Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful family, friends and blogger buddies. We are so grateful and for all of you in our lives.

With LOVE from Portland!

(L to R)

Ally, Russ, Molly and Libby

Our puddle jumping turkeys!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love and laughter. We made the long drive from Sac to Ptown safely and left the black cloud behind us. Thank you for all your love, support and kind words now and over the last 4 years. We are one very lucky family and count our blessings ever day.

We take the good.. we take the bad...

Things have been hard for us lately. Compared to the stress and problems many others face, it seems silly and unimportant at times. Without barfing our drama all over this screen, let's just say a small black cloud has been hovering over our house. We are ready for it to move on. It needs to move on.

In the midst of our recent challenges, our kiddos have been an extra large handful. I find myself spending the majority of each day disciplining and fighting endless battles. I know that my consistency will pay off in the long run. But it doesn't make those difficult minutes, days and hours any easier. I am quickly going gray. Thank God for hair color. Ha!

I had a good cry the other day while talking about this with Conor. It made me realize just how much verbalizing it helps. Like most parents, I am constantly worried/stressing about the job I am doing as a mother. Parenthood is hard... harder than I ever could have expected. In all honesty, I have no idea what I am doing some days. Does anyone? Honestly?!

A day does not go by that I don't sit back and evaluate the good, the bad and the ugly. The truth is, no one is an expert. We all just do the best that we can. No one has all the answers or the perfect children, marriage or situation. Life is hard and we all make mistakes. Some days, just surviving is a success.

We all have different styles, comfort levels and ideas. I found this article about over-parenting in TIME very refreshing and I liked it. So I thought I would share.

At the end of the day motherhood is the hardest thing I have ever done. It's also the most rewarding and important. It's always good to know other parents feel the same way.

Have a great Monday everyone. Here's to a new week!!

Torrey James- Pro Pictures!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED to share these professional photos. They were taken by our very dear friend, Torrey. She is CRAZY talented and we LOVE her!

Torrey and Libby

You may remember me talking about Torrey a few months back when she took these photos. She left her office life behind to pursue her dream, photography. She has GUTS I tell ya! I admire her so much and she is doing great! We are thrilled to see how far she has come and so proud to be her friends.

We met up with her on Tuesday in Old Sacramento. I LOVE the character of the buildings. We had tons of brick, wood and color to work with. The kids didn't even realize we were taking pics as they played. I couldn't help but snap a couple shots of her working!

Conor, Torrey and the kids

After we were done in Old Town, Conor headed to work. It was still early, so...Torrey and I took the kids to the Zoo, our home away from home. We had way too much fun and Torrey got some great candid shots along the way.

Russ and Torrey

*this shot turned out sOOOO cute!

The entire day was a huge success, not just the pictures, but the time spent with are sweet friend as well. Torrey, we adore you and could not be more proud of you. You are truly talented. Truly. Keep on keeping on and doing what you love. WE LOVE YOU!

If you live in Sacramento area (Tahoe and Bay areas included) check out Torrey's web site. She has a great, affordable holiday package right now and is WONDERFUL with families. Our children LOVE her!! Also, she is offering 15% off all prints for those who book a family session in January! She also has a gift for capturing high school Seniors! Check out these pics of my darling cousin, Matt and head on over for some bloggy love!

ALRIGHTY! Without further ado... here are a few of my FAVORITE shots. I'm in love with every single one. Click here to see them all.

(front to back)

Ally, Molly, Russ and Libby

(L to R)

Libby, Molly, Ally and Russ

(L to R)

Russ, Conor, Libby, Ally, Me and Molly

Mommy and Ally

Our girls

(L to R)

Ally, Russ, Molly and Libby

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope your having a GREAT week!

Who Will #Fight4Preemies?

"We need to fight ― because babies shouldn’t have to."

Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day. Chances are you or someone you know has been affected by premature birth in one way or another.

We feel extremely blessed to have benefited from the decades of work done by organizations like the March of Dimes. Just walking back down memory lane illustrates how much their tireless efforts have done for families like ours.






With multiples, we were informed that our babies would be born early. But many are not prepared for the challenges that can arise from premature birth complications. In our case, we we hoped for the best, yet expected the worst.

Luckily, organizations like the March of Dimes have been working to educate, prevent, and help families cope with premature birth.

The facts are scary:

• 1 in 8 babies are born premature in America, an alarming rate higher than most other developed nations.
• While California receives a passing grade, so many others states are lower, and the country is sub par overall.
  

