saturday.fun

We went to a really fun mom and pop farm festival on Saturday afternoon. Josh and I were supposed to help Jill and Andrew move on Saturday (without Claire and Meredith). However, due to some unexpected circumstances, we ended up taking them along. I was going to stay home, but we were celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday on Saturday night. I thought I should be there :)

Anyway, so I searched online and found this particular spot. It was so cute. They had a ton of kid-friendly activities. There were little playground areas, a tic-tac-toe toss, miniature golf, a corn maze, hay rides, pick-your-own pumpkins, and more! We spent about 3 hours there, and the kids had a blast. Meredith was exhausted after our outing (search for her sleeping with her pumpkin in the collage!).

My mom kept Amelia while she helped Jill at her new house. Amelia is pretty content to lay on the floor, sit in her exersaucer, or sleep. Mom said she was perfect all day...not surprising because Amelia didn't have two big sisters poking and prodding her all day likes playing by herself!

Josh helped carry lots of big and heavy stuff, and I enjoyed a nice day with two of my three favorite girls! It was very relaxing to only have to keep track of Claire and Meredith...not that Amelia wonders off yet. It was just nice to not have to stop to feed Amelia, and we moved around much more efficiently!
So, in light of our fun fall festivities...what fun things do you do in the fall?

new.fav

This is just a peek of what we did over the weekend, and it's one of my new favorite pictures!

seriously.september 23

Claire came running in the house today, and said (with big eyes and slightly out of breath), "I just heard a noise outside. I think it may have been a tiger."

I think I would rather have the giraffes.

Seriously.

like.father.like.daughter

Look what I caught two of my favorite people doing the other day.

That's right...staring at the television...chewing on their fingers.

Josh does this all the time when he's concentrating on something intense (like a football game or the Bourne movies). It drives me CRAZY (though I still love him)!!

I hope that I don't have to remind Amelia every Sunday to stop chewing on herself while watching the big game. At least she has a good excuse for the moment.

vacation.with.the.fam

I know everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting for the post about the family vacation. So, without further ado...

We had such a fun time on our family vacation. A few years ago, Josh's family decided that we would quit giving all of the kids (and siblings) birthday gifts. Instead, we would use the money that we would have spent and go on a full family vacation every three years. This was our first outing. The weather wasn't the best, but we still had a blast.

We rented a huge house with 6 bedrooms (enough beds for 21) and 5 bathrooms. It had 4 levels, and the kids (all 11 of them...9 and under) spread out. Everyone enjoyed the space...especially since it rained every day that we were there.

Some highlights of the weekend:

1. Running down the "mountain".

2. Watching every kid biff at least once while running down the "mountain".

3. Listening to Meredith cry (while completely covered in sand), "Yucky! Yucky! Yucky!"...I know,I know...I'm a terrible mom.

4. Watching my mother-in-law take a thousand pictures.

5. Shopping for Josh because he forgot to load his suitcase into the van (oops).

6. Getting 2 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, and 4 pairs of boxers for $21. (Clearance racks...my favorite!)

7. Ice cream.

8. Shopping with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.

9. Pedicures by Aunt Gina...

10. Realizing (again!) that I married into a pretty great family! I'm so thankful for all of you!

And I just couldn't pass up two adorable pictures of our "little-melia" from vacation...

we're.home

...from vacation. Sometimes you're so tired that you just want to curl up in the corner of your room and hide behind your pillow! That's about how we feel right now.

We've been on vacation with Josh's entire family. Great house. Rainy weather (boo!). Fun memories. More on all of this later.

Claire is feeling much better, but she's still a challenge when it comes to her meds. Josh has worked his negotiation magic (he gets lots of practice at work!), and he is in charge of giving it to her. The first day of negotiations took about 20 minutes. It has progressively gotten better. I think they are down to about 5 minutes from start to finish. Thanks for the suggestions! She is one stubborn little child.

question.of.the.day

Claire is sitting up at the counter counting her money. She has in front of her 2 $1 bills and 5 quarters (plus a whole bunch of nickels, dimes, and pennies off to the side). She asks...

Is this a hundred dollars? No.

What if I add these two dimes?

Thank you, Lord, for comic relief. :)