Take Two

 Perhaps, if we had waited a week for perfect fall weather, 

 if we had known the beautiful fall colors would still be so intense, 

if we thought our adorable nine-months pregnant photographer could have traversed the muddy forest, 

 if we had known this park exsisted, 

 perhaps then we would have chosen Murdock Park for our fall family photo shoot.

 Still, we had an absolutely delightful Sunday afternoon scaling tree root covered hills, collecting leaves, searching for woodland creatures

and gathering "coconuts"  (according to Adam, who concluded that must be what those small, brown, round things he found all over the forest floor were called.)

Emma was very, very proud of the coconuts her big brother gave her.

There is something so magical about wandering through an unknown forest, discovering nature and appreciating all of our Heavenly Father's creations.

Especially in the fall, when it seems like the earth is bursting with color just because the Lord wants to see us smile.. 

We're glad that we live in this beautiful world that Heavenly Father created for us.

 And yes, I did take the top picture with our camera's self-timer.  But not without a few trial shots first... 

Without Fail...

One of my children wakes up at 5:38 AM.  Every day.  Without fail.

When my alarm goes off I roll over once more and consider how behind our schedule would be if I slept in just this once.  Every morning.  Without fail.

My heart sinks a tiny bit when that big yellow school bus pulls up and my sweet little tiny marches on.  Every morning.  Without fail.

Emma Grace creates her nastiest diaper of the week immediately after the garbage truck picks up our trash on Friday morning.  Every week.  Without fail.

Along the bathroom vein, Emma thinks that she needs to fill her pants at the library-with-the-world's-crankiest-librarians.  Every week.  Without fail.  Even when she just went right before we left for the library and I left the diaper bag in the car because I thought for certain I wouldn't need it.  Every week.

Jason takes the kids to gymnastics on Thursday nights, and he says that Adam has to poop 10 minutes before his class starts.  Every week.  Without fail.  Must be nerves.

When Emma goes down for her morning nap, I give Adam a choice of things to do while it's just the two of us- play Hi-Ho Cheerio, read books, play with trains, do a craft.... He picks "play on de compooder".  Every time.  Without fail.

When I have somewhere to be at a scheduled time, Emma takes an extra long nap, causing me to either wake her up or scramble to find a sweet friend to come sit with her while I run out the door.  Every time.  Without fail.... as in 3 of her last 4 naps have left me scrambling, and for the fourth one, I just woke her up.

When I look out our toy room window, I am amazed at how beautiful the tree across the street is, and I stop for a moment to enjoy it, for our last fall.  And I feel a little sad (but mostly excited) to realize that this chapter of our lives is about to close.  Every time.  Without fail.

When we share our goodies and baddies/roses and thorns/princesses and dragons/Buzzes and Zurgs (aka- the best and worst part of our days), Leah says, "My baddy was that I missed Mommy while I was at school, and my goody was that I didn't lose a sand dollar."  Every day.  Without fail.

The children's museum is always so, so fun.  Especially when we go with friends.  Every time!  Without fail.

When I have a late night craving for Yorks, Jason jumps at the chance to run to the store to pick some up for me.  And he comes back with ice cream for himself, too.  Every time (which has been all of twice now).  Without fail.

I check on the kids every night before I go to bed.  Every night Adam is clinging to the very edge of his bed, Leah is sleeping with a crooked neck, and I am shocked at just how big they look in their beds.  Every single night.  Without fail.

Family Pictures

Given that our last family pictures were taken when Adam was less than a year old, it has been high time for new pictures for a while now.  If we ever have a family photo shoot that doesn't have some major hiccups with weather, outfits, and cooperation issues, I'll be sure to blog about it.  Until then, I just tell myself that no matter what, in 20 years I'll be so glad to have some pictures- any pictures- of our family when we looked like back when... Thankfully, we had an awesome photographer who worked with us to get these fun fall pictures.

  

 By the time we were coaxing out smiles with fruit snacks, things were getting a little silly.  

After a few (hundred!) family pictures, we packed the kids up in the car while Jason and I got a few quick shots of just us.  

