A Christmas Story

Yeah, thats right. We are huge Christmas story fans, right down to the two year old. So we were all super excited on dad's birthday to be able to go through the house where all the magic took place.




"Dad's gonna kill Ralphie"

This is Randy... you know Randy the little brother, mamas little piggy, I cant put my arms down Randy.

Oh wow... the original leg lamp! Ani's plan from the start was to touch the leg lamp ( not in the creepy Ralphie way) and she was not disappointed.




If you live in the Cleveland area you have to go to this! It was so much fun. Like I said even the two year old was so excited to see things from the movie- she kept saying "I saw that mom, I saw that in the wovie". And if you have not seen it then go watch it!

Cant get enough of this girls style

Finally Our Halloween Pics

Awesome Girl

Have I mentioned how amazing my kids are? These older two are seriously so smart, at parent teacher conferences this year their teachers just raved about how great they are, how smart, and how much they enjoy having them.
I got a call from Ry's school saying she had won an award and they wanted us to come to the award ceremony when she received it. So... come to find out she had won The Cornerstone award. It is an award given to three kids from each grade, the teachers get together and discuss who deserves it and she was one of the three out of her grade! We were so proud and she was so shocked!
They took the winners out to a nice restaraunt for lunch along with a nice certificate and some coupons for free meals etc. I love this girl and am so proud of her, she is amazing!

In a nutshell...

October came and went in one big blur. I love Halloween and spent many hours on costumes and crafts and cookies. We had school parties, friend parties, church parties and I really got tired of running around! But I also loved every minute watching these girls enjoy the month. Dad was gone but the party still went on, the house was messy but we had a blast.





We have some really great friends out here who are always there to help us out, to craft with us, to hang out with us .
So here are just a few of those people we love!

Visit with Grams

We had such a blast last month when Grams came out to visit. J was in Indiana for October for an externship and his mom came out for a week to help out.
We did so many fun things. She helped with costumes, she made this scarecrow hat which happens to be the cutest hat ever!

Ani wanted to go to the childrens museum so of course we had to take Grams. They loved playing shopping.

The night before Grams left, J jumped out and surprised her. She did not think she was going to see him this trip so she was so excited.
We talked him into driving us around to see the covered bridges. There are seventeen of them around here, we made it to about six. It was a beautiful drive just a bit too much for these little ones.


No pictures with the older girls but they did have plenty of time after school to spend with Grams too. She took Ry shopping for Christmas and Birthday gifts, and went to lunch at the school with Ave, she also helped at Ani's school and took Joss for walks to the park in the mornings, she helped Ave make a cat costume for her doll, and she helped me out tons. We cleaned, cooked, she helped me go through tons of toys and books that were in our small basement flood. She is so great! We loved having her visit and are counting down to the next visit in May!!

Road Trip

Here is a little proof that I alone took my four girls on a road trip to Indiana. It was a miserable,long ten hours but luckily the kids were all so good. I did not get any other pictures besides the ones I took in Cincinnati in a two hour traffic stop, and icecream at McDonalds for a much needed break.

Good Bye Summer

We timed it perfectly and hit the park on the last day of warmth. Bossy and her bud Sharlie had a blast running around, and posing for the camera! Oh and you can't forget Baby Debbie, Our awesome yard sale find named after my Aunt Debbie!


I totally love this girl! She cracks me up. She has such a fun, playful personality. Loves to pull faces and dance around.
She was going down a tube and every little hole she went past she would say "cheese, take a picture" and i would, because you can never have too many pics of this cute little face peeking out at you.

Today....

Ave has had the craziest thing on her ankle. It has just been getting bigger, leaking fluid, red, and super itchy. My only thought was bug bites. (Only because Punky got eaten alive by ants in her sleep a few months ago) So after the school nurse told her no it was not bug bites, I had a Dr. friend come check it out. He said it could be bug bites or poison ivy/oak, which would be weird cause she has not been near places that would have it. He also said if it got worse to go see her Dr. So we did that today and sure enough poison ivy/oak. What? Weird. The Dr said that even mulch can have it in it! So could have been from the school playground for all we know. Ave also had a more severe reaction than usual so she was very uncomfortable for a week! Poor girl. But nothing makes it feel better like hanging out in Target eating a brownie and slushee!

And off that topic and onto another one.... I love days like this. For some odd reason we all end up hanging out in the kitchen. We love the sunlight through the windows, the open space, and since I am always in there they follow me. So mark my words I will have a couch and hang out area in my kitchen one day.

And don't worry, sometimes they read too, not just play ipods. Oh and Ry wanted me to add that her ipod touch was acting up so they took it into the geeks who gave her a new one today and she is thrilled. (I am just thrilled that I got her in a good mood and in a picture!)

Upstate New York

Jesse was going to go to New York to revisit one of the programs there so I thought it would be fun to tag along. The older two girls did not agree so they stayed with friends so that they did not have to miss school.
Jesse was gone for two days so the little punks and I just hung out. It was seriously SO beautiful! I love fall.





Long story about this kayaking experience. I will try to keep it short.
So.. little ones wanted to go in the boats and talked me into it. We were told by our friend that there was a river down the road he would drop us off and pick us back up in forty minutes. Also the water would be so shallow like knee deep that the kids would be fine with us.
So we get going about 6 pm but the water is so shallow in spots that Jesse and I have to get out and pull the kayaks and kids about ten times. I weigh less and could make it over more shallow areas than Jesse so I got up ahead of him. And once I noticed the sun setting I went into panic mode and got way ahead of him. Bad idea. I figured after an hour in the water that we were getting close to the end and he and Ani would just meet us.
Well, it got REALLY dark like pitch black and I could not see anything in front of me so I decided to wait for them. After they caught up we decided to take a left and of course bad idea. We were in a crazy maze of turnoffs and ponds. Remember- we are in the dark! We could not find our way back out. At this point I was almost at my breaking point, I had sang enough "row row row your boat" and "if your happy and you know it" that I was going to scream. Actually I wanted to cry. My hands had blisters, my neck back and shoulders were so sore, we were lost in the dark with our two little ones and I did not want to get out and walk, I did not want to paddle, okay you get the point, I was DONE.
About that time we saw lights and a road, decided to paddle over there and get out and call our friend and have him find us. Two minutes into it we heard him yelling for us and he guided us out. Thank YOu Marshall you saved us! Or was this your fault to begin with? I cant remember.
We made it back, only took us two and a half hours. On our way home Ani told me "Mom, sorry for getting you into this". That made me realize that we had a blast and I would do it again. Maybe next time during the day.