On Monday, October 3rd, this sweet little guy turned 11!  Remember these hospital pics!?  I think they’ve come a long way on newborn hospital photos since this was taken 😉

 

Look at this adorable big sister!  She’s always been such a little mommy.

AND apparently she’s always been accident prone!  She fell off this spinning chair in the hospital room and got a GIANT goose egg on her forehead!  Oh MoMo, what are we going to do with you!?

Jake, I’m so blessed to be your mom!  BEST DAY EVER!!

This is what I looked like before you arrived (yikes!)…my baby shower at work.  Did you know I worked at Hallmark for almost 15 years!?  Whoa…I’m dating myself!

Does this shirt even fit me?  I guess you can tell I was at the very end of my pregnancy and I was not going to buy anymore maternity clothes!

This was the bedroom we decorated for you!  Now it is Reece’s beach room…I guess we had a theme going with the sea creatures and ocean waves.

It’s fun taking a little trip down memory lane, but celebrating YOU this year has been an absolute BLAST!  We had an Olympics themed bday party for you because we were obsessed with the summer Olympics!  We stayed up so late night after night watching everything from swimming to gymnastics to sand volleyball.  Love these memories…

We’ll do a separate journal entry on your party – too much to cover 😉  These were supposed to be centerpieces but turned into cute sunglasses/photo props.  Good idea Jakers!!

On Monday morning, Aunt Jenn showed up bright and early with donuts…she’s pretty famous for this activity now!  You rock Aunt Jenn!

She even arrived early enough for Morgan to get a donut before her bus picks her up at 7:15am.  Aren’t they cute…matching shirts…not on purpose, a complete accident that they wore them on the same day!!  They both just happen to love soccer and Vineyard Vines clothing right now and these t-shirts have soccer balls on the back.

Then I brought Freddy’s to school for lunch…plain double cheeseburger, fries, pink lemonade and Freddy’s fry sauce (learning my lesson that I need to get two containers of fry sauce…you love that stuff!!… I wish the ingredient list wasn’t five miles long but it’s your bday…you can splurge).

You didn’t want me to stay for recess but that’s ok, I only had a little over an hour to get home, make your bday treats for school and get them back to Manchester Park, so it’s all good!!  You requested dirt-n-worms cups which is a little time consuming (vs. grabbing something out of the bakery section at Price Chopper).  However, I was willing to do almost anything since this is the last time I will bring you birthday treats to school.  so sad!!  I made it back to school with 24 treats and zero minutes to spare.

The day would not be complete without some sort of sports practice…so we sent you to soccer practice with triple decker oreo treats to share with your teammates.

Daddy had to be on a business trip so he left you a video message on your sports phone – so cute!  And Papa and Nanny stopped in to fix up your new fishing pole (you’ve developed a love for fishing!).

Gma and Gpa sang you happy bday over the phone – they are famous for this now 😉  And we ended the night with a pizza party at home and delicious brownies made by Morgan!  I can’t think of a better birthday!?  Other than having to go to school…but you rocked your math test…100%!!  Yeah baby!!  

I hope you enjoyed every minute of celebrating the awesome year you had Jakers!!  I can’t wait to see what you do the coming year!

There are two lounge chairs waiting on the beach in Turks and Caicos with our names on them…we deserve crazy cool sunglasses, a mudslide, and a BREAK!!  Love you more than anything…Happy Birthday!

(this is one of my favorite photos from Grand Cayman – May 2014)

 

 

Today is a very big day in the lives of all the Manchester Park Elementary 3rd graders!  They are turning in the famous “bug project.” Every student that has walked through the doors of MPE has done this…it’s like a rite of passage.  Every Fall, you see kiddos scouring the neighborhood with bug nets and desperately trying not to damage the bugs in the catching process.  We’ve had bugs in our freezer for years…literally!  However, when it came time to get Drew’s project together, we realized we did not have enough bugs with all the legs in tact!  Crap!  We even had to call in some help from Nanny and Shauna’s nephew, Griffin, who catches bugs in his sleep practically.  You would think finding a variety of 6 insects (3 body parts and 6 legs–so no cocoons and no spiders) would be pretty easy but not when you are in a million sports practices/games every single day.  We’ve used the same display case for the 3rd time and we will be saving it for Reece!  We scraped this one together and I, for one, couldn’t be happier!    When I opened up the display box yesterday to check on it and take a picture, the smell about caused me to fall to the floor.  I’m serious!  This is why they have specific instructions that they cannot be turned in early and they will be graded and sent back home by the end of the day!  Way to go Drew…hope you get an A+ buddy!!

