We have a huge oak tree beside our driveway that we park under and recently a banana spider has made himself a home there.  Every morning when we load up the kids to take them to school they have to stop and look and see what spidey is doing, but we're all careful not to get too close because he's at least three inches long (not including his legs) and pretty darn scary looking!  Hubby has been extracting honey nearby and spidey has been feasting on the poor unsuspecting bees who apparently can't see the five foot web that he's built there.  We can't reach the web because its pretty high up in the tree, and I'm not sure that we'd want to reach it if we could, but we're really hoping that he'll move along to a new location soon now that the extracting is finished!

We're nearing the end of our quadruplets' first school year and to celebrate each of the pre-k "kindermice" gets a day of their own where they're the "Big Cheese" for a day - they get to wear this snazzy hat, lead activities and give a presentation to the class about their favorite things.

Their teacher this year has been absolutely wonderful about making them all feel special on an individual basis, and in asking for our input on things like this so she gave me plenty of advance notice and asked if I wanted to do all the kids on one day or if they should each have their own day.  I'm grateful that she gave me the option because unfortunately work commitments wouldn't allow me four mornings off, and I'm SO glad that the kids all had a blast and enjoyed being the "Big Cheese" for a day!

The kids had a blast last night preparing these appreciation gifts for their teachers!  Their favorite part was using a big spoon to fill them with M&Ms and my favorite part was eating all the ones that hit the table.  Thanks to Sara at Our Best Bites for the great idea   We changed up the label a little bit so I could print them out on actual labels, then we made these gift tags and attached decorative paper clips to them.  This morning the kids hand delivered them along with jars of honey from our bees.  Thanks so much to all of you teachers out there for all that you do throughout the year!

Although the high for today will end up in the mid 80s, I wanted to share these signs of spring from our backyard.

One of the benefits of living out in the middle of the woods is that we get to see all sorts of wildlife, of course that can be a double edged sword when that wildlife prefers to eat your apple, pear and pomegranate trees!  We looked out the office window the other day to see this family of seven deer having a snack in the front yard.  The kids begged me to print the pictures so they carried them to school yesterday and they were so proud that they showed them to EVERYONE they came across in the parking lot, the office and the hallway!

When our quadruplets were three months old the boys both developed pyloric stenosis and had to have surgery to correct the problem.  We spent the week of Christmas at the hospital with one son, then the week of New Year’s at the hospital with the other and even though they were way too young to remember, the hospital is just no place for a kid to be at Christmas.  Ever since then I’ve been planning on taking the kids back up to the hospital on Christmas Eve to deliver toys to the children there as soon as they were old enough to understand.  This year we’ve been hearing way too much about “want” – my silly kids “want” everything they see on television, even when they don’t know what it is or does.  So we decided that this was the perfect time for a lesson on “need” and to get started on what will be an annual trip to the hospital, and I’m so glad that we did.  The kids were very happy to give out gifts of stuffed animals, Zhu Zhu pets, bendable elves, and holiday tattoos to about 30 kids at the hospital last night.  Several of the kids were about their age and I think that really brought the message home for them. 

Thanks very much to Sacred Heart Hospital and to Miss Angie, the sweet volunteer who gave up part of her own Christmas Eve to escort us around the children’s ward!  We’ll see you again next year!

Hershey's has some really neat packaging out for Halloween this year, but I must say that my favorite is the Reese's Pumpkins!  Since the quads turn five this month, I plan to use some of these Hershey's candies to make goody bags for the kids in their class.  I'm sure they're going to love them, and I'm happy to help out with any leftovers

Disclosure:  This post was written in hopes of winning a Hershey's gift pack from the Mom Bloggers Club!

 

I Heart Publix  is one of my favorite blogs because Michelle, my bloggy BFF that runs the site, helps us to save SO MUCH money on our grocery budget.  I'm thrilled that Michelle asked me to do her Reader Spotlight and her post about me is up today    Thanks Michelle - you're the best!!

The kids had their annual school pictures taken this week and I was really worried about how the girls hair is going to look in the photos.  We put their hair up in a pony tail every morning before school, and every morning by the time we get to school it looks like they just rolled out of bed.  They just can't keep their hands out of their hair and its usually a disaster within minutes of putting it up, but they're only four and they can't fix it themselves so I tried to figure out an easy way to keep it looking nice until after their pictures were made.  I ended up creating these simple ribbon hair bows from some leftover 5/8" ribbon and bobby pins and the girls absolutely loved them, plus they were much easier to put back in place than a ponytail.

For each bow you will need to cut a 5 1/2" length of ribbon and 3/4" length of ribbon.

Fold the long ribbon with the raw ends in the middle and pin in place.  Straight stitch through the center then pull the thread taut to gather the ribbon, then wrap the thread around the center several ties before tying a knot.

Wrap the short length of ribbon around the center of the bow, fold the raw edges under and pin then stitch in place.

Place the bobby pin on the back side of the bow with the flat side up and stitch in place at both ends and in the center.  Now I can't wait to see how the pictures actually turned out!  I'll keep you informed

Wow - the day it seems like we've been waiting years for has finally arrived!  Actually it was last week, ALL of the kids are in school this year with Jacob in the first grade and the quads in Pre-K.  WHOOHOO!!  They are all loving school, their teachers are wonderful, and they've been excited to get up and go each day.  Just don't ask about Jacob and the homework   Thank goodness for the uniforms, it's the one thing that makes mornings a little easier - everything mixes and matches.