an answer to the question...

people ask me all the time, "what does life with 4 children look like?". i had not really thought about how our life may be different than others because my integration has been like boiling a frog...i started out gradually and before i knew it i was cooked.

1. this is what laundry with 4 children looks like. no matter how often i do laundry, no matter how i try to organize my laundry room...i always end up with two mountains. one to fold and one to wash. it never fails. it is always there.

2. this is what grocery shopping for 4 children looks like. you know you have hit the big time with kids when you no longer look at shopping at sam's as a surplus deal. instead, sam's becomes your normal grocery store.

3. this is what your wallet looks like with 4 children...

5. this is what the waistline of someone who's had 4 kids looks like. oh, i respect you body of mine as a beautiful giver of life, but i don't like you.

6. this is what it looks like when someone with 4 kids takes 3 of those kids to pick up the fourth. i refuse to make harper sit out in the sun for 45 minutes while i sit in line burning fumes. so, i park and walk. and since her school is nestled nicely in a busy downtown area, this is what walking to pick up my daughter looks like.

but this is also what 4 looks like...

a beautiful little girl who inexplicably looks up to her mother...

a little boy with an almost magical sense of wonder and imagination...

a charismatic baby boy that could melt even stoniest of hearts...

and a crazy haired baby girl that undoubtedly will grow into it...

my hands are without question full

and so is my bed...

but neither compares to how full my heart is...