A Little Family Time!

We arrived back home by 10:00 am yesterday. It was a LONG day since we got up at 3 AM!

First we dropped Lucy off at home so we wouldn't have to haul her around all day in the back of the truck!

Be it ever so humble - there's no place like HOME!

Then we headed straight for Fort Worth to see Mother!!!

I never realized how much I would miss seeing her every week. 

Normally I do the Friday morning beauty shop run.

Now this falls to my sisters. One drops her off and the other picks her up.

Both of them make Mother's life SO much more enjoyable!!!

My sister, Deanie, is AMAZING!!!

She is a December Baby and since I won't be here for her birthday I brought her a little something!

Her favorite cupcakes in all the world!!!

They are from Ooh La La and they are d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. Seriously so!

The first time she had one from there was the day after the quadruplets were born!

She and I loaded up the back of her SUV - it was STACKED with box after box of cupcakes!

We took them to the hospital for the doctors, nurses and staff.

Ever since then - it is a tradition that we get a cupcake from Ooh La La whenever she is in town.

Town being Houston/Katy. I don't think there are any here in the DFW area.

They always feature a cupcake of the month.......

Let me tell you this 'Pumpkin Spice Latte' was wonderful!

You'll never guess where we took Mother that afternoon!

Now - bear in mind this was someplace Mother REALLY wanted to go and there was something she REALLY wanted to see!!

The cemetery!!

She had long wanted her headstone done and she wanted to SEE it!!

So there it is and she was happy!!

Deanie had driven all the way out here the day before just to make SURE and certain it was all as it should be before bringing Mother out.

Mother's daddy and mother, sister and brother are all there.

I'm not sure why this was so important to her but it was!

Deanie pays attention and spent a great deal of time getting this done.

Thank you, Deanie, and HAPPY  a few weeks early Birthday!!! 

From Fort Worth I headed to Arlington to see my oldest grandchildren.

They had a Reading Under the Stars activity at school that evening so I took them!

That pizza was pretty darn GOOD!!

It was late when we got home last night.......

let's just say we slept very well!

At home and in our roomy bedroom!

About the time we come home we are SO ready to BE here!!

Then when it's time to go back down to the camper we are SO ready to GO!

It is working out nicely living in these two completely different worlds!

A November Thursday.....

arrived COLD!!! 

Cold enough to bring in and turn ON our little electric heater!

It took some of the chill off as we sat bundled in our blankets while we sipped coffee and had our morning reading time. We seldom use the heat at home so we don't anticipate winter in Houston will be a problem.

Still and all......I love to sleep COLD but I do enjoy a bit of WARMTH with my morning coffee!

We arrived in Quadville just in time for the 11:00 am feeding.

Amber is making her own organic baby foods and today the featured food was bananas!

ALL four loved it!

After Tummy Time Harrison and Kailey enjoyed watching 'The Ants Go Marching One by One.'

This has been one of Levi's VERY favorite videos!

I feel sure it will be a favorite with the quads as well.

In the afternoon Louis Dean and I worked on the denim quilt.......

I had to 'true up' one side so it would be even.

Then I ironed on the 'Fusible Batting.'

The denim was a bit heavy for it to work very well.......

It only 'fused' in a few places......

then we spread out the sheet I was using for the backing.

Put right sides together.......

.......cut to fit......

.......and I am ready to sew it together......

NEXT week!!

I packed away the sewing machine - a wedding gift to Amber from her Aunt Deanie - and closed up shop!

We are OFF tomorrow - Amber has both her Nanny coming as well as her housekeeper!

This is perfect since tomorrow is Louis Dean's 76th BIRTHDAY!!!

How are we celebrating?

By shopping for Thanksgiving Dinner!

This is our gift to Amber and Mike.....plus two other guests.

LD brought back his big electric roaster so we will be roasting our turkey outside in our gazebo.

We have a menu - a shopping list - AND a schedule!!

"Thou hast given so much to me,

Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;

Not thankful when it pleaseth me,

As if Thy blessings had spare days,

But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise."

~George Herbert

Welcome to My World!!

We were so happy to welcome my mother and sister to Quadville!

They arrived Sunday afternoon and left Wednesday morning.

We had a BABY packed visit!

Deanie was happy to have her arms filled with baby girls!

My mother had been looking forward to this day for months and months!

The visit - which was originally scheduled for August and then September - was delayed because of Mother needing a cancerous mole on her face removed.

She looks beautiful and the surgery healed up nicely!

She held one baby after another until she had held all FOUR!

Too bad I didn't get a pic of her holding Logan!

This is Trystan.

Aunt Deanie was a huge hit with the quads!

She could make all of them laugh and laugh!

She made us ALL laugh!

Harrison warmed right up to her.......

.....and Kailey LOVED her Aunt Deanie doing the 'Little Green Fly!'

This was the very FIRST time we noticed Kailey imitating!

We celebrated their arrival with some seriously good food!

Mike has a state of the art grill and he knows how to use it!!

Meet and Greet Time for the siblings!

Love how their toes touch!

Here's Great Grandma with Logan!