 

Today is Brian and Jennifer’s birthday!  It doesn’t seem possible that another year has passed already.  This time last year, I surprised Brian with a trip to the Dominican Republic and was desperately trying to hide a surprise birthday party from Brian and Jennifer.  This is not an easy task!  Wow – I’m stressed out just thinking about all of that again!  This year is much more relaxed and I must admit, I’m happy about that!  Although, being in the Dominican Republic was glorious, so is a day out on the golf course with my sweet hubby.  Hoping for a fun-filled day and at least a couple of good golf shots so I don’t embarrass myself.  I had a better golf lesson this week so maybe there’s hope.  Morgan, I’m borrowing your driver and Jake I’m borrowing your hybrid…Ok?  I promise to return them! Brian is hoping for another ‘best round ever’ like he had last week when he shot a 75 at Lake Quivira.  Nice work!  We have about eighteen million soccer practices tonight so we will be having a celebratory dinner at home between baths and homework!

Happy birthday to two of my favorite people.  Here are a few flashback photos from the big 4-0 celebrations last year…

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic – September 2015

40th Surprise Birthday Party . Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant . Sept 22, 2015

Morgan’s surprise home office decorating for dad…Isn’t she sweet!?He LOVES Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups…

Hope your day is extra special again this year and cheers to a wonderful year ahead!

Love, C

 

This weekend was a very special and highly anticipated one…Aunt Jenn and Bob got married!  Congratulations!  They are honeymooning in Marco Island, FL at the moment and we are super happy for them!  We are also happy to not be stressing out about the wedding anymore 😉  I’m sure they agree with me whole-heartedly on that one!  I really only have a couple pics from my phone to share for now but will hopefully have many more from the photographer later.  The original photographer broke her foot, so luckily Jenn found another one on short notice to step in.  With that, my kids trying to severely injure themselves, burning a hole in Reece’s dress belt the night before, Brian losing his voice (he was the officiant for the wedding), trying to find a dress to wear, and just overall last minute wedding details, you can understand why we are happy the stress is gone!

We set up the candy table and did all the ribbons and tags at our house.  Can you imagine how hard it is to have all this candy sitting at your house and not eat it!?  Especially for someone that adores candy!  I only caught one cute little guy sneaking tootsie rolls 😉

And the programs turned out great too.  A little last minute…but hey, Aunt Jenn likes to keep us on our toes!

I’m pretty sure Jake’s mohawk is not what Aunt Jenn had in mind for a hair-do on her wedding day…

The girls got pampered at Hair West most of the day.  Aren’t they cute?

And our sweet Morgan did such a great job reading her scripture in the ceremony…she was nervous about pronouncing the word Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 (can you blame her!?).  It was a great reading but we laughed and teased her because the word “time” is used 30 times in the reading.  You rocked it momo!  Here’s a video clip…

And I will leave you with this very scary photo taken the night of the rehearsal…no she is not driving yet but it’s coming sooner than we want!! look out world…

Congratulations Jennifer and Bob McEachron!  It’s really going to take me awhile to get used to not calling you Jennifer Conley….

 

 

 

The kids love this week!  Each year, the school invites grandparents and special guests to come into the school and enjoy lunch with their kids.  If you are lucky enough to find a parking space and get there early enough, you can go see their classrooms too!  My kids absolutely love and look forward to these lunches.  Grandma always gets their orders in advance and gets exactly what they want to eat.  Take a wild guess what Drew’s order is…McDonald’s of course!  Plain double cheeseburger, fries, & lemonade or sprite.  This cutie looooves McDonald’s and we really never go there so it’s a special treat for Drewy!

He is awkwardly turned to the side in this photo because he is embarrassed to have a giant scrape on the side of his face from a razor scooter incident.  yikes!  Shauna usually tries to take the week of Labor Day off work so she was able to come in too!  Yay!  The guests all pile into the gym for a picnic lunch and are also welcome to stay for a little bit of recess too.  What an awesome day for Drew Boo.

On Friday, it was Reece and Jake’s turn for lunch and they were equally as excited.  This day is an extra special one for many reasons…it’s Reece’s 1st grandparent lunch at Manchester Park and it is also Jake’s last!  In addition, Great Grammy D is in town and got to join the lunch.  What an honor!  Lunch of choice for these two cuties is Subway.  Thank you so much grandparents and special guests for making this a very memorable week for my kids.  You guys are so AWESOME!

