Finally an update!

It's been a while.....really a while. I had become so taken with Facebook that I haven't been updating the blog. But, the reason I started the blog was to have a photo journal for our family, so I am getting back to it!

We have had a good spring so far,so I'll just post some pics of our fun stuff:

We had 4" of snow on March 1st and the girls had lots of fun playing and playing......

In April, we went to an Alice in Wonderland birthday party and all the kids were asked to wear costumes. Libby was the Cheshire Cat, Sarah and Caroline were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.....







Now for Easter pictures!

Here are the girls at the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt ......

Oh!!! There's candy in here!!!

Here they are on Easter morning with their Easter baskets...

More yummy stuff!!!

Dying Easter Eggs.....

Caroline showing off her messy hands....

Sarah refusing to show her hands because she was so bothered by the fact that they were BLUE!....

All dressed up....




Easter Egg hunt at Maw Maw's house....

We had a great Easter!

"The Kiss"

Isn't that the name of a famous photo? Well here is our version....I actually caught a couple of pictures today. See my previous post where I mentioned their newly acquired skill of giving kisses to each other (and us).

I think they are even holding hands in this one.

A hug from Caroline....

And finally....Double smiles. A hard picture to come by!

This and That

Gosh, it is just always so busy with day in, day out stuff that I hardly get a chance to post an update. So.....here's what I can think of that has happened since I last posted (almost 2 months ago!).

Libby received her first "progress report" from school and she got all A's and S's. I think it is kinda crazy to give letter grades in the first grade, but whatever.

Our house had the stomach virus for a week and a half......total hell! It started with Caroline, then seemed like it was over when Caroline had a total relapse 4 days later. Then promptly 2 days after that, Sarah, Libby, and Chris came down with it. I was the only one to escape the yucky bug. I happened to be gone the night that Caroline had the relapse which is the reason I didn't get it. We had planned a little weekend getaway and I went up one day early to have some time alone (ahhhhhhh). Anyway, that is when Caroline got sick again and apparently everyone that was in the house that night caught it. Needless to say, the rest of our mini vacation was cancelled. Boo!

We took our house off the market....no one is buying right now and I need a break from the showings. It's just too hard with two toddlers and a 6 year old.

Let's see......my Dad moved into an Assisted Living residence and it is much nicer than where he was before. My mom needs to do the same but she is having none of it. She is living at home by herself now. I continue to worry about them every day. It is so hard trying to be a parent to your parents!

Sarah and Caroline are doing great. We spend as much time outside as possible right now. It takes the fussies away. So, they are either eating, sleeping, riding in the car to get Libby from school, or playing outside. Well, that's not all they are doing........there are lots of the usual thinigs, you know, diaper changes, tantrums over this and that, fights and bites, blah, blah blah. But the absolute cutest thing is they give kisses to us and each other now. It is so darn cute and I love it! I wish I had a picture, but i haven't caught it yet. Maybe video would be easier for that one.

Here are a few pics of our outside play!

See if you notice a pattern in these pictures......

Sarah has a smile.......Caroline has her mouth open

Smile

Mouth open

Smile (sort of)

Caroline's open mouth again!

Just something I noticed and thought was funny. :-) :-0

Then and Now

Sarah and Caroline had their 18 month checkup yesterday and I couldn't help but remember back to how tiny they were 1-1/2 years ago. Yesterday, they weighed in at:

Sarah @ 18 months
26 lbs 2 oz and 31-1/2 inches tall

Caroline @ 18 months
24 lbs 11 oz and 30-1/2 inches tall

Here's a pic from yesterday

They are BIG GIRLS. I am not used to this. Their older sister was not the weight of Sarah until she was 3 years old! While I am glad that they are good eaters and healthy and all, my upper body is getting quite a workout every day. And, wouldn't you know that the one that likes to be picked up the most is the heavier one (Sarah). I see some twin moms who are able to pick up both of their kids and carry them around. Well picking up both of these girls is like picking up two 25 pound sacks of potatoes or sugar or dog food or what ever.....it ain't easy!

So, just to recall what they weighed when they were born

Sarah @ birth
4 lbs 9 oz and 18-1/2 inches

Caroline @ birth
4 lbs 15 oz and 18-1/4 inches

And here's what they looked like when they were newborns


So just for fun, today we took a picture of them laying next to their preemie outfits that they were wearing in the above picture.


I think it is just amazing!!!

Libby has a school!

