feelin' like fall

crunchy leaves to jump and play in

pretty mums for the front steps

sweet pumpkin fudge

crisp, sweet, fresh local apples

soft and fluffy cider donuts

school days

i'm playing catch-up...

3rd and 5th grade...don't they look excited!?

this was thing 3's pre-school orientation day

this was her first full day of pre-shcool

before, after and some in between

the frightening before...

disgusting! i only show you so you can truly appreciate the after with me...

up comes the floor...

down come the walls...

gutted!

a lot of plumbing and "behind the scenes work went on before these walls went up...

and the floor went down...

the tub and the toilet went in...

the shower tile went up...

notice, i have 6 corner shelves-i LOVE them!

the lights and mirror are up and the vanity is in...

and the walls are painted!

we still need to paint and reinstall the trim and install the closet door (which is on order)-a little each weekend...

i'm so thrilled to have my bathroom done.

Thanks to my mom and dad

for putting their lives on hold

so they could "help" (really do it all) us.

it's the thought that counts

ever since she was 2 she's told me that she wants to

take the train to the city

and get some lunch.

so we decided that for her birthday we would take her down,

get some lunch and she could get a doll.

soooooo,

4 months later,

we made the trip.

we took the train.

her feet were tired-immediately

-it's gonna be a loooonnnggg day.

we made our way to Stand!
and got ourselves what we'd been dreaming of (and some lunch)-

the Toasted Marshmallow Shake!

every bit as good as we expected.

this is a shake worthy of a midnight run!

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!

to the doll store where she made her purchase.

then to the park to play...

ride the carousel...

climb the rocks -the boys will be jealous, this is their favorite thing to do in the park...

splash in the water...
and swing on the swings

what a day!
she said it was the best day,

she wants to do it every year!

then, she crashed
and while the sister was sleeping, he found his opportunity to get his hands on that beautiful little doll with lots of beautiful hair like he loves!

he-he-he!

happy belated birthday little girl!

toddler for sale!

one adorable rotten little toddler for sale.

one sweet little chew everything in sight toddler for sale.

one funny little climb on and knock everything down toddler for sale.

one charming little break anything breakable toddler for sale.

one beautiful little don't blink or i'll be into something,toddler for sale!

NOW WHAT?

for the last several months we have lived at the ball park. seriously.

early morning practices.

all day tournaments.

evening games.

i am so tired of packing food around,

but at the same time i'm so used to it that it's gotten "easy".

while it can be all consuming it can be fun.

and most important is the kids.

thing 2 loved it.

he made it onto the all star team this year.

they played hard and had a great season...

taking 1st place in the championship-undefeated!


see ya next year! i need some rest!

morning hikes

we took a little hike the other morning.

we got eaten alive by mosquitoes

we hiked to the look-out tower. the views were beautiful-the height...a bit frightening(for me at least)

our nature/science boy found dozens of these orange lizards that somehow made their way home with us. (don't worry, they have been released back into the wild)
and our little beauty, of course, found pretty flowers-she's always looking for beautiful things.

yummy, yummy

fresh blueberries!

4 years old!

happy birthday sweet girl!!

dresses

big

beautiful

" spinny "

dresses

no matter what the day!

sunny days

chasing the clouds away...

we are back outside and loving it!!!

for thing 4, it's a whole new world-and he loves it!

when i brought him back inside

he stood at the door fussing and banging on the glass

he wasn't happy till i took him back outside!

please oh please say spring is here to stay!

he said it looked fun...

so we let him have a turn.

why do we have a large dirt patch in our front yard?

because

our septic caved in back in november!

we came home from our thanksgiving visit to find this in our front yard!

then they tore up our front yard to replace it!

so now the dad has to start over on his lawn.

the lawn he had worked so hard on.

the lawn that he had weeded literally on his hands and knees!

that lawn is now a large patch of dirt!

my boys

tonight my boys got to arguing with each other.