 

And the traditional walking away photo- 

Until next time!

Labels

Leah, still full of -isms...

After hearing me comment on Emma's cuteness of the day- "I know, I know.  I'm the fancy one, Emma is the cute one."

*****

While contemplating whether or not to stay in bed for the night to earn a prize in the morning (a tactic that was meant for and has been working fabulously for Adam, Leah just joined in on it because who doesn't want bribes of Halloween fruit snacks at 7:30 AM?!) "Well, the prizes aren't that great, so I've been swapping- one night I stay in bed, one night I don't, one night I do, one night I don't."

So glad I'm teaching my girl how to beat the system.

*****

Leah earned some money by "baby-sitting" Adam and Emma today.  I offered her 3 dollars because she took care of 3 kids.  "Dollars don't fit in my cupcake bank" was her reply.  She wanted 3 quarters instead.  Fine by me!

*****

We had one of those long and meaningful conversations that pop up over dinner the other night.  She asked about a friend on our street who lives with her grandparents instead of her parents.  I explained to her that people sometimes get divorced, how making a family work is all about being unselfish and taking care of each other, that marriage is like a flower that has to be tenderly cared for by the husband and the wife for it to grow and be beautiful and healthy... she soaked it all in, with the little wheels turning and turning in her head as I explained how Mom and Dad have to take time to be Melanie and Jason, too, and that is why we do things like date night and an overnight trip to Chicago (in 23 days, not that I'm counting) even though it's not always fun for her, it's important to us.  After a solid 10 minute conversation on the topic asking thoughtful questions and listening intently to answers,  she seemed to be satisfied.  I asked her if she had any other questions.  

"Yeah," she said.  "Where do babies come from?!  I mean, how do they get into your tummy and when they are grown, how do they get out of there?!"

Uhhh...

I started answering, but by the time I got to, "Remember, we talked about how Daddy gives Mommy a special seed that grows..." she had moved on to making high-pitched whistling sounds with her new Halloween jack-o-lantern straw (because the stay-in-bed prizes actually are that great), which I took that as a sign that the conversation was over and stopped talking about it.  For now.

Growing Up

Just to Say We Did It...

Our local mall has bungee-jumping trampolines that the kids beg to jump on every time we go to the mall.  They even put "mall bouncer" on our Fall Family Fun list.  (Sidenote: the mall is a solid 20 minutes away, so trips there average once every 2 or 3 months, and only when I have at least 2 coupons and 3 reasons to make the trip.  But still.  Every single time over the last 3 years = at least 15 times I've said, "Not today...")

But last weekend, while Jason was slaving away in the lab, I decided it was time.  (Another side note: I am SO looking forward to the end of graduate school.  So much so that I voluntarily took the kids to the MALL on a SATURDAY while it was POURING DOWN RAIN just so I could tell Jason that we had plans that didn't include him and he could go back to school without feeling guilty about it.)

So we got there and they bounced.  And bounced... and bounced.

And they loved it.  And now I can check it off the list.  And Jason worked.  Fun for everyone.  The end.

The Disney Dream Details

I mentioned in this post that Leah thought our recent hotel stay was nearly as fancy as the Disney Dream.  Perhaps in the 3 months that have passed she has forgotten the incredibly beautiful cruise ship, so this Dream post is all about the details...

Not surprisingly, the Disney Dream was gorgeous.  

The bright colors, the beautiful art, the little surprises around every corner that keep you smiling- just being on the boat was a delight.  

One afternoon when we dropped the kids off at the Oceaneers Club, Jason and I (with little Emma in tow) wandered the corridors of the boat, stopping in to the art gallery, perusing our photobook in the photo lounge, peeking in on the many clubs and enjoying the live music.  We didn't need to be doing anything- just taking it all in was enough.

 

Nevermind the characters, the food, the sun and the water- the details on the boat were incredible!  Everything was so elegant- so fancy without being the least bit overdone or cheesy.  It was beautiful.

I still want to blog about our room, the dining, the characters, what we did for fun on the boat, and the very best part of the whole trip.  But that's all for this post.