super baby

 cuter than a basket of puppies...

 more cuddly than a teddy bear,...

able to sleep all night without interruption...  

 she's a wonder...

she'll be a woman...

She's baby Grace!!

Her super powers include:  putting people under her spell, wrapping you around her little finger, filling a clean diaper with a single grunt and amazing everyone with her adorableness.

 I think she enjoyed her little impromptu photo shoot.  As soon as I put this outfit on her I just had to take some pictures.  The boys were loving her being super baby.  Of course, we already knew that she was a super baby!

apples

I have been wanting to do this for years and we finally made it happen.  We went apple picking.

The boys were so excited; excited to find good apples, excited to find bad apples and excited to look for worms in apples.

We picked Jonagold.  They are delicious and so are these three kiddos!

After we picked what we needed we got apple cider donuts.

This orchard is in such a lovely area.  We really enjoyed the scenery and the company.  Happy first day of Fall!

hurrication

 Last week school was cancelled for four days because of the threat of a hurricane.  That left a lot of free time to fill.  We went to the museum, farm, playground, playgroup, river and anything else I could think of.

 Harrison is my bug boy.

 They thought it was fun to go to the school playground with no one else there.

 We had letter balloons that spelled out "CONGRATS" from my baby shower.  We played with them spelling different words.  Leo thought Grace needed them on her jumper.  Thank goodness she's an easy-going baby!

There's an inchworm on that flower.

 The butterfly was not harmed (probably just in shock) and did eventually fly away.

 We hadn't taken a walk by the river in a while.  The boys love the lions.

 I don't have many pictures of all three kids together.  If I had planned this ahead of time, outfits would have matched, hair would have been fixed, etc.  Most of the time sweet moments aren't planned.  This is one of them.

 They had to climb the tree before we left.

We were all glad when school started back after this unexpected vacation.

September 11th

September 11th is always a day of reflection for me, especially this year as we face the possibility of a hurricane.  It reminds me of how quickly life can drastically change.  It also reminds me of how blessed we are to be together, have this life and the ability to pursue our happiness.  

 It also seemed appropriate today to stop by the fire station.  While we were outside by the trucks, my friend who is a police officer pulled up.  What a good day to be with our favorite first responders.  

By the way, Harrison is not sad.  I'm not sure why he looks that way.  

What is sad is the fact that I had people ask me why we were dressed so patriotically today.

first day of school

It was an exciting morning!  The boys were so ready to go back to school.

 

 The kids got to walk the red carpet to go into school.

 Harrison was in his class and ready for us to go.  Zero hesitation.

 Harrison's class schedule:

 Leo was great until we got to his classroom, then he became clingy and unsure.  A few minutes later Lizzie walked in and all was right with the world and he told me I could leave.

Leo's schedule:

 The boys were all smiles when I picked them up at the end of the day.  I asked them what their favorite part of the day was.  Harrison said math, "first grade is real math, not busy math like kindergarten".  Leo said finding a penny on the playground was his favorite and making his "I rocked the first day of kindergarten" crown.  You'll notice that Leo is wearing different clothes.  He decided to put on his back-up clothes because he got sweaty at recess.  Harrison found two Cicada shells walking out of school so you know it was a great day!  I have a feeling it's going to be a great year!