 

 

Look at this cool dude…he’s trying out the clarinet!  In 5th grade, the students have the opportunity to join orchestra or band.  After a few “try out” days, they can choose the instrument they want to play with some recommendations from the directors.  They recommended the clarinet or violin for Jakers.  He was very set on wanting to try the clarinet.  I have to admit, after a few discussions about it, I was sort of discouraging it (subtly).  Yikes…did I just put that in writing!?  I love music and I actually played the clarinet when I was young, and I was good at it I might add 😉  BUT, this family is crazy busy and especially Jake because he wants to play every sport ever invented.  Or as my mom would say, doesn’t he have a “tiddlywinks” competition coming up?  She likes to joke around about our crazy schedule!  I honestly did not think we could handle one more thing.  But I really don’t want to stifle any creative growth here so I agreed and immediately drove him to Meyer Music to get a clarinet.  We only have 1 free hour for the next several days, so I took advantage of the time and made this little guy super happy.  He has a brand new clarinet (that we are renting).  My stomach hurts already because I know that thing is going to get left on the bus or misplaced somehow (for sure it will be found in the crack of the bunkbeds at some point).  We’re talking about Jake here people…

As soon as he got home from the music store he was putting it together and on the way to soccer tonight he was bragging about it to his soccer carpool buddies.  It’s so adorable…I can’t help but smile!  He’s so happy that he can even make a sound with it!!  And I’ve been having a great time reminiscing my band days in grade school.  I told Jake that all my friends had brand new clarinets like his and my dad made me get a used one and none of the parts were even the same brand!  I’ll never forget my mom taking me to this house where a man was selling used and refurbished instruments out of his house.  Remember that mom & dad?  I was so jealous of Lisa’s shiny new clarinet.  Well Dad, I guess it doesn’t really matter how new and pretty your instrument is because I was in the honor band with my friend Chesley for 2 years and also in the 1st chair quite a bit!  I wonder if I could still play it?  I may have to give it a try!  Here is Jake with his little practice area set-up in his room…

I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to hold the clarinet with your knees…but hey…you’re just a beginner.  You’re going to learn so much in the coming months.  You’ll be playing home concerts in no time!  I used to do that for my parents in our family room…I wonder now if they had earplugs in!?

Jake, even though I discouraged adding one more activity to your load, I’m proud of you for trying and being persistent with me.  Somehow we will make this all work!  I promise!  It’s completely awesome to have a love of music and also be an athlete.  I tell you all the time that you have a beautiful voice too, don’t I!?  You’ll probably have a lot of girlfriends one day….like in 10+ years. wink wink 😉

Love you to pieces buddy.

check out his first tunes on the clarinet on this youtube video…

 

 

Goodbye lime green cast!  Although you are adorable, we hope we don’t have to see you again…ever!!  In a long-shot effort, I called the pediatric orthopedic office to see if possibly we could come in a couple days early to have Morgan’s cast removed and wrist x-rays taken.  I just know how excited Morgan is to be in Aunt Jenn’s wedding on Saturday wearing a beautiful dress that she LOVES.  Having a hard cast on, albeit the appropriate color for the wedding, was just not the flattering look she was going for!  The worst they could say is NO right!?  Well they said YES!  Woo hoo!  I picked up Morgan mid-morning from school and within 30 minutes, that bright accessory was sawed right off of that cute arm of hers.  She doesn’t even flinch at that loud machine and small circular saw anymore…I mean she is the expert now…4th time she’s done this routine!

Look at this happy girl!  sidenote:  she had lime green rubberbands put on her braces yesterday to match the wedding too.  so cute!

After the x-rays, the nurse told us she would definitely like to see more healing but she did not think she needed another cast.  So we have 3 weeks with a splint that can be removed for the wedding and pictures…then right back on.  This is all I could ask for and I’m so glad I decided to call.  Morgan, I know how much you are looking forward to the special day ahead and you are going to look drop-dead gorgeous.  I’m so proud of your positive attitude and being such a trooper during your recovery.  Now…BE CAREFUL for heaven’s sake!!

XOXO,

Mom

Reece received this beauty last night at the end of soccer practice.  It’s the Pink Thunder Hustle Award!  At the end of each practice the coach awards it to the most deserving player for their hustle and listening skills at practice.  So Reece gets to keep this trophy for the week then she will return it for another player to get.  It’s so cute…it is an old trophy that the coach has morphed into a “Pink Thunder” trophy with a little paper, cardboard, and tape!  Hey…whatever motivates 1st grade girls to play hard…you must do it!

She was so excited to get it!  Adorable!  She really does hustle hard so it is very well deserved.  Can’t wait for your 1st game this season Reecie…you are going to run circles around those opponents…keep up the hustle!  Go PINK THUNDER!

