3 smiles

who knew that the word
"smile"
could produce 3 very different results??

and yet
these 3 smiles
totally
fit the 3 personalities

yummy time of year

it's still a little early
the colors haven't changed yet
it doesn't really feel like fall yet...

but really,
why wait??

crisp apples
delicious donuts
ohh so good apple cider

yum yum



and of course, an orchard is fun picture taking spot

josie gets an extra donut for sitting so nicely...
the other kids - ummm, no extra donut for you!

our weekend in sports

this weekend was filled with fun sports stuff

tim & i {and 108,000 others} enjoyed a game at the big house
go blue

we finally tried out our mega bike rack.
5 bikes, baby!
funny thing was, it was easier to throw the small bikes
in the back of the suburban.
someday we'll need all the spots :)



and last but not least...
the lions broke a 19 game losing streak!!
go lions

and that is our weekend in sports

my baby

sweet josie girl,
you make me smile!

yo, mika!

Hey,what's the big idea?
Yo, Mika!
I said sucking too hard on your lollipop
Oh, love's gonna get you down
I said sucking too hard on your lollipop
Oh, love's gonna get you down
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Love's gonna get you down
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Love's gonna get you down.

...

just a little song that's stuck in my head

low expectations

i'm always in search of a good group shop.
especially as the dreaded "christmas card" photo
deadline approaches.

and finally i think i have discovered the secret...

start with low, very low expectations

...

as you can see from this first picture,
my expectations were pretty much non-existent.
no joke, we sat them down for a picture -
i got my camera ready
and i couldn't find ryan in the view finder.
apparently he had some business to take care of.

...

from there we progressed to kids who
didn't see the point in yet another try at a group photo -
they know that "just one more picture" means nothing.

...

and viola
my favorite picture in a long time!
really, i have no idea how it happened.



but i do know that i started with very low expectations :)

wordless wednesday

big brothers

lunch today was sandwiches
i gave josie, garrett & ryan each a plate of sandwiches
pb&j for josie & ryan
butter for garrett {ick}

i left the kitchen for a few minutes
when i came back, the boys' sandwiches were all gone
and josie's plate was piled high with crusts

mom, josie REALLY likes crust

that's what big brothers are for

a new routine

the kids have been in school for over a week now
and we're slowly finding our new routine

here's what it looks like...

olivia is definitely NOT our morning kid.
so she needs to slowly ease into her day.
and by slowly, i mean a bubble bath all to herself
with candles burning.
at age 6, this just seems wrong, but it works like a charm!!!

ryan usually straggles out of his bed around 7 or 7:30
and usually says "mommy, let's snuggle."
seriously, who can resist that????
so we snuggle for a while then he gets dressed.
usually getting dressed goes smoothly IF his clothes
include something green and a cool pair of underwear.
depending on the day, cool can either mean incredible hulk or batman.

garrett wakes up at some point in all of this
and gets dressed nice & quietly :)
thank goodness someone is low maintenance around here!

then it's a flurry of
getting josie dressed,
eating breakfast,
packing olivia's lunch
(why can't i remember to do that at night??),
finding missing shoes,
grabbing backpacks
and getting in the car.

then it's off to drop garrett & olivia off.
i like to walk them in,
but their new thing is to go in alone -
when did they get so big??
then i drive a block and drop off ryan at preschool.
when did he get so big??
ahhh, just me & josie.
we run errands or head home.
upon getting home, josie throws a fit
if we don't stay outside.
a complete throw herself on the floor screaming fit.
when did she get so big??

so that's our routine.
it's new.
it's crazy.
it's busy.

and did i mention,
it requires them to go to bed at a decent time?
new routines are good :)

obviously

when you find 3 tennis rackets,
what should you do?

start a band, obviously!

batman vs. transformers

when you're REALLY tired, odd things can make you cry.

take tonight, for example...

ryan was super tired from school and a night at the soccer field.

after their bath tim gave garrett batman underwear
and ryan a pair of transformer underwear.

ryan proceeds to cry hysterically.

ryan: I WANT BATMAN!!! I WANT BATMAN!!!

me: why ryan?

ryan: TRANSFORMERS CAN'T FLY!!!!!
TRANSFORMERS CAN'T FLY!!!!!
TRANSFORMERS CAN'T FLY!!!!!
TRANSFORMERS CAN'T FLY!!!!!

i calmly tried to explain that i'm sure plenty of transformers can fly
but he was tired (and still screaming)
so i took the easy way out...

me: hey garrett, can you switch with ryan?

(garrett had JUST put them on)

garrett: sorry, buddy. they aren't fresh anymore.

and so for about 10 minutes, ryan lay naked & screaming in his room.

if only i had finished the laundry today -
maybe then there'd be another pair of fresh batman underwear -
and maybe tomorrow when ryan isn't so tired, we can revisit the
issue of transformers and flying.
surely there was a car that turned into a man that turned into a helicopter!

after all, they are more than meets the eye

oh, and the underwear...
he's wearing transformers.
it feels good to win a few battles around here :)

wordless wednesday

change

today was a big change for this crew

after playing together all summer,
3 were heading off to school...



olivia to 1st grade &
garrett to kinderstart

and my crazy little ryan was off to preschool.
when did he get old enough for that??

when i asked him how school was he said,
"mom, i didn't pee on myself"
a good way to measure success, i guess.

and in true ryan fashion,
he had to wear a green shirt and his favorite pair of summer shorts.
the concept of a cute new school outfit was lost on him.

and little miss josie,
well she seemed a litte lost without the kids around.
she spent the better part of her morning muching on cocoa puffs
and staining yet another onesie with chocolate drool.



so overall, a good start to our school year :)

and josie, we better find something less messy
for you to work on during our quiet mornings!

exciting

well i recently posted this picture over here,
but i think it just might deserve it's own post.

getting a group picture is never easy.
in fact it's pretty much impossible.
(remember - low expectations for christmas cards this year)
looking at this picture you'd think tim had said
"ok, everyone do something DIFFERENT"
nope.
but that's what you get with these kids.

anyways, we took this picture right after going
to olivia & garrett's open house.
(and no, ryan didn't go naked the open house - ha)
school starts next week.
how can that be?

next week i'll have 3 kids in school.
it's very exciting -
the prospect of just having josie at home with me 3x a week!

the past 4 years i've been taking kids to
toddler storytime at the library.
it's always right at baby naptime in the morning
and i've always had to drag a baby along.
always a good time.
but this fall, i'm taking JUST josie -
do you have any idea how exciting that is????
no more "where is thumbkin" finger plays while
simultaneously nursing a baby.
exciting.