Fall Fun

It's so much fun to get out with the kids and enjoy the unseasonably high temperatures for Fall! We went to the farm in Xenia we have been going to for the past 3 years with the kids to pick out pumpkins. It's so fun to tell Maddie that we've been taking her here since she was born, although we realized she was only 1 month old in October of 2008 so we didn't take her to the farm then. They have all kinds of animals and a very fun play area with a bounce house, corn maze and hay bales! We had so much fun we almost forgot to pick out pumpkins!

We also had a chance to play in the leaves on our annual walk down Scarecrow Row with Ya Ya in Oakwood. I'm sure the people who lived in the houses thought we were crazy to play in their piles of leaves on the street, but we don't have that many leaves  in our yard and the kids had a blast!

Mad Dog's 4th Birthday

I used to think people who celebrated their birthday week were silly but in our house, it's become pretty common. Since we are only having birthday parties for 1,5,10 and 16 year birthdays, we let the birthday kid pick their activity to do on the other years. Maddie chose to go to a Reds Game as soon as we gave her the open choice. We asked her where she wanted to eat and she said at the stadium so we ate at the Champions club which has a great view of the field. Maddie loved every minute of it.

Since her birthday was on a Sunday, we spend Thursday at the local "Bounce House Land" as the girls call it. Leap Frogs is in Miamisburg and has 2 rooms of inflatable bounce houses. I went with Sally and her son Will who had a birthday the week before so we had a double birthday celebration. There wasn't much for the babies to do but they were good sports for Maddie and Will.

Then, on Friday, Maddie spent the day with my grandparents who helped her bake cupcakes and a doll cake that my Grandma used to do when I was a kid.

Saturday we had a birthday bonfire with Maddie's cousins and a couple other friends. She passed out the cupcakes which had a balloon in the middle. The kids loved eating smores and running around the backyard.

It was a great weekend and Maddie had such a great time! She got some great presents and I think every single thing she ever asked for! Kalee was also a great sport with watching Maddie open her presents and never once asked "Where's mine?". I hope it will be the same when the roles reverse in January for Kalee's birthday.

Charlie's first haircut

We're so blessed that Matt's mom is a barber so she gives all the kids their first haircut. Although I don't keep their hair for the scrapbook, I make sure to take pictures with their own personal barber for some great memories.

Grandma Diane and Charlie

Charlie doesn't sit very still during a haircut but he's more curious than upset. He kept turning his head to try and see what the clippers were. I can't believe how much older a haircut makes him look! (And I'll be honest again, this was his third haircut but the first two were very small trims and I didn't have my camera so it doesn't count! :)

Oldie but Goodie

We met up with my college best friend Jill at a park in West Chester. It was another great day for the park and the kids love exploring new areas! Combined we had 6 kids under the age of 4 so it was a busy, fun time! It's been so fun watching our kids grow up together and they enjoy playing together too (although Maddie couldn't remember Connor's name and kept calling him Bronson--who is another friend we play with)


5 of our 6 kids under 4 years



Charlie and Catherine were born just a week before Ryan (who is walking like a pro). I tried to pay him to teach the twins how to walk but he wasn't having it.

This is pretty much how every park experience goes...the babies climb UP the slide while Maddie, Kalee and everyone else at the park tries to go DOWN the slides.

My first 5K Race!

My mom, me and my sister Kara who ran her first race too!

It was such a blessing to be able to run my first 5K for my Mom's organization, Ovarian Cancer Awareness. It was a beautiful September day and a great day for a race!

Since my Mom kicked cancer's butt in September of 2010 we've added lots of teal to our wardrobe!

I finished the race in 30 minutes and 20 seconds. My goal was 30 minutes so I was extremely happy with this time. I'll be honest though I think I took it a little too hard because I felt like I ran a marathon the very next day!

Buckeye Game Day

Our Saturdays (and Sundays too for that matter) are now filled with football. We were so blessed to have the opportunity to purchase season tickets for THE Ohio State Buckeyes so most Saturdays one or both of us are at the game. The other one gets to stay home with these Superfans!

We've been going to Buckeyes games since Matt went to school there which was around 10 years ago!

Not quite 10 years ago but in the 2008-2010 era

We've had the same seats since then and get a great view of the field, covered seats, and regular fans that sit near us.

Since Matt knows the streets of Columbus so well we can score a parking spot for $Free 99 and are avoid the traffic after the game is over.

Matt's notorious Fall moustache that helps navigate through the streets of C-bus

A little street meat (sausage sandwich from a street vendor, stop in at the Thirsty Scholar and reminiscing about college while we pass all the campus houses is our usual routine. It's the beginning of the URBAN ERA and shaping up to be a great season!

OH

IO!

I like to Lose it Lose it!

     I've been doing a lot of "blog browsing" recently and am going to try and branch out with some fun posts instead of "here are my kids and here's what we did". I hope you'll hop along for the ride...
     Recently I stumbled upon a blog Mama Laughlin and was motivated by this working mother of two to do some lifestyle changes. I started being more mindful of what I was eating, made exercise regular and even picked up running! (don't worry, I still hate almost every minute of it). 20 pounds lighter, although I could technically claim 58 pounds lighter if we count my weight with my two bambinos last August full term

but they were worth every pound of it!

