Well, Christmas has come and gone. The anticipation and excitement has mellowed and now it is the day after. For most of us who do not celebrate after the 25th, today is cleanup day. Usually we celebrate with my side of the family either the 26th or the 27th, depending on all of our schedules. This year we finished last night. It was a wonderful holiday but I was looking forward to being home a bit to tidy up, take the remaining toys out of their security ridden boxes and all the other odds and ends that dont necessarily get done when you are not entertaining in your own home.
I thought I would share one of my many obstacles on keeping a clean house with the multiples. I was scrubbing one of our bathrooms while the four of them were in the playroom watching a new video while lunch was being prepared. All of a sudden I heard a rustling sound in the kitchen, the pantry to be exact, and then an ominous dumping sound. As I walked into the kitchen this is what I saw!!











So as one room was cleaned, another now needed cleaning. Oh well, a day in the life........

As this semester comes to an end not a moment too soon, I look forward to blogging on a more consistent basis. Everytime I finally have a few moments to check in it never ceases to amaze me how quickly time has gone by. Since I blogged last, Thanksgiving has come and gone (without a hitch, I must add), we've had our first big winter snowfall, the Christmas decorations are up and shining, my basement is finally furnished with carpeting which hosts childrens toys galore and in one week Geek Squad will be stopping by to FINALLY set up my computer and all its toys!!! (I apologize now for the large sum of Snapfish emails that will be on their way to your in-boxes within the next couple of weeks!!!) By and by it has been an amazing past 16 weeks. I have learned and lived much but I am truely happy that it will be over very soon! I need a vacation.

I love the holidays. I love what it does for my kids demeanor and I love the extra time with my family and friends. ( Hint....to those of you I have'nt seen in ages) But the one thing that I do not love about the holidays is the concept of over-holidaying. Case in point, Christmas music. It is not even Thanksgiving and there are radio stations that are playing non-stop Christmas music. Now dont get me wrong, I love Christmas music, but I'm just getting into the holiday spirit for Thanksgiving. Please, give us a break. Christmas will be here soon enough yet by the time it gets here I wont want to here another note of Christmas music. Anyone else want to weigh in?

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!! I decided that Mario and I would host Thanksgiving at our house this year. The key word in that sentence is "I". These past few years have been difficult splitting the time between the two families, so to save the trouble I said "Everyone come over here." I dont know if I will have enough time to pull this off! Between now and next Thursday our carpeting for the basement needs to get delivered. All the kids toys and project tables and such need to get moved downstairs. The livingroom/diningroom carpet needs to be cleaned (you can only imagine what it looks like after three years of the four of them using it everyday!!!) I need to re-paint the livingroom/diningroom and the main hallway that leads to the kids bedrooms (crayon and pen incident). Oh boy, I'm tired of just thinking about it. WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! I know in the end it will be a wonderful day and everyone will have a great time, I just wish there were more hours in the day. Whew...Okay, Im done ranting and acting crazy. Im really looking forward to starting this tradition for the kids. A full house bustling with family and friends, good food and conversation, and a good nap afterwards. I want them to remember their childhood Thanksgivings with a smile. I started one tradition last year of having a wonderful sit-down breakfast with Mario and the kids. I make a yummy tomato, ham, and cheese strata and we start our Thanksgiving bright and early. The only meal we share during the rest of the year is dinner, so it's something I really look forward to. I would love it if you'd like to share some of the traditions you have or have started with your families. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

FYI.......So Ive been asked now a gazillion times "Why I think Im the MOST?" Well, I dont think it, I know it!! MOST is just an acronym for Mother Of Super Twins. Which in multiples world, (where I live, everyday) means any group of multiples over 2. Plus, I do think Im pretty wonderful... so why not consider myself "The Most"? Just kidding. As you all know me well enough to not have that big of an ego. Please forgive my picture free blog as my computer is having malfunctions to my downloading of pictures. Soon though..........

TWO DOWN, ONE TO GO!!! Yes it's true. The girls are Potty trained! Hallelujah. What an ordeal but oh, was it worth it. Ten less diapers a day, money in my pocket. How can I not be ecstatic? We are on the road to more independence. Francesca started at the beginning of June with a bang. She was on top of it and then all of a sudden BAM, accident central. I thought, "Maybe she just is'nt ready" But I refused to give up. I bought 6 different types of underware to keep her motivated; Little Mermaid, Strawberrry Shortcake, Dora, ones with hearts and stripes...you name it, I bought it. Then I started with Marissa. I thought she might be the same but she has been a piece of cake. Hey, dont I deserve it? :) Im thinking now Im gonna take a break for a couple of months before starting with Lucas. My bottom is sore from sitting on the bathroom floor for the past 3 months.

