The Quads are One and A Normal Friday!

It was a normal Friday here! I love 'Normal!'

Louis Dean, Mother and I had lunch at the Cotton Patch Cafe.

We ate and I mean we ate GOOD!!

I had the margarita - which was delicious!

Since the drink was loaded with calories I had a small cup of chicken tortilla soup -

gotta balance it all out!

My pretty Mother!!

She ordered a BIG bowl of Chicken and Dumplings.

As I told the server what she wanted she said, "BIG! BIG!"

Then when the food arrived - it was a normal bowl. I had a cup which held about a CUP!

Her bowl may have had a cup and a half.

She frowned and said, "I wanted BIG!!!"

The waiter brought her a second bowl - at no charge!

She is so cute!

Louis Dean had the DINNER portion (NOT the 'lunch' version!) of chicken fried steak, French fries and fried okra WITH gravy! He ate every morsel!!!

After visiting with Mother we headed back home to visit the quads.

They are one year old today!!

The BIG Party and Celebration will be next weekend but I could NOT let this day go by without seeing Amber and the babies!

Trystan liked the Strawberry Sour Cream Pound Cake!

One slice fed all four!

I try to take some cute little something every time I visit to entertain the babies.

They got a kick out this little guy!

A baby in a BAG!!

Kailey has an eye for the camera!

She PAUSES for a photo op!

Little Trystan!

We gathered all the babies for a group picture - which is not as easy as it would seem!

Amber snapped and snapped away and I got ONE good one!

Who was the culprit??

Louis DEAN!!! Amber had to keep telling HIM to look at the camera!

We came home happy - and tired!

Last night I went to bed early. No problems from falling yesterday that a good night's sleep didn't fix!

Louis Dean, on the other hand, stayed up late allowing ME to go to sleep ahead of him.

PLUS - I took a nap on the way home since Louis Dean was driving.

So by late this afternoon HE was exhausted!!

He can RUN but he can't HIDE!!

While I worked in our bedroom changing out my closet to spring/summer clothes - 

HE napped in the guest room!

For over 3 hours he NAPPED!!

He feels a LOT better now!

We are holed up in the den watching the news.

So many storms and tornadoes!

I hope and pray all my friends are okay!

I know many of my blogging pals live in the areas in the news tonight.

I end this evening remembering this day a year ago!

Babies! Babies! Babies! Babies!

My super duper daughter!!

She DID it! She GREW the babies at the risk of her own life and has done everything in her power to be the best mother possible! FIRST time mother, at THAT!!

Praise GOD for these babies!

Thank YOU for your prayers and encouragement during the whole journey!

The babies look so different today than they did at birth!

Can you tell who is WHO?

I can!!!

Ups and Downs

Every day has its share of UPS and Downs!

The biggest UP was getting the bathroom back! It took Louis Dean all day but he did it! 

He had some problem about it being level. Looks okay to me!

I took Lucy for a walk with storm clouds brewing AND the sun shining!
At the same time!

Another 'Up' was the smell of baking!

A Strawberry Sour Cream Pound Cake!

I will take some slices to leave over at my sister's tomorrow as a Welcome Home From Vacation treat.

Two weeks ago I had taken a tin of chocolate chip cookies to the ladies at Mother's hair salon.

Last Friday Donna gave it back to me and said they hoped to get a refill!

It is now full of thin slices of cake to take back to them in the morning.

And, YES! I did save about a fourth of the cake for Louis Dean!

He ate a piece still warm from the oven this afternoon!

Decorating 'HIS' bathroom John Wayne style!

(I know! I need to take that price sticker off!)

I've cleaned up his bathroom and think I'll wait a few days before painting anything else.

I think I may NOT be happy with that color.

I really want to lighten that room up for him but perhaps the color is TOO whatever!

Louis Dean said it reminded him of his childhood home on Locust Street in Abilene -

all old and yellow! Maybe I carried the distressing a little too far and it looks TOO real!

Decorating with a MAN theme!

So mostly my day was full of UPS!

My biggest DOWN was a fall I took this afternoon. I was on a stepladder outside the kitchen door trying to repair the shade. The short denim jumper I was wearing fit perfectly over the back of the ladder so when I stepped down - I took the ladder WITH me! I hit my head on the stone patio but not very hard. Hard ENOUGH! In the hours since I fell I have started feeling the aches and pains so it is early to bed for me tonight with NO wine but TWO Tylenol PMs!

