Fall FUN!

Today we I relaxed. Daniel cut the grass and blew the leaves. Anyone with kids knows that any type of gathering up the leaves means fun...fun for the kids that get to play in them, not necessarily for the adult that gets to gather them up a second time! Of course Daniel was the lucky adult in our family!!!
(and of course I was there taking pictures. Emily would've been plopped into the leaf pile except for the fact that she was taking a stupendous nap!)

Not a single picture caption tonight... I have a mountain of laundry to fold, dishes to wash, and since tomorrow's a school day I need to get clothes & bookbags ready for the boys and make sure I have an idea for Jacob's lunch!

Thanksgiving in October??

holy guacamole she's adorable!

(I know I'm biased but seriously, she's cute!)

 

This was how we started our day..gymnastics on the couch!

 

tumbling! (one time was it!)

 

and then we got a package....

 

I ordered something from a high school friend a week or so ago and it arrived today!

a handmade hokie diaper cover and hat!

Emily says she's not really sure about all this stuff I keep putting her in for pictures...first the tutu, now this! :-)

 

I'm thinking this expression describes how she felt! 

We had a "Thanksgiving in October" meal tonight. I tried a couple new recipes but mainly we needed to use up the second turkey that we bought last Thanksgiving (I'm not really sure why we bought 2!). It was taking up much needed space in our deep freezer and it had to go! Zach said he wanted to eat like a caveman... and he did...for one bite.

This was Jacob's expression after Daniel put sweet potato casserole on his plate.

"Do I really have to eat that? Noooooooooooo." ha. We made him eat one bite. The layer on the top is like candy and shouldn't have been torturous to eat.

Zach got to play MarioKart since he ate all of his dinner..in record time.

 

I tried a corn pudding recipe that turned out great...a new sweet potato casserole recipe since I couldn't find my old recipe (also great), then we had green beans, mashed potatoes, turkey, and some super tasty gravy (also made a new way...and fantastic!). Everything was super tasty and it will all be making its way to our Thanksgiving table! I bought stuffing mix and forgot to make it! woooops! I also made a pumpkin pie and a chocolate pie but we're too full from dinner that we haven't had any yet! The pumpkin pie is another new recipe but the chocolate one is a favorite from a friend (although I might not have left it in the oven long enough... it might be more like pudding! We'll see if the fridge helps it out!). Also in the fridge is chocolate eclair cake that I made yesterday but it needed to set up for a little bit before we ate it. I can't wait to feel like eating dessert! YUM YUM!

proof!

Proof that she cries for me too...

to be fair though...she needed a diaper change.

but she's also a happy little lady for me too. :-)

smiles and hugs.

Today was MUCH better!! Everyone was happy all day...well almost. Zach was sad when I picked him up from school because he was on green instead of blue. I tried telling him that green was still really good but that didn't help. He eventually got over it but was quite sad for a little bit! (He's been on blue for about the last month at school so I guess it was a big bummer for him to break his blue streak!)

Emily in cute tights with little slipper shoes printed on them. Gosh girl clothes are cute!

We snapped this one to send to Daniel this morning after dropping the boys off at school. She was excited about our 3 hours of girl time.

Zach was just happy to be snuggling and loving on Emily!

 

I surprised him with a picture in the shower! I just love his expression!

 

No school tomorrow...hopefully we'll have a great day! We had plans to go to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm but now the weather looks rainy so that might not happen.. not to mention that Jake seemed to be feelig worse tonight than today or the last couple of days. And now I feel like I'm getting his cold too.

it won't be like this for long...

my loves.

This evening was quite possibly the worst one we've ever had. I don't know why. Jake wasn't feeling well, Zach was being obnoxious to him, they were arguing with each other then whining about the other which turned into screaming. Everytime they screamed Emily screamed. It was a "I want to lock myself in the bathroom" sort of night...only I couldn't because Daniel is at school and although the boys could fend for themselves with dry cereal for dinner, Emily couldn't (although as much as her brothers love her, they'd get the gallon of milk out and take care of her. and who knows, she might've had her first taste of frosted flakes.). I just felt like we couldn't get it together tonight and wanted to cry. I kept singing the Darius Rucker song "It won't be like this for long" whenever I felt like I was done and that would help for a little bit. It was an afternoon where I wanted to call my mom and say "Can you please come help me? I need it tonight!" Only problem is in the 4 hours it would've taken her to get here I would've had them in bed... if we only lived in VA.

I have to say though as I rocked Emily to sleep with her snuggled up in my arms, nestling her little head by my neck all of the worries from the day just left. I teared up and held her tight and told her tomorrow would be better.

I broke my rule and let the boys watch 30 minutes of TV too this evening. I had to. They needed to relax a little bit and it just wasn't happening. I finally feel like there's some calm to our day.

My sink full of dishes will be waiting for me in the morning as will the basket of laundry on my couch. Tomorrow will be better. This phase is gonna fly by, If I can just hold on, It won't be like this for long.

From yesterday:

Jacob's 1st Field Trip

I was lucky enough to get to go on Jacob's field trip with his class to a local orchard today. After he didn't want me to have lunch with him on his birthday I was hesitant to ask him if he wanted me to chaperone the field trip! After I explained that sometimes the teachers need parents to go along and be helpers he was more than happy to have me volunteer and he seemed quite happy that I was there this morning!

 

The class waiting to see what was in the little house. A pretty yellow pheasant!

Turning the wheel that makes the conveyor belt move the little baskets that hold food for the goats up to them. The goats probably would've appreciated it more if we would've gotten food out of the machine and put food in the baskets!!

Listening to Johnny Appleseed!

Filling up the apple picking bucket!

On the hayride around the orchard.

All the kids got to pick an apple to take with them too!

 

He told me thank you for coming with him on his field trip when we were on our way back to the school. He loves his momma!!

 

While I was with Jacob, Zach was at school, and Daniel took the morning off to stay with Emily (and work on his paper!). Apparently she screamed and refused to take the bottle from him! Boy was she happy to see me! She's decided she doesn't need her 3rd nap anymore so bedtime comes super early. She barely makes it to 6:30pm (and the rest of us barely make it too with her grouchiness!). Even if she was grumpy, she sure was cute!

 

I took the cutest video of Daniel and Emily babbling back and forth. It'll take a little while to upload it but I'll post it when it does! :-)