Rest and Recover Mode.......

I love waking up with children in my house!

Granddad slept in the den with the quads and I had a good night's sleep all by myself in the bedroom.

While I woke up first at 9:00, the girls were up shortly after.

Harrison, on the other hand, must be having a growth spurt because he slept until 10:30 - even with Paw Patrol on TV!!!

I made breakfast while Granddad had the kids in the den.....

I loved seeing this scripture inside the egg carton from Aldi.

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!"

And so they did.....

A breakfast to remember!!

I  learned to load up a tray and take it all in one trip as opposed to countless trips traipsing back and forth. The quads love a good cup of coffee......I weaken my gourmet flavored coffee down and add as much milk as coffee.....

Breakfast was served!!!

Good Morning to Mama and Dada!

Summer and Rayne arrived after our late breakfast as did my friend, Melba.

Our next project was to choose the design for our patriotic t shirt craft project.

I've had this book of transfers since Amber was a little girl. She painted several t shirts from it back in the day.

I only have a few pages left in it now.

They picked them out and I ironed them on.

Louis Dean moved one of the benches to the upper deck which was still in enough shade to do our craft.

Then they went to work!

The creative juices were flowing!

Harrison went in the house and dug the cover that had colored photos of the shirts out of the trash so he could paint his just like it.

I think they did a great job!!!

They painted them and I added some details.....

Good work, Rayne!!!

Here they are modeling their shirts after the paint dried.

Once again, Granddad entertained the kids while Melba and I fixed a late lunch.

He did grill the hot dogs while I mixed up the potato salad and Melba peeled and sliced up the cantaloupe.

We all scrunched around the dining room table and had a good time.

No naps that day - just Rest and Reading.

Have I mentioned that Harrison is reading like a champ?

I had a terrible stomachache all day yesterday and I would go to bed for a few minutes with a heating pad on my belly - and it helped and allowed me to get up and go on for an hour or two before I would have to lie down again. During R and R, Harrison got in bed and read to me and I was amazed at how well he can read!! 

My thanks to Summer and Melba and Louis Dean for picking up the slack yesterday so I could grab these rest periods.

After Melba said her goodbyes, and Summer was resting, the kids and I played The Tea Party Game.

It's a lot of fun and the kids are well aware of all the things required for a 'real' tea party!

We had it all and, since it was a special occasion having Rayne here, we used the tea set that Uncle Dean gave us. It's the quads' favorite as it has little plates with an indention for their tea cup and we have the matching tea pot.

We had FUN!!!

Their little faces are sweeter than those strawberries they're eating!

Rayne was every one's favorite!! All the quads wanted to sit next to her!

I love this little face!

See the tea set Dean gave us? 

Makes a tea party absolutely perfect!

The Tea served as a light supper since we had such a late lunch.

By now it was time to clean up and get ready for the parents to arrive.

They all played outside with some toys Rayne was leaving behind.

I  told her I would take good care of them for her.

She's been such a trouper about selling, giving away and donating the vast majority of her toys before moving to Puerto Rico.

  

It was a wonderful way for her to spend her last day here - the quads kept her totally entertained and she kept THEM entertained!

I got one last pic of me and my daughters while I could.

Thanks, Summer, for thinking about this!

Bye!!! BYE! BYE! BYE!!!
Summer and Rayne spent the night and I set up my alarm for 4:30 this morning so I could take them to the airport. I was home and back in bed by 5:30!

Summer and Rayne had a good flight and arrived safely.
Summer said she had a dickens of a time getting through security!
She must wear a magnetic belt to help her spine heal and that caused a big commotion!
So much so, she feared she would miss her flight. In the end, she and Rayne were the first to board!

I slept until nearly 11:00 and was still too tired to do my regular Tuesday!
I called Ruth Ann and said I couldn't go out to play today.....
but I did feel like art class tonight!

 I whipped up a batch of Frozen Peach Bellini's......

unwrapped a fresh new canvas......

and laid out my paint.

We are painting a seascape and it calls for a limited palette - just 6 colors.

I love that!! That Cadmium Yellow Pale was extra.....I didn't think I had the Yellow Light - but I did!

Our goal tonight was simple......cover the canvas!

And that's just what we did!

It will be much easier to paint the water, waves, details and such next week.

This looks like a three session painting - not nearly as hard as we thought it would be!

I have a few more projects planned - 

Such as this!

It will be for Sherry - my former sister in law who lives in Paris, Texas/

This is called The Paris Texas Eiffel Tower.

 Sherry sent me this picture to paint from.
I'm gonna need a ruler!!

I'll close tonight with this sweet photo!

Logan took this selfie with my iPad.
I was smiling in surprise when I downloaded my pictures!!

Tomorrow the quads will be 5 years old.
Three of them were born at 12:55 but Logan had her own birth minute - 12:56!

This is the very last picture I took of Amber on the last full day of her Quad Pregnancy.

I can't even tell you how scared, excited and terrified I was.....

But mostly I was proud. Proud of my amazing daughter and her determination.

And thankful. For so many prayers and for the grace of God in seeing her through this.

You can read the last journal post before they were born here:   

http://lindaslifejournal-artlady1948.blogspot.no/2012/05/first-official-unofficial-prediction.html

Good night, Folks!