It's easy for us to remember the emotions that accompanied our kids' arrival at 31 weeks, 5 days gestation. We were extremely fortunate to have phenomenal NICU staff and round the clock care for Russ, Ally, Molly, and Libby as they fought to develop and mature enough to survive outside the hospital. It's an amazing experience to see the strength, fight, and resilience of a human being that is only a few hours, days, or weeks old. And thankfully, our collective efforts will ensure they won't need to fight as hard in the future.







Thank you to the March of Dimes and all health care professionals who continue to "Fight for Preemies" and positively impact families around the world. And a HUGE thank you to all of you who help, donate, and blog today (400+ registered!)

If you feel inclined, please help spread the word today through your own blogs, status updates, and tweets (make sure to use the #fight4preemies tag today!)

THANK YOU!

~ Conor, Gen, Russ, Ally, Molly and Libby


Top Left-Molly

Top Right-Libby

Bottom Left-Russ

Bottom Right-Ally

My Name Is Mud

My AWESOME friend, Mari, found a great deal on rain boots at 6pm.com. They were only $2.97 a pair! I, of course, ordered right away. Thanks for the tip Mar!!

They arrived just in time for the muddy season!

Conor, an Oregon native, wasn't too happy with my choice. He's a loyal Beaver fan. Personally, I think they are pretty darn cute. They'll be proudly sporting them in style next time we visit Grandma Deb and Papa Jon in Portland. ;)

Last week was crazy for us. We had one issue after the next and just couldn't seem to win. We had illness, gas leaks, an ant infestation and a flat tire, just to name a few.

So, Saturday we spent the day at home trying to find some balance. While the kids had fun breaking in the new boots, I had a great time watching them play together and snapped a few pictures of the fun.

"Okay Earl, mommy says you've reached your quota of baths for the week.

Stay inside and watch like a good boy."

-Libs

"Whistle while you work!"

-Russell Man, picking up skills from his daddy

HYSTERICALLY FUNNY

-Ally Boo BOO

"So, my dirt tastes like pineapple. How about yours Mo Mo?"

-Ally

WISE BEYOND HER YEARS

-Miss Molly

STUBBORN and BULL HEADED

(yet still so sweet)

-Our little pistol, Libby

"Get down? What? Why? Mommy, this is perfectly safe and I'll be damned if I'm moving."

- Libs

ALL DUDE and ALL HEART

- Russell Man

"So, do you think we will have to share a car when we turn 16? Maybe we should start saving our pennies now!"

-Ally and Libby

This week is bound to be better! I hope you all have a great week too!

3 1/2 years old

(L to R)

Libby, Molly, Russ and Ally

There is something about this age that is so lovable, hysterical, amazing and magical. But at the same time, down right, pull my hair out, hide under a rock, don't wake me 'til they are 4 frustrating.

We have moments (daily) that are wonderful. I find myself smiling ear to ear and thinking.. "life just doesn't get any better than this." Five minutes later all four kids are in melt down mode and feel like I need to wear a whistle around my neck to keep the peace.. or my sanity.

Yet, each night, when the house is quiet, I wander into the kids room, sit by each of their beds and remember all the amazing things he or she did that day. In those moments the frustrating stuff floats away, my heart swells and I can't wait to start another day.

Life truly doesn't get better than that.

The countdown is on...

"Have you heard!??"

A few weeks back, we posted about a wonderful cause from the March of Dimes. We couldn't be more excited to see so many of our blogger buddies jump on board (Russ & Molly could hardly contain themselves...=)! As of today, 324 bloggers have signed up!! How awesome is that?? With only 6 days to go until National Prematurity Awareness Day, we're hoping to help spread the word even more.

"Readyyyyyyyyy......1-2-3...Fight for Preemies!!"

If you haven't already done so, please SIGN UP to help support this wonderful cause. It only takes a few seconds of your time. If you want to help further, feel free to Tweet this, share it via Facebook, and pass it along to your blogger buddies, friends, and family. Any and all efforts are appreciated by the March of Dimes, and helps spread the word about such a wonderful organization that has impacted so many of us.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Even Earl the Monkey has pledged support and is
sporting a "Fight for Preemies" band!

WIN A $100.00 VISA GIFT CARD!

If you haven't already entered yourself into the Ragu drawing, over on my review blog, you still have one more day!

The prize is a $100.00 VISA GIFT CARD! YAHOO!

Also, check out the Lego post for another chance to win!

www.http://quadvillesfavorites.blogspot.com/

Happy Tuesday everyone!