being thankful

this thanksgiving we met up with family
in wisconsin

it was a fun way to spend thanksgiving -
plus we only had to drive 6 hours instead of 12 :)
bonus!

in addition to saving on drive time,
we were super thankful for lots more...

like a big huge bed for the kids
{and a nice big extra bathroom for josie!}



yummy food

morning jacuzzi baths

plenty of places to run around

spending time with family



empty golf courses to have fun on,
and lots & lots of balls to fill our pockets with

NO SNOW

did i mention the empty golf courses?



and finally, we're thankful for
3 kids who are good travelers and can keep themselves
busy and well fed in the car!!

the 4th kid...

well, let's try harder next trip..ok josie??

out of the blue

when you're 5,
you say things totally and completely out of the blue...

oh man, why can't I be santa???

mom, why didn't God pick ME to be Jesus??

i think i want to walk on a tight rope.
just remember to put a net beneath me.
ok, mom?

...

garrett, you're 5
and you crack me up!

firsts

what's josie looking at?



whatever it is, it's making her very happy :)

it's her first pedicure

wait, that's not a josie foot...

yes, much to tim's dismay -
ryan got is first pedicute

opi red is a classic and clearly gender neutral, right?

little miss artist

earlier this fall, olivia entered a bookmark contest.
her bookmark got picked as 1 of the top 3 in her age group.
then the public was allowed to vote for the top bookmark.

so obviously be launched a massive campaign to get votes - ha ha!

after a few phone calls and some publicity on facebook,
we found out that olivia got the most votes - woo hoo!
she was soooo excited.

last night was the awards ceremony.
and now her bookmark is going to be available at the library.
of course we'll have to stop down and get a big stack of them :)

congrats, olivia!!!

wordless wednesday

summer of 69 09

we had a fun summer.
josie gave up her morning nap and
that let us have lots of fun doing things this summer.
the kids got way more independent outside,
and that was awesome.

they ate tons of popsicles,
jumped on the trampoline most every day,
rode bikes lots,
and went to many, many parks.
so much fun!

but up until now,
i wasn't missing summer
we've had a fun school year.
busy, but lots of fun.

then...
yesterday the boys asked to wear their "gap shorts"
no biggie, they were just going to play inside.



getting those shorts out made me miss summer.

how crazy is that?

but seriously, the boys lived in these shorts all summer.
{i got them on sale and between the 2 boys we have 5 pairs!}
these shorts will always remind me
of the summer of 09
mmmm... i wonder if
bryan adams would want to make a song about that?

ha ha, problably not.
oh well - for now i'll just let the boys
wear their favorite shorts as often as they like.
the shorts make me smile :)

dinnertime surprise

when we sent ryan to preschool this fall,
we weren't hoping for anything special.
just the basics -
learn how to listen to a teacher
how to stand in a line
be quiet
share with others
go to the bathroom alone {ha ha}

this week the "letter of the week" has been R.
i totally thought he'd catch on and be excited
that his name started with an R.
no, not so much.

me: ryan, what's the letter of the week?
ryan: umm, green?

so imagine our surprise at dinner tonight.
it was ryan's turn to pray.
his prayers usually involve thanking God for
his milk and his spiderman pjs.

but tonight...

our father
in heaven
be thy name
umm daily bread
forgive us
umm kingdom
amen

seriously, we NEVER do the Lord's Prayer at home.

is it possible that our little 3 year is
absorbing something at school???
and how cool that it is the Lord's Prayer!

the sweet things boys say

{while snuggling garrett at bedtime}

hey mom, do you know that everyone in the world has a smell?

side note - he's recently obsessed with facts.
so i figured maybe this was a fact he had just learned in school.
so trying to humor him, i said...

really?

yes, i'm NOT lying.
every person has a certain smell.

well what's my smell?

you smell like poop.

halloween recap

busy, but fun
that summarizes halloween 2009

we started off with halloween parties at school
poor garrett, camera battery was dead so no pictures of that :(
i had a few hours in between parties,
so olivia gets to be documented :)

after her party we headed to the fall festival -
an annual tradition of
meeting up with friends,
eating not very good chili dogs and
talking about how we can't believe it's so crowded - ha ha!
this year the kids had the added fun of throwing a pie
at their principal
and when the principal is also their uncle it's even more fun!

next up, halloween cookies & pumpkin carving
both fun, both messy

for the pumpkins,
the boys went with a super hero theme,
olivia went artistic
and josie, well this year she thought watching was just fine.

and finally, my 4 halloween cuties...

all this fun definitely tired these kids out.
i'm happy to report that all 4
were asleep by 7:30 on halloween night :)

hr situation

hopefully ryan never gets a job as a dishwasher
because he's bound to get a little water on his pants

and a little water on his pants means this



i doubt his fellow co-workers
would be as understanding as his little sister