Fall Fun Things :)

 While we were on Long Island last month, we went to the cutest little farm.  They had apples, pumpkins, roasted corn, fresh produce, an awesome place for the kiddies to play, and THE BEST apple cider doughnut that I have ever eaten.  And I would know, I am somewhat of a doughnut aficionado. Self-proclaimed, obviously.  And these babies were serious.

I had to pretend they weren't really that good, and then hide that I went to buy more, because the little chickens can't have cinnamon.  It was a difficult task to act naturally when you just experienced what they will serve for dessert when it's Fall in heaven.

Speaking of Fall in heaven, I have a theory that I have only shared with my husband.  But now you get to hear it.  I think that an ideal world (aka Heaven), Fall will be follower be Summer.  Hear me out. Fall has this heaviness to it, this weird feeling that you need to soak it all up, the leaves are falling, the winter is coming, the colors are leaving, the cold is descending, HURRY!  Now, if you live in a normal climate, you have no idea what I am talking about.  But since I moved to the mountains, I feel these things since winter lasts for 6 months. Every day in October that is doesn't snow is a celebration, that maybe Winter won't come until it's darn well SUPPOSED to come.  Winter has it's place, I know, but Winter is no longer cute and cuddly in March and April.  Yes I said April.  So anywho, in my perfect place, the seasons would go: Spring, Summer, Fall, Summer.  Without the daunt of Winter approaching, whispering to us with every wind gust that she is on her way, I think I would be much more able to enjoy the loveliness of Fall a lot more. 

What was I saying?  Oh yes, my children...

 Bruisy and Daddy-O. Lookin dapper, guys.

 My kiddies in a corn field. :)

 Declan's getting curious!

 My lovie babies.

 #reaganrunning

Her in those boots, I swear.

 

Reilly being herself. :):)

 Reagan being sleepy.

 My mansy mans and I.

 Reagan attacks her corn.

 Daddy measured the girlfriends!

 And then this happened..
(Reilly is being a mean witch)

 AHH love. :)

 Then the girls gave Daddy a ride back in the wagon. ;)

More fall fun coming up! :)

Back to School!

 Our big girl is back to school, and couldn't be more excited!! You can feel the back-to-school excitement and jitters in the pictures...I just love her face.  She was so confident, so happy, so proud to be going to her "second" first day of school this year (since she will be in the same classroom).  She couldn't wait to meet the new students in her class and make new friends.  It makes me so happy that she is such the social little butterfly.

 

Reagan wanted in on the picture action too. :)  She had her first day of school at home with mommy!  Which she is very excited about.  There was a little confusion on Reilly's first day, apparently Reagan wanted to go into "Sissy's Big School" with her.  She did not like that Sissy and Daddy were going into a big school and she was not.

We had some tears, and a "pumpkin munkskin", and we were all better.  And going to school with Mommy and learning to write all her letters has been even more special for her.

I love how much Reilly and Reagan love learning.  It makes me so happy, and I remember feeling the way they do about going to school every day.  Yay education!  Yay Fall! :)

These sweet faces make me melt. And next year they will both be going to school, and it will almost be too much for my heart to handle, all the excitement and pride in these faces!

A Few Things Reilly Loves:
Swimming
Being Outside
Learning
My Siblings
Making Friends
Princess Dolls

Happy Learning!

10 Months!

So we had to take an unexpected hiatus as a family to NY (blog post coming soon!), which is why there have been infrequent posts this month!  But I wanted to keep up with my little man's growth!

 Declan Boy is 10 months!  He is still moving and shakin and getting everywhere, and into everything.  Daddy put locks on all the cabinets though, so it is a bit less stressful.  And Reilly gets a penny in her piggy bank every time she "saves" Declan and picks up a choking hazard off the floor. :)  Works surprisingly well!  She has a stash of doll shoes, hair ties, Barbie crowns and the like in her room out of his reach, and she is so proud of it.  He loves practicing his standing, holding on to the couch or ottoman (still not pulling himself to stand, but likes it once I help him there).  He is taking right after his sisters with his lack of enthusiasm for walking. :)
 
 THIS FACE.  His happy face suddenly looks older!  I am taking a survey on whether anyone can even handle the cuteness in this photo.  I'd like to meet one person whose day isn't brightened by this photo.  Actually, if that's the case, I probably don't want to meet them. ;)


The funniest thing right now about him is that he is SUCH a little imitator.  He has such a sense of humor.  He loves doing raspberries, playing with his lips, making growling sounds, and doing everything his sisters do.  The three of them will sit at the table at dinner all doing the same thing, making noises, and laughing at each other.  It's so funny to watch him really interacting with his sisters, and making them laugh back.


