8.19.2012

New Rooms for Big Kids

A few months ago, I started talking to the kids about their “big kid” rooms.  When I asked them what they wanted in their new rooms, they each had an immediate and different answer.

Sloan – “a princess room.” (barf.)
Rocco – “animals.” (hmmm…)
Madden – “a computer room.”  (what?)
Jagger – “skateboards and basketballs.”  (interesting.)

I knew that two of the four I could work with.  So I quickly started showing Sloan pictures of bedrooms in some magazines and soon realized that a girlie girl (pink) room would be a hit with her no matter what.  I continued to think about what I could do for Madden and his “computer room” when my sister-in-law said she had my nephew’s surf/beach bedding that we could use.  Just a little convincing and promise of a real fish later and he was sold.  And so my mission began. 

When we moved in our new house (one year ago this weekend), I didn’t take the time to decorate their rooms.  I was in no rush to get them out of their cribs and frankly, didn’t want to spend the time, money or energy decorating 4 rooms that I knew would be changing in the near future.  Here’s what their rooms looked like yesterday morning.

IMG_1963Sloan’s room (with nice brown paper window treatments Winking smile)

IMG_1966Rocco’s Room

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Madden’s room

IMG_1970Jagger’s room

Once I had all I needed (or enough for four semi-complete rooms), I coordinated the day for the kids to be out of the house with Nanny Alicia so that we could decorate ALL four rooms at once.  It was a tall order, but I knew it would be SO much more exciting for them to get their new rooms together rather than one at a time.  Oh yeah, AND they didn’t even know we were doing it yesterday.  According to them, mommy and daddy were “doing puzzles” while they were gone for the whole day!

So we got started this morning around 8:30 and finished around 5 this evening only breaking for lunch.  It was a group effort.

 

IMG_1974Evan and Nate helping with one of Sloan’s accessories

IMG_1975Jude cleaning

IMG_1977Big Pop and G.G. working hard ALL day long!
(btw, thanks to G.G. for making Sloan’s new window treatments)

IMG_1978Daddy & Evan putting Rocco’s bed together

Drumroll please.  Sloan’s finished room….

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;

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Rocco’s…

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

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CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;

 CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

Madden’s…

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

Jagger’s…

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;

And finally, the kids got home around 6.  We ate dinner – they had no clue!  Then I brought them in the living room to tell them of their surprise. 

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash;  

The kids couldn’t wait to sleep in their new big boy/girl bed tonight.  Before tuck ins, I asked them each what was their favorite part about their new room. 

Sloan – “my bed.” (amen sister)
Rocco – “my lion.” (lol – thanks Nate for bringing it from home and throwing it on the bed as we were finishing up)
Madden – “my fish, Bodhi.” (as promised Winking smile)
Jagger – “my basketball goal.” (shocker!)

All smiles at bedtime…

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And as I am writing this at 3:34am, I haven’t heard any cries, pitter patter of little feet or any loud thuds…I’d say this is a good sign!

Of course, I couldn’t post this without thanking everyone who helped us pull this off…G.G., Big Pop, Grandmama, Grandaddy, Jason, Kemper, Evan, Jude, Nate and Alicia.  Special thanks to our friend Chad for taking these great shots of our special day!

228830_2143090289489_2830161_nOur first night in our new house
August 19, 2011

CKPhotographyBR: Quads_New_Room &emdash; One year later
August 18, 2012

It’s days like yesterday that the reality of 4 times the work, 4 times the love and 4 times the fun really sinks in.  We are so blessed to be able to do this for our kids and I love that we get to celebrate their individuality.  Because they are each so incredibly special and different.   I just love that.  

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8.02.2012

Beach Bums 2012

We’ve been home a few weeks from our vacation to the beach, and what a great time we had!  This year we met Grandmama, Grandaddy, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Phil, Seth, Uncle Tim, Aunt Jennifer and Sydney in Sea Grove, Florida.  This is our third trip with the kids to the beach, and each year they enjoy it more and more….to be expected, I guess, but we didn’t do much else but PLAY on the beach this year.  I used my phone for most of these pictures. 

 

IMG_1214Beautiful view :)

IMG_1217Madden, Rocco, Jagger & Sloan

The water was beautiful!

IMG_1205Daddy with Madden & Sloan

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IMG_1211       Big cousin Seth with Jagger                          Aunt Lynn with Rocco

IMG_1243Grandmama enjoyed the beach too

IMG_1254Cousin Sydney and the boys (J, M & R) having fun with the waves

It was awesome because there was this HUGE sandbar right in front of our condo.  The kids could play and enjoy the water ankle/shin deep which allowed momma and daddy to relax just a bit.

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Jagger & Madden

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Madman

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Rocco catching some waves

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Jagger & Rocco

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Madden & Sloan – these two have been quite the pair lately

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Jagger – Love that smile!

And it wasn’t just the water that they loved.  Oh the sand…they could’ve played in the sand forEVER.  I must admit I’ve never been a huge fan of lounging, playing or being buried in the sand…but seeing their excitement about it and hearing “mommy, come play with us!”, of course I had to join in too. 

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Daddy & Jagger

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Sloan loved playing with the seaweed!

In the evenings, we would walk the beach and go crab hunting.  Not much luck finding crabs, but still a good time.

IMG_1627“Look what I found momma!” – Rocco

IMG_1628“My dress is wet!” – Sloan

IMG_1638Not to get in the water - a little too much to ask of Jagger!

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Sweet Madden

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Summer 2012

We also took the kids to the pool a couple of times so they could practice their new swimming skils, and I got to put my birthday present to use -  my new Lifeproof iphone case.  Love it! Check out these underwater shots…
(Disclaimer:  I should’ve picked a day the boys weren’t dressed alike to do these shots…underwater pics proved to be a bit tough for me in deciphering who’s who…think I got it though!) 

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Jagger

IMG_1359Rocco

IMG_1331Madden

IMG_1354Sloanie girl

More random shots…

IMG_1595Watching a little TV before bedtime

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Breakfast!

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Bedtime story…
This was the first time the kids have EVER slept at night and were not contained in either a crib or the peapods we used for traveling.  I was sort of worried, but they did good.  Took a little while with a few warnings for them to settle down and fall asleep(they are also not used to sleeping in the same room) but they eventually did and slept all night!

And the last night we took the kids out on the town.  Out for dinner, carousel ride, and some ice cream too!

IMG_1381Jagger, Sloan, Rocco & Madden

IMG_1384Couldn’t even take a break from their ice cream for a picture – lol!

We had a great time with the Lambes – we just don’t get together often enough!  Click here for a sneak preview of our professional photo shoot on the beach.  I can’t wait to see more!

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