My kids are old enough?

I am kind of starting to understand what people mean when they say that time flies when it comes to your kids.  I remember, what seems like yesterday, we were living in Phoenix, over 1,000 miles away from home, scared to death, not knowing what was going to happen.  Now we are dropping the little nuggets off for pre-school!

The first of our feeble attempts.

Attempt #2.  (Pius what the hell are you doing?)

Us walking in, Danna running to catch up.

The boys getting name tags, and Danna looking for a doggy.

Last night was pretty hard for me as I sat out their clothes to wear, and got their “emergency clothes” ready for them to take.  I just sat down and thought, “Where did the last four years go?”  I know on my Facebook page and in talking to people sometimes, I seem completely exhausted from the kids’ antics, but they really are a lot of fun.

Pius, my little instigator.

Forrest, my little sweetheart.

Danna, my little Diva.

Laine, my little practical joker.

I’m so proud of how far they’ve come in such little time.  I can’t wait to pick them up, find out how their day went and hear if they’re going to be allowed back:)  

Since we saw you last…

We left off last time with the Graf quads meeting another set of quads, The Goerlich Quads. Looking back, that was just a really cool weekend. My kids haven’t forgotten them, and they want to pray for the Goerlich quads at least three or four times a week at bedtime. I hope that we can meet more sets of quads and see our new friends again sometime soon.

We got our Moni back later that week. She returned from her quadmama vacation in the New Orleans/Biloxi area with more fun stories (a lot of them, frighteningly, had to do with planking). For awhile, after she had returned home, it seemed kind of like I had a middle schooler on my hands to go along with the four toddlers and puppy running around the house:)

As for the kids, and their latest update:

Right now our big thing we are working on is potty-training at nap and bedtime. We are completely comfortable with their pottying when they are awake. Danna even poops on the toilet now and has better aim while she is peeing! It’s going pretty well, but any suggestions for the nap/bed time training would be welcome:)

They also start pre-school next week. We went to get signed up last week and they got to see their room. Pius, Forrest and Danna took off, but Laine grabbed my hand and it took him a couple minutes to calm down. I really hope they do well with it because I think I’m going to have a rough time if they panic.

Our current favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz. I had forgotten, but that movie really is pretty good. It is such a fun and creative story, plus it has a tornado in it, so it’s got the boys’ total attention. The also love the “knife guys” (the wicked witch’s guards) and the flying monkeys. They always want me to name the monkeys and guards so I do the best I can to come up with people they know.

The Quadfather continues to do well at shows. Yesterday I had my first speaking event. Our Early Childhood Intervention resource, Rainbows United, Inc. asked me to come and speak about our story. The audience was awesome, and very receptive to my speech. On top of that, Danna was the star of the show. Moni (as is typical) was about 15 minutes late and when her and the kids came in the room and Danna saw me speaking on the stage, her face lit up, she started running towards me and yells, “HI DADDY!” They came to the stage and I introduced each of the kids and Moni. When I got done introducing, Danna was holding on to Odie (her new stuffed doggie that goes everywhere with her) and she holds him up and says, “And Odie!” It was a lot of fun, and the sales afterwards went well:)

And finally, the latest pictures from the park…

Pius making his “mad face.”

Forrest having fun on the teeter-totter.

Danna hitting up the slide.

Laine on the other end of the teeter-totter.

The kids with all their new friends.