surgery was done.

I told him that when we got there the waiting room was empty. Slowly one patient after another came in but everyone was real quiet and no one was talking.

One young man had the phone of the lady who was back having surgery (we thought it was his mother but it was actually his FRIEND'S mother!) and he was answering her calls and taking messages. I complimented him on his good phone manners and then before you knew it, we were all visiting with each other! Turns out he is a singer and he sang Mona Lisa in a Nat King Cole voice for all of us plus two of the surgical nurses! I told Mike what with all the visiting and singing - that fellow and Louis Dean got along famously! - I FORGOT to send him a text message!!

Oops!

One of the reasons we took Amber home with us is that it is HARD to rest and recover with four children right there with you! No matter how much you try - you WILL get up and do more than if you were away! SO - Amber got lots of rest and so did I!

It's our Family Tradition to watch Independence Day every year around the 4th of July.

This started when the movie came out in 1996.

We were in New York for a swim meet and had gone up into Canada for a few days afterward to have a little vacation. We flew home on the 4th of July. It was chilly and raining when we left New York. As we got out of the cab at the airport, the guy said he didn't know whether to shake my hand or salute me! I wore an entire patriotic themed outfit from my broom skirt to my blouse to my vest and a red/white/blue American Flag jacket!! Amber used to tell me that I dress up just like a Christmas Tree or a doily!!!

Summer came over after work to join us for the movie!

She came bearing Sonic drinks and popcorn!

Let me tell you - it always makes me feel so good when I have BOTH of my daughters right here with me!!!

While Amber and I did a second feature, Summer had to go home. She would be leaving soon for Puerto Rico and needed to pack!

THIS was such a good movie! Better than the first one even!

It was LATE late before we went to bed but there was no reason we had to get up early the next morning!

So we DIDN'T!!! I think we both slept until after 11:00!

Louis Dean waited on both of us like we were royalty!

This is the breakfast he made for us even though it was after noon by the time we were ready to eat!

THIS was our afternoon matinee!

Charlie Wilson's War is a special movie to Amber and me because she met and interviewed Joanna King Herring in person. Back in 2007, Amber was working for some very high end luxury magazines and Ms Herring was her first editorial profile piece. As it so happens, my Aunt Geneva Gilbreath knew Joanna Herring and they traveled in some of the same society circles. I remember meeting Ms Herring myself at one of the Houston Gala Benefits that Amber covered in her work as a magazine editor. 

The days go by very quickly when you don't really start them until noon!

Amber and Mike had made plans to go to a movie Friday night and they invited me to come as well!

I remember all those weeks when I had been feeling so badly and seeing happy faces of happy people doing fun things and wondering if I would EVER feel good again!!!

Finally! As I snapped this pic of us in the theater, I thought to myself, "I'm BACK!"

While the sequel was not of the same caliber or feeling as the original, it still kept us entertained throughout the entire film!

Louis Dean doesn't like to go to movies much so he stayed home and watched the news.

He actually THANKED Mike for taking me so HE wouldn't have to!!! Silly man!

We got home before midnight and then sat in the living room visiting and sipping wine for a little while. Small moments like these are the kind I treasure.

Today - Saturday - once again we slept until nearly noon!

We knew our time was running out so we managed to squeeze in one last movie before Amber had to go home.

What an EXCELLENT film this one was!!!

Even Louis Dean came in and watched part of it with us!

He fixed us homemade hotcakes, eggs, sausage and bacon for lunch.

Bless his heart, he knocked over the sugar canister and it spilled all over the kitchen floor!

He tried to wipe it all up with a soapy dishrag. When he told me, I looked down and t he floor looked shiny so I thought it was all okay. That is until I walked in there with my bare feet and STUCK to the floor. We had to make an intermission so I could give the kitchen floor a good scrubbing!

I told him that if that's the worst thing that happens to us today - we are in very good shape!!!

Amber's gone, the guest room is all made up and my routine housework is done.

I am feeling much better. So much so that Louis Dean and I are going to take our evening glass of wine out to the driveway and prop our feet up on the stone wall and count our blessings......because there are so many of them!!!