He is now waving and high fiving! He high fives me which he is breastfeeding all the time, which cracks me up. :)


This little guy giggles constantly.  He could literally go from whining and crying, to laughing hysterically when I make a funny face at him.  His sense of humor lately just kills me.
 
 So my little man thinks he is a newborn in some respects.  You know, the whole, I'm suddenly going to decide to wake up and cry in the middle of the night until mommy breastfeeds me.  Soooo fun. And we are no strangers to crying it out, but it's a bit difficult when the crying goes on and off and on and off from 2:30-4:30 am. And mommy is awake for those 2 hours straight just waiting for him to go back to sleep.  And then she caves and feeds him just so she can get a few more hours of sleep before the preschool crazy morning starts. So, in conclusion...coffee. 


He is getting his hair cut this weekend!  Which I guess would technically be next month's update.  But still, we are EXCITED!

 He crawled right for this Barbie and chucked her off the couch. Haha.


Baby boy is just so easygoing everywhere we go.  We are up and out this month taking Sissy to school, and he just goes with the flow.  Comes with us, in and out of the car, no complaints, waits till we get home for breakfast.  He comes to Daddy's games and sits in his stroller or crawls around the blanket.  He is just such a job wherever we go.  His disposition is as sweet as his little face.


Every time I enter a room, he reaches for me and starts whining and fussing.  Everyone always says "Oh, that's weird, he was fine until you walked in the room!"  If I am within arms reach, my arms better be holding him or he ain't happy about it.:)  BFF, basically.

Daddy's Game!

 This season is when we gather our blanket, our picnic snacks, our coloring books, some Barbies, swing through for coffees, and head to Daddy's home games!  Then we sit and play and deliver coffee to Daddy (the girls favorite part, and secretly mine too.  They hold hands and run along the sideline and then give me a thumbs up and are SO PROUD of themselves!), and then we pretend to understand the game and cheer when the rest of the people in purple cheer. :)

Going to Daddy's game is the highlight of their day. Even if there are 3 in one week, the are SO excited every time we go.  They play, the find friends and play tag with them, the wait until the games are over and they get to run across the field and jump into Daddy's arms, and then follow the big girls around in awe. :)

 He looks like a little old man in this hat! :)

 REALLY proud of his clapping abilities, and he makes this face.  AH. <3 br="">

 Zoolander face. :)

 I make t shirts every year for them, and this one might be my favorite. Daddy's Little Buck. :)
Mascot, only boy, born on Hunting Season morning!  Little Buck!

The little beauties, loving life, eating nuts. Living the dream. 
Reagan screams "GO DADDY GAME!" at the top of her voice sitting on the sideline. She is so enthusiastic and deliberate about her cheer. It's amazing.

Told you - best part of the day.  Their faces say it all.  Handsome Coach!!

 We love you, Daddy!  And we love getting to watch you work.  And when we happen to hear you yell something on the field, and it's quiet enough for us to hear you over the whistles and fans, I wish you could see how excited the girls get when they hear your voice.  "Daddyyy's here!!" they yell, like they just realized it. :)

Sweet sunny days..

(Disclaimer, this was the first game, and much warmer than the games now.  Now we are in hoodies and vests, but the weather is still that crisp gorgeous sun of Autumn.  There's something about being on a field in the fall, it just feels good.)

Our First Family Wedding!

In June, one of my besties, by redneck girl, Kenny Chesney and Starbucks loving twin got married!  And when this happens, and she invites your kiddies to their first wedding ever, you pack everyone in the car and take a family roadtrip to Virginia!

And what a road trip it was!  Google maps told us that it would take us 7.5 hours.  Due to traffic and construction, it took us 12.  TWELVE hours in a crossover SUV with 3 kids under 4, and no DVD players or electronic devices whatsoever.  We stopped for breakfast, had dollar store "prizes" that the kids unwrapped every hour, and sang a lot of songs.  We had dance parties and took way too few naps, and had way too much coffee. :)  We usually download one movie on our ipad for our trips to Long Island, but of course on this fateful trip, the movie would not load.  So we didn't even have 1.5 hours of movie for the kiddies...we were kicking it old school!  When we got there, Hubby and I were in shock for the rest of the day. (We kept looking at each other saying, "Did that really happen? Did we just do that?")  Then we would get super proud of ourselves, that we just accidentally and inadvertently achieved a family milestone (FIRST 12 HOURS IN THE CAR TOGETHER WITHOUT ANY BREAKDOWNS)!  Then we would get panicked that we had to drive back, and contemplate other ways to get our children and our car back to Pennsylvania. Then we had some wine and got excited for the wedding!! :)



To say we were excited would be an understatement.  I mean, I do not get to see my good friend as much as I'd like to since we live so far away, and she hadn't gotten to meet Reagan or Declan yet!  I missed her so much, and I was so happy to reunite.  And even happier to see her and her husband on such joyous day.  They just radiated love on this day.