One of the things that we have to do around here is change out our closets seasonally.  Our closets are quite small in our home so we cannot keep all of our clothes in the closet all year long.  This is particularly critical in the boys’ room since they have to share space.  On my second ‘day off’ as I call it since all 4 are in school all day, I immediately started in on the boys room.  I can’t sit and relax for long without feeling super guilty that I’m not accomplishing anything.  I actually dread this closet clean-out process more than anything!  It’s horrible!  But it’s totally necessary and it feels great when it’s done.

I removed every solitary item out of their drawers, baskets, closet rods….everything…sorted through all of it.  It took me all day and most of the evening.  And this actually is when I had already made a lot of progress.  I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture earlier on in the process!!

All of this stuff was found in the crack of their bunkbeds…really guys?…really?  Who needs this many baseballs to go to sleep?

These stinkers have A LOT of clothing!  Super lucky!  If I had this much to choose from, I would look cute everyday! But I don’t.  You find me in my workout clothes 99% of the time.

I had these drawers in tip top shape and I labeled them with sticky notes so they would know exactly what to put where.  It’s imperative they stick with this organization or it won’t all fit!!  And then within a day or two I’ll go in there and want to cry because they’ve messed it up and I can’t stand the clutter.  UUUGGGHH!!  Boys, please keep with the system for my sanity and so you learn how to live like a decent person.  I’m trying to teach you something here.  Please….I’m begging you!!

After all of this closet clean-out and reorganizing occurs, then it’s time for me to consign all of it.  For some reason, years ago, my neighbor talked me into selling my old baby/kids stuff in consignment sales.  Oh I wish she would’ve never told me about it!  It’s the WORST job.  I hate it worse than the actual cleaning out!  I do it once in the Fall and once in the Spring and I cuss it out every single time!  It monopolizes all of my time with my family and I’m stuck in my dining room sorting, sizing, entering info into a tagging system, pinning, and tagging clothes while my family is probably out to dinner having lemonades and hot pretzels with cheese.

This is my van loaded for drop off earlier this week….300+ items.

My sis-n-law helps me every sale unload all of this stuff, hang it up by size and get everything on the sales floor.  She’s a lifesaver!  I couldn’t do that part without her…she saves me hours of time.  Thank you Aunt Jenn, you are so awesome!  By the way, I think they are starting to know her on a first name basis at the sale…I’m not so sure she is proud of that!?  I’m pretty sure she knows when the next sale is and she will be planning an out of town trip or coming down with a bad case of the flu on that date.  I don’t blame you Jenn, I might be doing the same thing!

So happy that all of this stuff is out of my house!  I’m not sure how it keeps multiplying but as long as it’s organized I’m a happy girl.

 

(SWAPS=Special Watchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere)

Did you know that’s what SWAPS are?  I sure didn’t.  I had to google it.  I’m learning this as Reece has joined a Daisy’s troop (Girl Scouts).  She was in this troop her Kindergarten school year and has decided to stick with it.  At our first meeting for 1st grade Daisy’s, the girls were asked to make SWAPS and trade them with their Daisy friends.  Here they are…

The goal is for the girls to make them or at least help quite a bit.  Weeeeell I’m just going to go ahead and admit that Reece really didn’t do anything but add the safety pins at the end!  Sorry but our to do list is really long around here and sometimes you just have to get things done quick and get it marked off.  So of course I called in my craft expert…Morgan! She pretty much made all these cute little bake-able clay lollipops for Reece.  Aren’t they so CUTE!!

Awesome job MoMo!!  You are the best sister ever!  I helped with the softening and rolling out of the clay.  But overall Morgan gets all the credit and she even did this with a broken wrist.  You rock!  The daisy troop consists of 11 little girls in her grade at school.  They meet one Tuesday a month right after school and do stuff.  Ha!  I say that they do “stuff” because I actually never made it to one single meeting last school year.  Hey, at least I’m admitting it!  I did help our leader pick up all the girl scout cookies and load them into her garage, so at least I did something!  Here’s a little video clip of these precious little daisy’s…

Reecie Cups, you are the best Daisy girl ever and I promise I will make it to a meeting this year!  pinky promise.  love you sweet pea.

Going along with the Daisy’s theme of being kind and a good friend, look at this sweet note that Reece wrote to Olivia (our little Kindergarten neighbor)…

Translation: Happy Second Day of School

Reece, I hope you continue to be kind (or at least try your very hardest!) 😉

Love, Mommy