{Friday night}

Trunk or treat is always a good time. The best part of this particular year was that Rod was able to come home for the weekend, which we had not anticipated. He arrived home 10 minutes before we had to head over to the church. He did not even change out of his scrubs after work because he was so eager to get back to the kids after a week away. We couldn't keep our hands off each other, & the kids were squeezing their way between us to join every hug. Presley was Presley, grumpy, which lead to a whole lot of laughter. Im so glad my friends can laugh along with me as my daughter grows through the threes. Its better to laugh than cry at these things I think.  The boys went through the car line more than three times. Cooper loved being perched on his Dad's shoulders. We arrived home after dark & the kids sorted through their loaded bags. So glad Rod was able to join us this weekend. 

I love seeing all our babies surrounding their Dad.

photo bombed by Keith

Maddox & his buddy, B.

Tre & his buddies N & J from the neighborhood/scouts/church/school

oh boy...now the fits. 

my friends are cute. Don't you think?!

Presley & her little friend, sweet C. 
& Cooper with his birthday twin (born 40 mins apart) baby J. 

Britton & cutie pie M.

wheres Waldo?

{the reveal}

We broke out the costumes for the first time this spooking season. This year we have a Waldo, a miner, a doctor, a clown & a little charlie brown. The kids love the Annual halloween party at the neighbor's house. This year they played games, took pictures on this really high tech photo booth, & watched movies all while eating lots & lots of great food. Presley & our little neighbor miss C played together nicely. & Britt palled around with his class/neighborhood friends L & E. Tre stuck with the older kids & had a blast. Maddox found J's playroom & was in there having a great time in his cardboard fort. Poor Cooper is just not himself & was asking to go to bed most of the night so Rod took him home & put him down while I spent time with the girlfriends & let the kids play some more. The children crashed hard when we got home. Exhausted & happy.

  

ps: my clown who I thought for sure would love some face paint...was NOT having it. No way, no how! We will have to try again this weekend! more halloween events are headed this way! 

{Funnel cake}

Just like last year (seen here) we headed over to our Elementary School's fall festival. Its such a neat fundraiser & so fun for all the kids in the area. This year Rod was able to come along. He was a good sport & helped take shoes on & off a gazillion times & shake silly string cans. I always enjoy it. Its madness keeping tabs on all the children, but I love seeing neighbors & friends & watching the kids be adventuress with rides & rock walls. Rod worked so hard to get us here for residency so the kids could go to school in this state, city & this very district. Its sort-a amazing. My dear friend & neighbor, Kerri puts this whole festival together. I really do not know how she does it! But I am sure she needed a good long rest this weekend! Presley tried out the rides this year & she ate it up!  I loved seeing her keeping up with the big brothers this time around. We finished up the evening with funnel cakes. The kids loved it all. 

After the festival I told Rod we needed to hurry home & get these kids of ours to bed ASAP. I don't think he got the ASAP part because he wanted to go get something real fast. What he did not know is that I had planned a date night for us & our sitters fabulous sitters were coming in an hour. I wanted to make it a surprise, but alas I had to  tell him so he would get us home.  We had a low key night out together, nothing fancy or big. Just what we needed in preparation for the long weeks ahead. We sure will miss that guy. I'm pretty sure I am done crying, oh wait...whats this...no I'm not. 

{fire cracker}

The terrible twos have nothing on the 3s. When Tre was 3 he cried & cried, became Mr. sensitive.  When Britton was 3 he became destructive, breaking everything. When Maddox was 3...well not much changed because he was just an unhappy chap to begin with. he did however become fond of finding permanent markers and drawing on white furniture frequently. Presley is a combination of all these; destructive, emotional, & unhappy. Heaven help us, she is a firecracker. She has more spice in her than sugar & more sass then she knows what to do with.  She keeps things interesting. But you know, I can see little hints of that sweet little baby now and gain. I know we will get through the tantrums & screaming fits & the diva-tude, just as we did with the others. i can tell she will be such a smart smart smart girl. Just the other day we were getting ready for bedtime stories. I picked up a pinkalicous has a sleepover book (no surprise there) & Presley suddenly demands her princess dress and her pink sleeping bag. I started to say no, but then I remembered that lately Presley has been showing me lots of neat things if given the chance. and so I put her in her dress & gave her the sleeping bag. she put the sleeping bag under her arm and posed there. I waited, thinking okay, now its bedtime. but she started to laugh and flipped open the book that was in my hands to the first page and wouldn't you know it....there was pinkalicous in her princess dress with her sleeping bag under her arm. Now i realize...most moms wouldn't get all excited about this, but heres the thing... Presley cannot talk. She signs and finds ways to communicate with us. So this little glimpse into her sweet little mind just about brought me to tears. I squeezed her tight and told her she was so smart & looked just like the girl in the book. She looked so proud to share this little thought of hers with me. & for that brief moment...we were on the same page.