Amber is such a good mom! Nothing was easy about her quad pregnancy and the 57 days in the hospital on a Magnesium Sulphate IV! OR the 2 months in the NICU as she traveled back and forth every day while trying to recover her strength!

Truth be told - she is STILL trying to recover! That doesn't stop her from doing everything she can do to help the babies in their development. She is a real MOM!

She has added these bumbo seats to their daily routine.

Mother was there for this the next day and got right down there on the floor with them!

She is amazing!

I HAD to show them our favorite Mexican restaurant one evening!

They also got a tour of our camper home!

We had so much fun!

The next day Deanie was back to making the babies laugh!!

Trystan DOES love her Aunt Deanie!!

So does Logan but we had to admit - she was a harder audience!

Harrison was sporting his newest cap from Aunt Summer!

Can't leave Kailey out of the Quad Squad Parade!

Between all of us - we took hundreds of pictures!

Mother was excited to have this time with the quads!

She was sad when it was time to leave.......so were WE!

We all had such a good time.

There was a baby in every one's arms nearly the entire time!

I joined them for breakfast at their hotel for one last visit!

Seems like the time flew by!!

I was happy they were able to 'see' Quadville for themselves!

There is SO much more going on than you would believe possible.

Thank you, Deanie, for coming!!!!

Thank you for bringing Mother!!!

PLEASE come back!!!

We miss you already!



My Mother's Surgery and My Sister's Bathroom!

It doesn't seem appropriate to have had such a good time on Mother's surgery day!

Even Mother was smiling!!

My mother is such a trooper! Her positive attitude on life has held her in good stead!

My sister, Deanie, is sitting in the corner. You can BARELY see her!

She said, "NO pics!!" I try to respect the privacy of my family when requested!

While I won't say too much about this I do have to tell you what an amazing person Deanie is!! While suffering from some health issues of her own, taking some pretty strong medications which made her feel even worse  and when she SHOULD have been home in bed - she was right there making sure Mother received the best care possible! Mother can't always speak clearly and for medical situations Deanie is her 'voice!'

This is Mother waiting for the doctor to arrive. My wonderful sister in law, Michele, joined us so we made a party of four including Deanie and her husband, Charlie.

The surgery went very well and by 5:00 we were back at Deanie's.

She has THE most comfy guest room and it has been Mother's for the last week and she will continue to stay here until she goes for her follow up appointment.

I stayed with Mother while Charlie and Deanie went out to dinner.

I can't tell you how wonderful it was to just sit up beside her in bed! She reached over and took my hand and said, "NOW!! TELL me!!"

That means TALK! So I did! I told her all about the quadruplets and the sweetness and particulars of each precious baby! I told her all the horror stories of our trip down there with the camper and the first bumpy days when we didn't have hot water - or ANY water - and the microwave went out and all the hilarious things about fitting in to such a small space. Trust me - it was funnier telling her about than when we were actually living it!! We laughed and laughed!!!

We will forever laugh about her time in the recovery room! She wanted to close her eyes and kept lifting her RIGHT eyelid and pulling it out and then pulling it down......kind of like she had something in her eye. I could NOT figure out what she was trying to do! I said, "Just close your eyes and rest." She said, "I'm TRYING!!"

Then she reached over to her LEFT eye (the surgery was on the left side of her face and it was still numb!) and said, "OH!! It's THIS one!!!"

It was fun being with everyone. Nita (the sister Mother lives with) came by after work so I felt like I had seen quite a bit of 'Family' that day.

I had wanted to stop by and see Levi, Sam and Faith ( 3 more grandchildren) on my way home but it was pretty late by the time I left Fort Worth and they had a concert to attend that evening. We have made arrangements to get together with them on my next trip home.

That was the part about my Mother's surgery!

NOW to my sister's bathroom!!

This is the sister with The Fifties Kitchen!

Every room in her home is unique and while she requested me NOT to take HER pic - she did give me permission to take some of her bathroom!!

I love her collection of perfume bottles!

She has clever witty sayings!

Isn't THIS a good rule??

I should start hanging MY evening bags on MY bathroom walls!!

Interesting things EVERYWHERE!!!

I remember these! Leave it to Deanie to actually HAVE one!!

ON her wall! IN her bathroom!!

Now my sister, Nita, can tell you the story behind these ladies pictured on the tins.

She told me but I can't remember except it was something about WWII and airplanes.

I'll have to take more pictures of Nita's house in October when I come back.

Talk about collectibles!!

She and her husband have some awesome things!!

From dinosaurs to Watt pottery to WWII silk fringe pillow covers to vintage toys to YOU NAME IT - they've GOT it!!

Deanie has lots and lots of pretty things.

I, on the other hand, have lots of STUFF! Pretty stuff but still STUFF!

I have some amazing sisters and I am very grateful I am not an only child!

I told Mother, "It's a good thing you had more than ONE daughter!"

I have to say - it's been so nice to be home for awhile.

Babies and the elderly are both 'time sensitive.'

Neither stage lasts long enough!

I'm happy I get to be in both worlds!