Wednesday's WRAP!

It has been a DAY here at the Chapman's! 

I did indeed sleep LATE this morning. My very best sleep is after 3 am. I do NOT know WHY - but it IS!

As soon as I woke up - which was after 10:00 am AND after COFFEE and reading AND Pilate's - I put on my painting clothes and got busy on the bathroom!!

These were the first four steps.......

This is the last one!

DONE! At least for THIS cupboard!

Louis Dean  plans to take all the hardware off of EVERYTHING after I get through and paint them all black.

I LOVE the distressed look! I DO!

It has cream and green and a kind of - NOT brown - but 'Sunset Beige!'

A 'Man's' color that THIS lady can love!

I left Louis Dean to do the trim work AND to 'play quietly in his room' after I showered and cleaned up and headed over to Quadville. I helped Amber with the evening routine while Mike was at work.

It truly DOES 'take a village!'

I LOVE this picture of Amber and ALL her babies!!!

I took the truck over for Harrison but LOGAN knew exactly what to do!

She took one look at it and crawled over, pulled herself up and swung one leg over and she was ON!

Of course Harrison and Trystan wanted to try it!

Cute CUTE babies!!

They ALL have blue eyes! Different shades....different looks ....but ALL BLUE EYES!

They LOVE playing with tissue and paper.....

I can't get enough of these sweet babies!!

I called my mother on my way over and as soon as I told her I was on my way to visit the quads - I could HEAR her smile as she babbled about how WONDERFUL they are!!

I am SO happy Amber has made it a priority that the babies have TIME with their great grandma!

TIME is most precious!

You can't get this TIME back!

You are either there or you're not!

I want to be as involved with ALL my grandchildren as possible!

I SO enjoyed watching Kailey trying to get past the box I used to corral her free roam time!

Amber and I did bath time together and headed into the last feed of the day!

Kailey was SO active during the day she nearly passed out at dinner!

Who KNEW she would be up HOURS past her bedtime???

Amber gifted me tonight with the THIRD book of the Quads life!!!

This is the 6 - 9 month one and she is already working on the one YEAR book!!!

We are ever so grateful for this past year and where we are at this time.

SO grateful!!!

My Country Dairy Journal dated May 29, 2012 reads as follows: Keeping it 'REAL'- this is my actual entry.

"Back on the job! Arrived here shortly after 10 am. Amber slept and rested much of the day. She has a BAD case of double vision. I was with her during the sonogram and all four babies look great! 8 out of 8 on the 'grading' scale! Looking good. Amber's vision is really messed up! Double vision on STEROIDS!!  This is especially troublesome to her. My UTI acted up again and I was frantic on the way home. NO fast food/easy place to stop to go to the bathroom! HEB was where I finally landed and loaded up on echinacea, herbs, AZO and water! NO wine tonight! I was in such bad shape I was just about hysterical. Louis Dean let me go to bed and get to sleep before he did."

I remember at this point in time we were in Houston for the whole month of May - not taking any chance on leaving until Amber was safe and the babies were born.

I am so happy tonight as Louis Dean and I head out to the driveway - and yes!!! I KNOW it is nearly midnight! - but my heart is SO happy that I have a healthy daughter - who was in perilous danger this time last year - and FOUR nearly one year old GRAND quads!!

And!!!!! AND!!!! Louis Dean has promised me that, after living for ONE WEEK in our dining room,

the commode will go BACK to the bathroom!!! Hopefully to live there for the rest if its life!!!

Now THAT'S a Wednesday's WRAP!!!

A Different Kind of Tuesday!

I wonder if the manager at Starplex missed me today?

This is the first Tuesday I haven't taken in a movie in a LONG time!

The only way to get Louis Dean to REST is to get him out of the house so today we took our good friend, Brenda, out to lunch. It is her son, Brandon, who was in a serious - nearly fatal - accident last spring.

Then a couple of weeks ago she and her husband were in a terrible car wreck. We are so grateful they suffered relatively minor injuries. Brenda noticed that LD was wearing a rather LARGE bandage on his hand and asked what had happened to HIM! He told her he had hit himself with a hammer - THREE times!!

No other sentence he said all day topped THAT one!!

After lunch we finally made our trip to Home Depot!

SO many CHOICES!!!

I bought 4 gallons of paint! That ought to get me going!

Two are actually for the kitchen but I may use a little of them to 'distress' the bathroom project.

While the commode is still in the dining room ( no art class today either!)  I thought I'd start on this cabinet.