"that's my seat"

"that's my plate"

"that's my cup"

ya know, the important things.

i'd had it

"if you want to fight, go to your room and fight"

so

as my boys stomped up the stairs i heard the one say to the other

"that means i get to go upstairs and beat you up"

so now they took their verbal fight upstairs and made it physical.

great!

they don't really hurt each other-yet.

just some pushing and shoving and wrestling-a little bit of hitting, but no punching yet-thank goodness.

one day i said goodbye and sent them out to the bus stop. everything was pleasant-that morning.

i got busy with some things and then glanced out the window to find

my boys

in the road-the side of the road

one, on top of the other

fighting!

oh my goodness-who are these boys!

i don't encourage fighting

i don't "allow" fighting

but

2 boys

close in age

sharing

friends,

space

and

things-

i guess it happens.

sometimes it makes me think of my mother in law

she raised 4 boys

4 rough and tumble boys

i can picture her glancing out the window to find them rolling around on the ground beating each other up.

did she?

i don't know.

but it makes me feel better to think she did.

to imagine how she may have handled it.

plus, then i get to write it off as the dad's blood pumping through them -even though i know that thing 1 is mostly all me-but don't tell the dad-it's more fun to blame him.

my boys are friends now,

but one day

they will really be friends

they'll appreciate each other

they'll be roommates

they'll go on double dates

they'll get together with their families

their kids will be friends

their wives will be best friends

one day!

i'm hungry!

i recently finished reading

COLD SASSY TREE

and my stomach is still rumbling!

i want

coconut cake

and

pound cake

and

pie

and fried chicken...

the book is set in the late 1800's early 1900's in the south.

i guess it's that southern hospitality.

everyone in the book seems to always have a cake or pie ready to share with a neighbor-

when they are trying to get close enough to catch the latest gossip,

or to serve when visitors drop by

or to comfort others when tragedy strikes.

i want a cake sitting on my counter to share (and to eat myself-of course).

a part of me wishes we still lived like this-

but

then i remember that i like

flushing toilets

and

quiet cars

and

shoes on my children's feet.

pony tails and piggy tails

i'm probably the last to think of this but...i'm new to the girl stuff.

i think this will be a neat and simple way to store hair elastics.

binder rings

they come in all different sizes

and

the elastic is easily accessible -

you don't have to pull them all off to get to the one you want.

my niece has arrived

a few days early, but her mom isn't complaining.

i've been working on this receiving blanket for her

the fabric has grown on me.

i liked it when i bought it but it wasn't what i had in mind,

so i left the store a bit disappointed.

i sent it off to be hem stitched and was pleasantly surprised when i saw it again-

i liked it.

now as i've crocheted around the edges i've really come to like the pattern and colors and am quite pleased with it.

i hope mom and baby like it too.

these two fabrics i found while shopping for the other.

i really liked these.

i thought it would fun with the bugs on one side and the stripes on the other.

i don't have any plans for it yet.

i'll save it for whoever is next.

where is that darn tooth fairy?

we do not have a very responsible tooth fairy around here.

seriously, i don't know how she keeps her job.

teeth hang in the bag on the door for days before she shows up.

(she better get better though-her negligence is blowing her cover!)

if your looking for thing 3...

...this is how you will find her...

(i thought i had the camera on but i had to include this trick!)

this is her watching TV

still watching TV

more TV watching

this is her, first thing in the morning

(this is thing 4 trying to copy thing 3)

she just finished breakfast(could have been any meal though)

"now, that was fun!"

do ya think gymnastics classes are needed?!

television

i am feeling a bit irritated with a few of my favorite shows.

did i ever get it?-i don't think so,

but this season i really don't get it.

to the point of completely annoyed.

nothing is making sense.

they are traveling through time because ben turned some dial but if jack gets everyone together and they return to the island everything will be right!?

WHAT!!!!!????

besides it not making sense, they have started sooooo many tangents and then just dropped them-like they never happened!

it's driving me CRAZY!!! i get mad every time i watch the dumb show-but... i have to watch because what if i miss something...they have a plan right?

(truly, i don't think they do. i think they start over every week)

jack just needs to take a deep breath.

that's all.

i would just feel better if he would breath slow and deep and roll his shoulders a bit-

then he can get back to business!

i could watch the office every night!

it is about the only thing i watch that makes me laugh-

not chuckle, but truly laugh!

but

what happened with angela?

they seem to have just dropped it.

she was engaged to andy and messing with dwight.

she got caught.

they both dropped her

and now it's over.

like it never happened.

there are no uncomfortable interactions.

no comments.

it's just so un-office-like.

more money in my pocket

i do love to save $. in both senses-to spend less and to put it away, but right now, i'm talking about spending less. i think lately we have all been cutting back and making some changes to our spending habits.

back when gas was over $4 a gallon we really felt the crunch. now with gas prices down we've been able to relax a bit but it has changed my thinking. i'm tired of $ flying out the door. i want to pay the utility company as little of my $ as possible.

so, these are some things i've changed here.