Secondly, our WHOLE family got to get all dressed up (hi, baby suspenders) and go to a real wedding together!  Reilly was beyond ecstatic to see a REAL bride, a REAL "broom", a REAL ballroom.  She was convinced she was going to the same event that princesses attend.  Reagan would only know the excitement when we arrived, but OH when she did, was she ever excited.  She was the hit of the dance floor.

Declan was only too happy to be one of the two handsomest men in the entire room.  And Hubby and I were so happy to have a family date night at such a breathtaking place.  It was such a special night.

The girls and I before the ceremony. :)  The same pastor who married Brett and I married Jen and Justin!  It was like reliving our day, which feels like it was last month, except with all of our babies.  Pretty surreal.

After crying through the ceremony, I glanced over and saw this little angel who fell asleep in his Daddy's arms!  You can't appreciate the preciousness until you see the whole picture..

Shunggly boo.  Declan loves Daddy.

The girls at cocktail hour.  Reagan held up Buddy for the picture. HA. Can you tell how tickled Reilly was?  She was on cloud nine...her first wedding!  We danced in the bathroom together, because she declared it was the most beautiful ballroom bathroom she had ever seen.  (She was right, it was a bathroom fit for a Disney Princess).

I love these pictures as much as the smiling ones. :)  Here we are trying to get Reagan in the family photo without Buddy. 

Success. :)

Reagan is grilling the one who has Buddy. So protective, that one.

We had a wonderful night with our friends Gabby and Matt!  Who, if you can believe it, had an even crazier travel experience than we did!  Think delayed flights, cancelled flights, car rentals, driving through the night, midnight Philly cheese steaks.  That about sums it up!  So glad we both made it, it was so worth the travel!

Some more photo attempts of the cuties. :)  It's not ever day we are all so polished and pretty!

AH the faces. I could eat all those cheeks.

Photo cred, Gabby! :)

Don't they look like they could be in a magazine?  Beautiful friends I have!

So what do you do when you are 2 and 4, at a cocktail hour of a wedding at a mansion on the water?  Play hide and seek on the terrace, obviously.

Looking at all the Navy ships.  It was gorgeous.

The big girls! Reilly joins every picture that anyone is taking. :)

Then we turned around, and saw Jen and Justin taking pictures behind us.  And the girls were in awe.  And they did this.  And I died.

CAN YOU EVEN.   We all were standing behind them, crying as we witnessed them staring at the bride and broom. (Reilly didn't know everyone was actually saying "groom".  It was amazing).

And then Jen finally got to meet Reagan. :)

Sometimes  I can't believe it's been so long since we were in high school on our lunch breaks getting egg sandwiches and saving stray puppies when we should have been at Study Hall.  Suddenly our get-togethers are much more important - the life moments.  Now, when we see each other, its not just for study hall or a Starbucks run, it's for wedding days and new babies.  I'm not sure when we grew up, but somewhere in there it happened, and man is it crazy.  I love that we have entered this grown up phase of friendship though, because this is when friendship are awesome.  They are lifelong, and full of love, and full of the beautiful memories that involve weekend trips and husbands and travel.  I am so blessed to call these wonderful girls my grown up friends. :)

Reilly hugging Jen, who she was totally convinced was royalty on this day.

My boys!! Never have there been 2 handsomer boys in a photo, in my humble opinion.

The girls breaking all rules and digging in to the candy bar way too early.  In our defense, we weren't the first ones to eat the candy, and we were very unaware of the rules.  And they were promised candy all day, and these chocolate dipped marshmallows were just the CUTEST.

This beautiful day was like one long tea party for these two. :)

Here is the Matron of Honor, the Flower Girl, and my boy.  I think Jen was almost as excited for these two babies meeting than she was to walk down he aisle. ;)  She declared, "WE ARE GOING TO BE FAMILY!" many times this evening. Haha!

I mean, these are two flipping adorable babies!!
(Stylish cocktail photobomb by Gab and Matt!)

My beautiful friends...the lifelong kind. <3 br="">

Jen was just the happiest, most glowingly beautiful, carefree bride.  Reilly insisted that she "help" her and followed her around for a good amount of the night carrying her train.
I'm telling you...to a 4 and 2 year old, Bride=Princess.

At the end of the night, Declan changed into his anchor jammies which he INSISTED I save for this event. ;)

And can you just see what a natural this girl is with these kids fawning all over her?

Jen, if you don't become a Disney Princess, I think Mommy suit you just as well. :)

Such a happy, beautiful day for two of the sweetest people. And certain a highlight for us and our family's first wedding!