It's just an inexpensive one that's been in here since 1983 but WHY I haven't at least painted it before now is beyond me! I love redeeming things instead of replacing them! It's less expensive, too!

While I'm not trying to MATCH anything exactly - this is the piece of wood I painted last week to go behind the commode. I'm a sloppy painter so it's a good thing I like the distressed look! I can sand off all the drips!

Louis Dean painted the top for me since I couldn't reach it!

I am short vertically challenged!

HE is a six footer!

Two coats later!

Looking better!!

I'm writing my journal entry while giving the paint a little extra time to dry before I go in there and sand it.

Tomorrow I will begin the layering of colors - alternately sanding and painting - then finish up with a stain wipe.  Louis Dean is playing his guitar while I write. He found a dozen songs by Marty Robbins on You Tube today and is strumming away to his heart's content!

The only 'Tuesday Routine' thing I did today was hit up the Goodwill.

I scored AGAIN! What a bargain these toy trucks for Harrison were.

They need to be cleaned up before I take them over to Quadville tomorrow.

I hope Amber and Mike get a really BIG house!

The TOYS are going to take up a lot of room!

Since I'll be up late tonight working - I am certain to sleep late in the morning.

That's one of the perks of being in this stage of life. 

I can sleep late, stay up late, eat when I want and WHAT I want, nap when I'm tired, read in bed.....

truth is - I can do just about anything I WANT to do!

That's a good feeling. After all the years of getting up early and raising children and doing all the things you HAVE to do - it's really lovely to take a nap at 5:30 in the afternoon just BECAUSE!

We Are Who We Are.......

As I was cutting up fresh tomatoes, celery and cucumbers for our salad  lunch today I found myself caught up with thinking about WHO I am. How did I get to be the 'ME' I know?

I felt the influence of my Aunt Ruby - now gone several years- today as I was making that salad.

She was a 'Safe Place' for us when my siblings and I were children.

She had a garden and served three well balanced meals a day - all from FRESH not packaged food!

My Aunt Irene (for whom I am named) was also a great influence for good in my life.....

and another 'Safe Place.'

While my memory is not GOOD - which can be a blessing! - I do recall spending time with her at their farm out in West Texas. My cousin, Shirley, who passed away way too young, was another who helped me become who I am today.

I suppose the power of INFLUENCE is the greatest human power there is.

I am ever so grateful to those who have influenced me in my life - as in 

dear Mrs. Morrison - our landlady I met when I was 15 years old and she was 63.

She had a lasting influence on me and all four of my children. She lived to be in her 90's.

I had no real role models growing up.

I thought the TV programs of the times (Father Knows Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, you remember those?) showed what NORMAL families were like and I knew we were not one of them! I never had a birthday party or had friends sleep over or play dates.

Having married very young, the 'older' ladies in the church were who I patterned my life after.

I have NO idea where my CLEAN streak comes from or how I came to this decorating addiction penchant!

Somewhere down the line I have morphed into my very own person.

I know my own heart and my own mind.

This was not always the case. I was a process in becoming. Aren't we ALL?

I am still a very shy lady by nature. I do not push myself forward in a group.

Flexibility in mind - if no longer in body - has helped me adjust to the changes in life.

It doesn't TOTALLY freak me out that I have a commode sitting in my dining room!!

I have learned to go with the flow and LIFE does seem to FLOW!

I would not want to become stagnant standing still in the stream.

I am happy to say as I end this day - the floor is DONE!!!!

 The commode, alas, is STILL in the dining room but it will return to its rightful place tomorrow!

Hopefully in time for art class!

While LD was working on the floor I decorated!

It's what I DO!!!

Many of these decorations were made by Amber and Benjamin back in our home school days.

I love this wreath made year before last from a jersey cardigan.

EVERYTHING gets decorated around here!

Kitchen to foyer.......

to gazebo.....

to the plants.....

to the front porch!

Louis Dean gave it ALL a thumbs UP!!!

I took this picture by accident and I LOVE it!!

It is a place mat on the dining room table.

Our Memorial Day Dinner consisted of smoked sausage, potato salad and fresh corn on the cob.

I DID catch Louis Dean helping himself to an unplanned dessert - a Snickers bar!

It's getting dark and we are ready to go sit out on the driveway.

We ARE who we ARE, you know!

And sitting on the driveway with a glass of wine is how we end our day around here!

Hope YOU all had a good one!