Caleb turns 3 and us Lews are on the move...

It has been a long time... not much going on over in our neck of the woods... you know... just loungin' around and stuff.

Sort of.

The end of April our little heart throb Caleb turned 3 years old. It is so hard for me to believe that my buddy is growing up. He is such a lover and the cutest darned thing you've ever laid your eyes on... oh how I love that adorable sweetheart o' mine =) He too had a big ole bday bash (spidey. of course.). With two friends that came over to play and pin some spidey on the web with us - ha! Who says bobbing for apples is only for halloween time? Let's live a little, eh? And I thank our friends who have been creative troopers for the Lew family bday rules - hereby enacted and enforced since becoming a family of SIX kids - yeah - we GET it. Homemade or regifted presents only, ma man. That's right. Takes a little forethought doesn't it? But I'll tell you what - our boys have never coveted something so much as when they can run up and tell us "Did you know that BENNY gave me this monster truck? It used to be HIS, mommy! But he GAVE it to me for my birthday and now I get to keep it!"

We hope that our birthday gift tradition continues and will prove to be a valuable teaching tool in our childrens lives. Be grateful.

Other than fun stuff like watching Caleb devour his cake and nearly pass out with excitement at the baseball bat big brother Aiden got him (SERIOUSLY!!!) we have been a tad bit consumed with packing, cleaning, fixing, and moving out of the cottage we stayed in over the winter. And then - gulp - fixing, cleaning, packing, taking to storage, and UNpacking (bare necessities only!) back at our home in Bellaire.

That's right. Darned thing still hasn't sold.

And a very special thanks to my mom and dad, Grammie and Papa, who put in WEEKS of work helping us get it spruced up (and liveable again after our renters... but that's a whole OTHER story...)! New tile shower, new paint, new wood trim, etc... this place is fabulouso and is destined to sell within the next month I'll tell ya'!!

Optimism is all we have sometimes, you know?!?! So just go with it!

Yep. Packing and cleaning and fixing to fix and clean and pack and unpack all the whole HOPING that you'll be doing it all again VERY SOON to move once our house sells.

And doing it with 6 kids in tow.

Oh, and did I mention daddy was out of town for over a week of it? And then with his commute to TC we haven't seen him before 7pm... boy. Insanity levels are running at a high over here...

The first week was nothing less than emotional exhausting and physically draining. It was absolutely unbearable at times and I thought I might just crumble up. The problem being our house was left in shambles by the renters and every single thing - from our pots and pans, to the cupboards, to the bathroom toilets, to the floors, to the last glass and tupperware top... had to be cleaned before we could begin doing ANYTHING. Progress was painfully slow because the day to day business of LIVING still had to take place, you know? All our children still had to eat, there were still diapers to change and laundry and dishes to do... etc.

But it's been two weeks and we have almost made it. A carpet cleaner, a gallon or two of fantastic, soft scrub and bleach, a liter of windex, a 10' x 10' storage unit... yeah, we're getting close.

And although it's not ideal and we did not want to be back in Bellaire... we have a home for our family that we can call our OWN for the first time in nearly a year... and that DOES feel good. It was the middle of June when we relocated to the Munson Manor last year per my doctor's orders while pregnant with the quads. It was such a hard goodbye for us to our home in Bellaire because, at the time, we honestly didn't think that we would ever call it "home" again. We cried our tears and remembered all the good times and all that had happened for our family during our lives in Bellaire... this home was truly a labor of love for us. We have our Meadow's Garden up front filled with so many plants and flowers from family and friends in memory of our Angel Meadow... we have our fire pit in back where we have hillbillied it up many a nights enjoying the outdoors... we have our garage for crying out loud (yeah... almost didn't have that due to budget constraints during building...)!

Anyhow, we're back. Aiden and Caleb are remembering all there is for them to explore here. And now the quads too are learning to love this home with us and are making memories every single day. Yes, THREE ARE CRAWLING!!! Little Dane (formerly known as Heavy D... now the incredible shrinking D) just can't get 'er together yet - but he will soon! Summer was the leader, thanks to her idol Cousin Avery showing her the way =) Summer is just in AWE of Avery - it is SO CUTE!! Cam came next and then Brockee. But Brock is by FAR the most adventurous of the group so far - all you have to do it blink the kid is across the room exploring the kitchen! He may be BIG but he's pretty darned fast!!

And at the end of the day we are loving life - no matter how hectic it has been the past month or so. The quads are SO FUN right now!! One of my guilty pleasures right now that they can all pretty much get where they want to go (even Dane... it's just not a CRAWl, per se...) is when I will be on the floor playing or whatever and next thing I know they have all made their way over to me and are crawling up on me!! I just melt!! They are learning to reach for us to get picked up and saying "Da Da" all over the place (even in light of my persistent "MA MA MA MA" !). They are playing so well together and then, blam! Stealing toys and leveling one another in the next second! It really is fun... slobbery kisses all around every day...

A huge shout out to our big boys too for being such troopers through this whole move. We have relied on them so incredibly heavily to play together and be independent while I try to get things put together and take care of the babies... and they have stepped up to the plate 110%. I love you guys. You rock my world.

Thank you Grammie for all your hard work and being here as my moral support and crutch. I would truly be lost without you.

Thank you Jeremy for loving me in the midst of madness. And for letting me sneak away to the Bayshore marathon (only a 10K for mama T and some hot mama friends - but we did it!!) and have some me time. I love you. I love you. I love you.

I will try to post some pics soon... thank you for reading and thinking of our family.

Peace out.