Im looking at the clock right now and I realize that there is still so much day to live. Im really not one to complain. I figure, Ive chosen my life and what I do with it, so why complain. Really, everyone I know is equally as busy so they dont want to hear my belly-aching, Right? Well today your stuck with it!! :) We started out this morning like every morning. Lucas was bright eyed and awake at 5:15 just as I realized I still had 30 more minutes to sleep before my coffee maker would wake me. So Lucas climbs in bed with Mario and I, and as Mario groans and rolls over, Lucas starts chatting away about breakfast, cartoons, pop-tarts and anything else related with morning. After 15 minutes of this I came to the conclusion that falling back to sleep is not going to happen. We get up, rise sleepyhead Michael from bed and start the morning chaos.
"Michael, get dressed!" "Girls, get on the potty, quick!! quick!! quick!!" "Lucas, breakfast is on the way, find your patience, PLEASE!!!!" "Michael, leave your sisters alone and come eat" "Michael, where is your hat?" "No Lucas, you just ate breakfast, its not time for a snack" And so on and so forth. You get the picture!! Finally, Michael is out the door, Mario to drop him off on his way to work, and the morning clean up begins. I let the crew(the triplets) watch a 30 minute morning show so I have time to get cleaned up for the day. All of a sudden, the phone rings. Its Michael, at school, wondering where I am? I ask him why I should be there and he tells me that he is singing at the morning Mass. Didnt Daddy tell me? Why no, he didnt....Arggg. But Im on my way. Get dressed real fast, bundle up the kids, as its 45 degrees out this morning, pack snacks, sippy cups and books to keep them quiet during Mass and load them in the car. We get to school 4 minutes after service has begun, just in the knick of time. I settle in with the crew, take off coats, get them snacks and wait for Michaels performance. Now mind you, Ive never attempted to take the crew to church by myself. Thats just crazy talk, so this is a true venturing out for me!! Well, before you know it, church is over, the crew is restless and Michael didnt sing. What? As the students line up to go to their respective classrooms, I get Michaels attention and ask why he didnt sing. "Oh, I was wrong, we sing next Thursday."
Well, by next Thursday, I should be a real pro at taking the crew to church by myself.
I'm at school now and I'm enjoying my few hours of interaction with adults. But as always, looking forward to whats to come when I get home. Homework with Michael, making dinner, getting Michael to soccer practice, bathtime for the crew, shower for Michael, making lunches for tomorrow, study time for mom, switch over the laundry ...........................

Here I am again!! Wow twice in one day. I dont expect that to happen on a regular basis. Well, I just got out of my last class of the day and seeing the clock, I know Mario is in the "Bedtime ritual" which I definately dont want to disturb. Michael and the girls are good at staying in bed and falling asleep with little or no problems. Lucas, on the other hand, has an exausting nighttime ritual that I just cant understand. Each night he must get up and say goodnight to Dad, Michael, Marissa and Francesca with a hug and a kiss. Can he do this all at one time? NO. Of course not. He gets in and out of bed to do it one at a time. Ok, so we get through that. Now he wants milk. No milk at night, only water. So then he must go to the refrigerator and say "Goodnight" to the milk, yogurt, peanutbutter and jelly, and whatever else he see's fit. Now that my energy bill has skyrocketed, we get him back in bed with a hug and kiss and I try to leave to relax. No such luck. He has a small couch in his room that he wants me to sit on "Just for a minute". Im so tired by this point, I give in and the minute turns into 25 minutes, he's finally asleep and so am I. On this little couch. Which is made of a not so comfortable plastic/pleather material. So understand why I am in no hurry to rush home to the "Bedtime ritual". I will get to enjoy it for the next 6 nights until next Tuesday's night class. Until then...........

Today began my second week back at school after a long and busy summer off. I find it eerily quiet and calm compared to being home with all four kids for the past 3 months. We spent this entire summer moving each of the kids into their new, respective rooms. Painting and decorating as much as we could after finishing the addition to our home has been our constant obsession. We lost our entire back yard to construction trucks and all of the wonderful piles of dirt they left behind, so the kids and I spent most of our time cruising and visiting all of the local parks. What a challenge that was to pick a park that all 4 of them wanted, that particular day.
Now that fall is right around the corner, our backyard is seeded with new grass and I can finally see the light at the end of this very loooooong tunnel. Now I can take a deep breath and move on to the next home project. Arggggg.... Will it ever end? Until later..................

So I decided this would be the best way to keep everyone up to date with the crazy life of "me". I wish I had the time to sit on the phone and talk to each one of you, but if you know part of my life, you know that is not possible. I look forward to signing on each day to release....and know that it will be therapeutic for at least one of us!! Until then...........