Saturday's used to be a day to relax, play video games, go out to eat, get together with friends, do house/yard work, but most importantly it was time to get away from work. Now our Saturday's are days where we are just looking to survive. Being outnumbered 4 to 2 are not very good odds. At the point you go above a one to one ratio of children to parents you go from a man-to-man defense to a zone-defense (a good analogy for those football and basketball fans out there). Zone defenses have their place in sports, but when it comes to raising kids it is definitely not preferred. I'm sure there are people out there that will say that it is not difficult having more than two children. To them I say, "Did you have four within eighteen months?". To be fair, my parents had three kids within three years of each other and my wife's parents had three within four years. All I'm trying to say is that it is hard. Now that Carter and Aubrey can go in their excersaucers and bouncers it does make it easier. We don't have to hold them as much which frees up a little time.
The kids were all getting fussy early this morning (probably because they all were up before 5:30) so we decided to go to Bluebird Gap Farm in Hampton. For those that aren't aware of Bluebird Gap Farm it is an open farm near the Coliseum and it is free. You only need to bring quarters to buy food if you want to feed the animals. Calvin and Brayden love that place. They got to see cows, lamas, deer, geese, ducks, sheep, horses, chickens and goats. And mama and dada got a few hours of time without fussy children. It may sound pathetic or insensitive, but honestly we are always looking to things to do that will kill some time and be interesting to the kids.
After getting home and feeding everyone lunch it was time to put the babies down for a nap. Aubrey has started getting a little more difficult when it comes to taking a nap. We had to put her in a swing today. Calvin and Brayden didn't nap at all. They stayed in their cribs for about an hour and a half just talking to each other. We finally decided to get them out and were surprised to walk in and see that Calvin had taken off all his clothes and only had his diaper on. Brayden has his shirt all twisted and half off. They clearly thought they were quite clever.
The funniest thing happened today. I asked Calvin if he would give a toy to Brayden and he said "no" (this isn't the funny part). Then I asked Calvin again and as before he responded "no". So I asked Calvin "why?". His response was priceless. He looked at me and simply said "because". I don't know where he learned that from, but I couldn't resist laughing. Kids certainly surprise you from time to time.
We took all four out for a nice walk around the neighborhood the afternoon before dinner. It was a perfect day for a walk. I really enjoy the Fall weather. Today was the first day that we put Carter and Aubrey in their stroller without using the car seat carriers. They definitely seemed to enjoy the view. I guess now we need to find another double jogging stroller.
Aubrey did much better eating solid foods tonight. I imagine that soon enough she'll be eating as well as Carter. It's cute to watch Calvin and Brayden helping to feed their brother and sister (bubba and sissy as they say). They have actually become quite good and getting the spoon in the babies mouths. Carter and Aubrey got baths tonight. Carter seems to enjoy his baths. Aubrey screamed just about the entire bath.
Tonight was a very good night for getting the kids down to bed. I'm sure the fact that Calvin and Brayden didn't take a nap helped (they did sleep about an hour in the car coming back from the farm). Calvin didn't complain at all. Brayden did get a little upset because he was asking for something and we thought he wanted his stuffed dog, but it turns out he was asking for Ritz crackers. After getting him some crackers are reading a few stories they were down for the count.
I was able to watch the Virginia Tech/Miami game on the DVR tonight. Go Hokies!
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