*canceled the data service on my cell. it was nice. i loved getting my emails and access to the internet but i don't need it and didn't use it very often. that saved me $600/year!!!

*changed our cable service. i changed to a simpler package. the dad lost his sports channels (he still has the internet ;)) and the kids lost some cartoon channels (not enough though!). we went from $600/year to $180-$240/year!- i did keep the dvr-we can't live w/out that!

*i drive less. i try to combine as many trips as possible rather than running out every day. this also keeps me out of the stores and ya know what happens when your wandering around target, somehow you wind up spending $80+ dollars and have no idea what happened.

*the other day oprah did a show about saving $. one of the ladies on the show talked about unplugging electronics. so we are trying that this month. it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference. and, we are leaving lights off.

*we are trying not to eat out! i enjoy eating out, but i hate when the bill comes. the food was never as good once you see how much you are paying for it(okay, sometimes it was still good!). with our little family we can spend as much on one meal out as we do on one weeks worth of groceries.-my boys like steak-it's in their blood.

*we use the library. i go online and reserve movies and the dad picks them up on his way home. it's free! and when we watch the movie we pop our own popcorn in the air popper. we started doing that way back when we found out about all those chemicals in microwave popcorn. we like it better anyway! and it is so much cheaper.

so these are the things we are trying and doing but i would really love to hear what you have done. i would love to know what works for you -maybe it would work for me too. so please share. i'll post any ideas you give me so the masses can benefit too (all 5 of you).

surprise?

the dad can not keep a secret...ever!

so, valentines day came early for me.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

oh so yummy!

we had this for dinner last night.

creamy mushroom and chicken soup!

it was sooooo good!

you have to like mushrooms because it tastes like mushrooms.

the boys picked out the mushrooms but still ate the soup.

which was fine with me-i just added their unwanted mushrooms to my bowl.

YUM-MY!

i was treated...

to a yummy breakfast in bed.

(created by thing 1 all by himself)

and then joined by some delightful company!

derby days

it's that time of year again!

the boys have been looking forward to it for weeks.

the dad has been looking forward to it... well, probably all year.

they cut

they shaped

they sanded

they painted

they raced!

and the winner is....

thing 1 took 1st

thing 2 took 2nd!

woooohooooo!

way to go boys!

hallelujah

hallelujah
halle-lujah!

he is finally sleeping through the night!!!

we went sledding!

our first run, we hiked to the top of the BIG hill!

thing 3 said "no way"!
she walked back down!

after one run we decided the BIG hill was too big.

so we found the not so big hill!

and had a blast!

*we left thing 4 with some friends!

happy holiday baking!

approved for distribution!

the rec

YIPPEE!

our indoor playgroup is open!

now you know where to find us!

i'm there

yesterday our house was buzzing

as usual.

no sooner than the boys walked in the door the phone started ringing

and didn't seem to stop.

friends were calling.

some wanted to come play and some wanted to come do homework together

-and then play.

before i knew what was happening my house was full.

thing 1 had his group of friends in his room playing their DS'.

thing 2 was in the playroom completing homework assignments and then playing Wii with his friend.

our dearly loved neighbor girl, who we have been missing,

came to play with thing 3 and thing 4.

usually this crowd is in the yard playing pretty much anything they can that may involve a ball. they tried but were quickly back inside seeking warmth.

i don't blame them-i ran to the mailbox and back yesterday. it was just crisp!

so, as my house was filling up with neighborhood kids i caught myself thinking

"this is what it's going to be like as they get older."

but then i quickly realized,

this is what it is like.

they are older.

my house is full.

i do love it. i want them to have their friends here. i want their friends to enjoy being here.

i just have to keep my eyes up and ignore the messes that can happen.

and, i'm going to have to start preparing larger dinners, as they all want to stay. and i'm going to have to keep my cupboards full of snacks, as boys can eat a lot!

so, i'm there.

wope soppopeakop op

do you?

i learned to speak "op" way back in 4th grade i think! it was our "secret" code-my friends and i had. i never thought that i would be using it at 30 something!

now that my boys can spell though, it comes in very handy-and drives them very crazy!

i did give them a clue though, they need to know how to spell!

trick-or-treat

my little yoda

beautiful snow white





the boys pictures are in my friends camera.(my camera is broken)
thing 1 was anakin skywalker and thing 2 was a clone trooper.



the weather was beautiful


the streets were swarming with little ghosts and goblins


and the bags were full

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

*i do love my boys, they are just so busy it's hard to get pictures of them.

**these pictures are courtesy of another friend. Thank You!