My how the tides have changed....

Okay, so I have to get these photos out of the way so I can continue on to the Halloween post. I had to go back, digging through the archives, but FINALLY found these bad boys. Remember way back when we were in the NICU and received these really sweet, angelic clothes from Gary and Monette? I believe that post was appropriately entitled, "Further Proof of Their Angelship".

In birth order: Pius, Forrest, Danna and Laine

Were those not the most precious angels ever?! Well, that was then. I was re-reading through some of the comments on that post and came upon Uncle Ryno's. It read as follows:

ryno said...
I already got them lil devil costumes for Halloween. I figure that will sum them up better here in a couple of years. lol jkRyno
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 1:02:00 PM CST

As it turns out, it didn't even take one full year for them to grow horns and tails. This is now:

Pius, Laine, Danna and Forrest

They even had little tails on them! See Forrest's hiney?

They are about the cutest little devils I've ever seen, though! These were not their Halloween costumes, but they were super cheap at Babies R Us. We've already been able to get alot of use out of them with the chilly weather we've been having! Our good friend and super baby-wrangler, Ashlyn, came over and took some fall pictures the other day. Another way in which we are SO BLESSED by our family and friends. For good measure, I'll add a few more shots of the quadsies in their devil sweats.

Pius James

Forrest Michael

Danna Lynn

Laine Ryan

The 3 Amigos: P, F & D

Laine being his irresistible self.

My dear Danna....I don't think she takes after her mother. She HATED being on the grass.

Pius, on the other hand, couldn't keep the grass out of his mouth (or leaves, sticks, small bugs, etc, etc, etc)

Forrest LOVES being outside and able to crawl anywhere and everywhere. The kitty-cat kept him busy for a good 15 minutes. Good thing she's quick.

Like the other 2 boys, Laine also loves being outdoors. He, however, doesn't like to put his hands down on the grass or leaves (unless they're headed to his mouth). I put him out in a pile of leaves and it was the longest time Laine has ever stayed in one place at one time. I went and rescued him by offering my fingers to hold on to.

We had fun going through the old costume box. Forrest looks so natural in horns, these days. Okay, before I start getting hate mail from the grandmas, I'M JUST KIDDING! Forrest is just a bit more stubborn and strong-willed than the others.

Fast-forward 16 years and this MIGHT be more accurate. In the meantime, we're really enjoying our sweet lil' toothless wonder.

But anyway.....Happy Halloween! Yah, I know I'm a few days behind. My bad, homies. I was scheduled to work in the ER that night and tried for a month to find someone to cover the first few hours of my shift. Everyone was either already working or planning to take their kids out. Bummer. So our festivities were cut short and the trick-or-treating was limited to Bucko, our wheelchair-bound neighbor, my mom and dad and Billy's mom and dad. We spend most of the time driving and loading/unloading our munchkins. The kids and Billy escorted me into work and everyone enjoyed the little Wizard of Oz parade. That's right, the Graf's and the Donovan Clan were thinking alike this year! Leave it to the darn Midwesterners.....

Pius was the lion (we figured we'd give the mane to the baby with the least amount of hair), Forrest was the scarecrow, Laine was the tin man and Danna, of course, was Miss Dorothy Gail. Billy and I wanted to dress up like the flying monkeys, but that would've required more work and money than it was worth. My next thought was for Billy to be Toto (because he IS Danna's little b***h) and then I would go as the wicked witch. What can I say? Here at the Graf house if the shoe fits, WE WEAR IT! We ended up only dressing the kids in costumes due to time constraints. But there's always next year....

Our Ozzy Crew at Bucko's front door

The darling Dorothy, Danna

The tender Tin Man, Laine (minus his pants)

Our stubborn Scarecrow, Forrest

The loving lion, Pius. Poor guy got the shaft with his costume. We kept taking the hood off because he was getting hot. You should've seen him try to crawl around in this thing! Priceless.

That's about all for this time around! We've been super busy and have a full schedule ahead of us. LOTS more to come, including a special announcement that is SO bittersweet. But that's a whole 'nuther post in itself and I need to get to bed.

Love,

Moni from the Land of Oz

P.S. To make a long post longer, I couldn't resist adding a few pictures of the babies' FIRST Halloween. They were dressed so cute! Anyone remember The Great Pumpkin? Man! Can't say I miss those days!