Yesterday was a big day in the Quick household. Not only was it the day that our oldest daughter started 1st grade, but it was a solution to an issue we have been thinking about and working on since she was an itty bitty baby. We live in a neighborhood that we love.....historic, lots of trees, quaint and friendly, but the schools stink! Many people that live here send their kids to private school, (which we cannot afford). Some of our brave neighbors started a movement to send their kids to the neighborhood school in hopes that it would change things for the better. They tried, we watched. They pulled their kids out of the school.

Over the years, we have spent endless amounts of time talking about "where our kids will go to school". Everytime we run into a neighbor, this is the conversation.......

Them: "Where is Libby going to school?"

Me: "I don't know! We are going to apply to the charter school.....and for a transfer within our system.....and the city next door takes tuition students, if they have room......and then there is private school that we are trying to avoid. So, where is Johnny going to school?"

I have no idea how many times I have replayed this conversation over and over with my friends in the neighborhood and many of them had the same type of answer as I did! Honestly, I wonder what we would all talk about if our schools weren't so bad.

Well the last couple of years have been pretty stressful. The birth of twins made private school completely out of the question. So we began our plan to move to a better school district. I started visiting schools and looking at houses in those neighborhoods so we could target a couple of schools/neighborhoods that we liked. Then we put our house on the market in April....and hoped that it would sell so we could move before Aug. 11 when school was set to start. Our house didn't sell. We tried two public school lotteries and didn't get picked in either one. We tried to become a tuition family in the nearby city and was denied because they had no room. We put in a request for a transfer to any of the 5 or so schools that we would consider moving to - and was denied. We were pretty much forced to either homeschool, or try private school. Well, anyone that knows me and knows my extremely social daughter, Libby, knows that homeschooling would be a total disaster. As Chris said, "We might as well pay for private school because if you homeschool, there is no telling how much money we would have to spend in psychotherapy for you AND Libby." And, he is right.....after taking care of toddler twins all day, the little patience I do have is completely spent. Teaching your own 6 year old how to do simple arithmetic takes far more patience than I ever realized!

So....moving on.....we go through the summer in suspense as to where our daughter will go to school. We call the charter school to see if we have moved up on the waiting list. We call the local school district to see if a transfer might come through for us. We start filling out our private school application. We call checking on the transfer again. We start the process of applying to the private school, (which is at least 30 minutes away, BTW), which entails collecting referrals, transcripts, taking student tests, and going through an interview. We call checking on the transfer again.

Finally, less than two weeks before school is to start, we are accepted to the private school. (that we have no idea how we will pay for). Then, the very next day, we recieve word from our local school district that Libby has been approved as a transfer student to a GREAT school!!! YIPEE!!!! We were so happy and relieved and surprised and thankful!

So, as Libby began her first day of first grade yesterday, we should have been feeling sentimental and nostalgic about our baby getting so big and going to "real school" and being gone almost all day, but mostly all I could feel was how incredibly happy and relieved and grateful I was that she had a wonderful public school to go to. It is just the type of school that I have been picturing in my mind for her all these years! Small and quaint with a great reputation and very involved parents. And FREE!!!!

Mini-fashionista?

My big girl is all about fashion lately. She goes to her room to get dressed in the mornings and spends lots of time trying on different outfits in front of the mirror. She really likes coming up with new things to do with clothing pieces. For instance, she has a flimsey little halter top that she has taken to wearing as a do-rag almost every day.

Well, this morning, she came out wearing this:

It's a former poncho repurposed into a drapey tube top like thingy....pretty clever I thought.

So.... run to your closet and get out your old ponchos. As long as you have a chest as small as the neck on your poncho, you have a new cool top, ha ha!

Testing, testing

I'm finally starting a blog.....mainly just for myself and my family. A sort of virtual / visual journal. So here goes.



A day in the life.....July 4, 2008.



The Quick Five wake up excited about the day....4th of July is one of the best holidays in our neighborhood. We start with an old fashioned parade in the morning (the kind where almost all the neighbors are IN the parade, not watching it). We hang out on the sidelines because we can never seem to get going early enough to decorate L's bike or scooter and line up. She's also a glutton for all the candy that gets thrown her way.


After the parade we head to the pool where the babies were a bit iffy about everything. Well, I should say one of the babies (that would be S), C was all for it and tried to wriggle away from me the whole time, thinking she could swim with the big kids.


After that, we went to a neighbor's house for a cookout (Thanks!). Then daddy took the babies home to go to bed while L and I stayed and watched the fireworks that happen each year in our neighborhood. Everyone had a great time!