Now I'm thinking of running a half marathon in May! (uh oh, now that I said it in the blogosphere, I'm held accountable!!!) My favorite assistant that I discovered on my own was the app Lose it! which keeps track of your daily calories according to your current weight and weight loss goals. I use it only on my phone and it definitely keeps me accountable!

Also, I've stumbled upon some great fitness blogs which I read daily in addition to my Absolut friends (Jill, Sarah and Liz).
The Hungry Runner Girl is a daily visit, she loves food (like me) and loves to run (well, 1 out of 2 ain't bad) so it's fun to read her posts that she updates sometimes 2 and 3 times a day. She just had a baby, so there's some fun, multi-tasking mom stuff in there too!
Peanut Butter Fingers I found through Pinterest and she's a great inspiration. She shows pictures of what she eats every day and has lots of different workout ideas.
J's Everyday fashion has some great outfit ideas by mixing TJ Maxx finds with Tar-jay bargains. It's a great site for me to reference when I feel like I'm reading too much Mom stuff :)
3 little men and a Mommy is a blogger with twin boys and another boy, I can't imagine all boys but she has some great insight on family, faith and love. She recently had an inspiring guest post here about the sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a Mom of little ones. It really hit home for me and is a great read for all Moms out there, regardless of the age of your children.

Thanks for sticking with me through my first "different" blog post and here's to hopefully more to come!

Red's Game June

Matt has decided that we will go to a Reds game each month so our June game just happened to be on a night when temperatures were only a high of 75 amongst the 100+degree days this was such a nice break! We did our usual routine of heading to Newport to eat at Hooters and then took the ferry across the river to the game. Sally and Michael came with us this time and it was so nice to have friends/family to enjoy the game with.

at the river waiting for the ferry to take us back to our car



We sat about 20 rows up from Home Plate! Maddie kept yelling for Joey and hoping he would turn around to say Hi.



C&C 10 months

So now that it's July 3rd, the babies are officially 11 months but here are their 10 month pictures that I haven't had time to post! They are both on the move by crawling and have 2 bottom teeth. I can't believe their birthday is 1 month from today. Time has gone by fast but I've definitely enjoyed my time with my last babies :)

Daddy's Day 2012

I know I'm a little late on posting but Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads out there and especially our Daddy, Matt, my Dad, Poppy and my father-in-law Grandpa Steve. Here's Daddy and one of his girls :)

Loving the Lake House

Just got back from a great weekend at Yaya and Poppy's house at Lake Cumberland. We all agreed it was so nice to have a house with 5 kids under the age of 4 instead of a houseboat this year. The kids loved the pool and they especially loved seeing their cousin Colton who is 3 months old and as sweet as can be!


Charlie lounging at the pool




Catherine hanging out



Lake time!

My crazy kids :)

C&C 9 months

My sweet Catherine has finally found her voice! She will squeal with delight when she sees the bigger girls or chant "da da da da" when she's sitting down. She has yet to show any desire to move and is perfectly fine with her brother taking her toys away from her. She loves the fringe on her fleece blanket and will automatically suck her thumb if she is holding it. She has such a sweet disposition and is such a blessing.

Charlie is already proving to be a wild man. He is obsessed with the remote and will army crawl or roll to get to it! He already wants to be like Daddy. He will chant "da da da da" whenever he is happy and is very eager to try and keep up with Maddie and Kalee. He is standing up on things very easily and I know he will be getting into things around the house in no time. He gets very fussy when he's hungry and has not yet learned the virtue of patience. Although, being 1 of 4 young children, I don't think he has a choice. Charlie is a sweet momma's boy who prefers to be held by me if I'm in the room. He's getting so big!

6 kids, 4 adults and 2 campers

Equals absolute INSANITY!! We braved Indian Lake campground with our good friends the Grants (Matt roomed with Ryan at Wilmington college). They have a sweet 1 1/2 year old Bronson and a precious 7 week old Ella. We were all wondering what we were thinking when we decided to camp for 2 whole nights with all these kids, but overall it was a good time. We kept saying "It could be worse". Poor Catherine was sitting in her high chair on the ground and tumbled forward onto the gravel leaving her pretty face all cut up. Good thing Marina is a nurse and had the first aid kit on hand! And luckily, that was our only mishap (unless you count Matt, Maddie, Kalee and I taking a group shower at the shower house!)

Ella, 7 weeks and Catherine, 9 months

Poppy surprised us with a visit!

YaYa and Catherine at the lake

Pretty much how C&C hung out the whole time

Cat girl playing on the blanket--the only activity for 9 month olds at the campground!



Kalee lounging by the water at our camping spot



Life is full of blessings

Here are me and my blessings on Mother's Day.

I have so much to be thankful for! Matt and I had a wonderful vacation, I had a great birthday and love being 30 and my kiddos are now playing very well together and have been so sweet the past couple of weeks. Here's a funny story from a new tradition we've put into play at our house. Each night before bed, we read the 10 commandments. Matt usually reads them (in kids words) and the girls respond with "no, don't kill" or "yes, listen to your mommy and daddy"...it's just so cute! Last night, Matt said "Do not commit adultery" (how do you put THAT in kids' terms??) and Maddie asked "Daddy, what's adultery?" He thought and responded "It means, don't take your clothes off in front of anyone" so she responded "Yea, only change your clothes with the door closed and don't show anyone your private area". Hopefully her privacy will stay that way :)