{Monkey bars: 1 , Britton: 0}

well-p. It finally happened a broken limb. not too shabby for having a bunch of boys. Poor Britt though...teeth knocked out at 2 years old (remember this?) & now at 6 a broken arm in 2 places. He is a big trooper though! Part of that comes from his fear of medicine & all things doctor related (ironic, I know) he will lie till he is blue in the face...or in this case white as a ghost to ensure he wont need a trip to the doctors.  After Britt fell off the monkey bars at school he was taken to the nurse's office & of course told her he felt just fine (Mrs. P knows Britt all too well with his daily episodes of nose bleeds & head bonks) but she saw it in his face & then checked his arm. Sure enough looked like a break. Poor Rod was on nights & was in bed snoozing in preparation for another night. He got up, through on some clothes & went to get Britt from school. They went out for lunch & then he brought him home...which confused me...but Rod is a wait & see kind of guy. We gave him some Tylenol & waited for it to kick in before Rod un wrapped the splint. It took only a moment before Rod told me to get Britt's shoes.  Rod called ahead to some of his orthopedic & radiology buddies. The boy got Popsicles & stickers & several rounds of X-rays. I was at home with the other children so Rod kept me up to date with photos & facetime. I wanted to be with our buddy, but  Rod was better suited for this sort-a thing. It is his work place after all. 10 hours later they were home exhausted & wanting ice cream. made for an exciting start to a 3 day weekend. we of course decorated the living room for our buddy & Maddox drew some fantastic depictions of the days happenings. The neighborhood kiddos were knocking to get first dibs on signing his blue cast. 

he felt very loved after a long day. 

{so many}

 Do you want to know why I have so many little Ss? Because they turn 9 month old they start to sleep, they grow little chicklette teeth they get a sense of humor & have the sweetest belly laughs that come deep from the gut, they follow you around on hands & knees, loose cheerios down their onesies, babble & look a lot like this...

 oh goodness I love that super Cooper & the way he thinks I am a big play toy/jungle gym. 

{moving forward}

Things are taking a turn here. We have 3 in school. 4 in activities during the week. lots of activities actually. Britton is making big leaps in his feelings towards school. He has been bringing home all 100% this year & is really trying hard to be a big kid (even though his mom babies him more than she babies the babies. guilty.) Maddox is fully understandable & you would never know that just 18 months ago he was only humming. He is so much fun now...& I really thought I would never be able to relax around that fire cracker of a baby. He was a handful!  Presley no longer uses her beloved Choo-Choo (paci for the rest of the world) & can say "Esey" (a nick name of sorts) & just 2 days ago she said "I lub boo mama"  I cried. Tre is tre. Perfection. for example: At scouts last week they did not have enough parts to build tool boxes for all the boys. Tre said "I don't need one" & gave it up to his buddy. He has such a givers heart. He gives all he has to those around him. To say I am honored to have him as mine is a humongous understatement. & That leaves us at baby Cooper. That one hits his head at least 402 times a day as he tries out new tricks. One of his new tricks is putting himself to sleep. (I hope I do not curse it. its only been 2 nights.) He has a pile of choo-choos (refer to above) & his sleepy blanket, white noise machine of death & a nightlight. Some milk & a snuggle in the rocking chair & then I lay him down in his crib sans bouncing for 90 minutes. Ill need a new calves & thighs workout for sure.  He protests for  2 minutes & then hits the hay. He is such a happy guy.  So yeah. I feel like we are moving at lightning speed with all these milestones. 

Of all these great things I have to say Britton liking school more is the most exciting for our family. We have lost sleep over what to do with that sweet buddy. We talked homeschool, private school with smaller classes, we talked everything. & just when I thought hope was lost, he picked up momentum. he is so bright. He is in the gifted & talented program at school along with T. He just was not applying himself when it came to desk work. frustrating! Rod would say "This would be easier to deal with if the kid was a block head, but he is so bright & robbing himself of success." But now his folder comes home packed full of completed assignments with perfect scores on every single sheet. I can see the pride he is developing in his achievments. Today he came home with a gold star around his neck. it read "Super Star" because he is being the kid his teachers knew he could be all along. My heart was so heavy for so long over Britt & school...its a huge relief to see change. Someday you will read this Britt in one of our gazillion blog gone books & I want you to know that I am overjoyed with your efforts lately! You know how I pull you near & ask you who my special boy is? & you beam & look at me with those sweet bright eyes & you smile that toothless smile & say "I am." You really are! there is something undeniably lovable  about you...& its not just those darling "polkadots" on your face or your kissy lips either.  You took a part of my heart & reserved it just for you when you were put in my arms the first time.  You are my special boy.