Wise Words

Where does the time go? Seriously! I can't believe how fast these days are flying. I find myself leaving my blog for last, and that's sad because I'm already forgetting the changes my kiddos are going through, the things they say, humph. I have a ridiculous amount of pictures to get through...pumpkin painting, pumpkin carving (finally!), a fun day at a farm we found in Frederick, and now our crazy halloween weekend about to begin. I will need an entire day to do those...which will never happen. But I'll get bits and pieces up SOON!

A quick catch up on the kids....

Sadie=firecracker

Oh, my sweet Sadie. She is 2 going on 15. LOVES to dance and sing. And loves to drive her brother crazy even more. I watch them...I figured they did it on purpose. But, Skyler confirmed it yesterday when he said, "But Mom, we love to make each other mad. It's fun!!" yep, exact words. Sadie is super social and loves having friends...I do need to get her more her own age, but she acts older than a 2 year old sometimes...and the 4 year olds tend to regress a bit, so I guess it evens out! She has a smile and laugh that will make anyone else smile the minute they see her.

Skyler=wise one

I find myself kind of surprised by the wise words coming out of my son's mouth these days. He teaches me about being a better person...seriously....he does. I am the kind of person who automatically gets annoyed if someone lets me down. I don't feel like I have time for that. My son? Has a boy in school that is just a stinker to Skyler. Mean. I told Skyler to ignore him and throw in a nasty 'whatever'. Well, yesterday when Skyler was taking a bath, we were talking again. He told me that he doesn't like to be mean, that he's friendly and likes people. Eventually the mean people will stop being mean to him because he's nice to them. Really??? Thank you Skyler for making me think about my actions. He is also the first one to tell his sister that she looks so pretty when she's dressed up. Sadie appreciates it because she usually returns it with a hug. Love those moments. Such a genuine and wonderful kid. But he's not all sugar...He is in a stage where he freaks when he doesn't get what he wants, when he wants it. Blatantly ignores me and everything I say. I can have a whole conversation with the boy while he looks at me and then asks me the same question that I just answered. FRUSTRATING~ and just like his dad ;) He's lucky he's such a cute kid!

Pictures to come soon!!!!!

Thank you....

This happens to be a cheezy post, BUT, I just have to say THANK YOU to my parents and husband. Seriously, I feel extremely lucky to have such caring and special people surrounding me. My parents dropped everything to be there for my family in a moment's notice. Knowing my children were in such loving and capable hands made everything that much easier. My Dad made a long trip for such a short time and kept my children entertained, helped with baths, read bed time stories to Sadie when she insisted that she wanted only him. My mom.....did everything this past week....cooking, laundry, caring for my kids, loving them when they needed it the most, mornings, taking Skyler to school and picking him up, and giving me the support when I also needed it the most. And my husband??? Was there for me at every moment that I needed him, encouraged me when I had trouble getting through the day, taking care of the kids, and relaxing me when I woke him up multiple times at night panicking. I can't even tell you how thankful I am for everyone...

Pumpkin and Apple Picking:)

I have been looking forward to pumpkin picking forever. It's one of the traditions I have actually held for a few years~ we pick the pumpkins, paint them, and then carve the big one. It's fun! I missed out on the actual picking of the pumpkins this year, but I WILL be there to take pictures of the painting and carving. Just a little more spread out than the past. No biggie:) It was a gorgeous Saturday, Nana and Papa were in town, I insisted they have a fun activity and pumpkin picking was perfect. Looking at the pics, I see they had a fabulous time. The pumpkins that came home were perfect and the apples are delicious! I asked my dad to take the pictures for me....the kids had smiles on their faces...what more can you ask for.

Apparently, Skyler saw this pumpkin as soon as he went into the patch. Everyone told him to wait, that they'd grab it on their way out. Apparently, other people loved it too because it was gone when they came back! I think the one we ended up with is perfect:)

On the hunt for the perfect pumpkin!

She thinks she's a lot stronger than she actually is:)

The pumpkin carrier and the best husband!

I LOVE this picture my dad took.

Sadie's first apple picking experience. She loved picking strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries this past summer. It's only natural she would love picking apples!

Skyler and Nana picking apples.

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael turned 40 last week. Can you believe it? I met him when he was 29. And THAT seemed old to me...it's crazy how fast time flies. I'm happy I'm over 4 years younger:) Anyway, we have been anticipating Michael's birthday for months. We were originally going to have a surprise party for him...but that, ahem, backfired. So, we decided to plan a little surprise party with just us. It turned out that I had a cat scan scheduled last minute on his actual birthday, so we decided to surprise him with a party the day before. The kids made an awesome birthday card/poster for him, Skyler blew up a dozen balloons with the handy balloon blower upper thing, and I hung them up with crepe paper. On the way home from school, we had picked out an ice cream cake from Carvel(his favorite). Both kids studied all of the cakes for a long time and both agreed on the same one. Chocolate with chocolate and more chocolate. Perfect! We had everything set up just in time for Michael to come home. It worked:) He was surprised. Happy birthday to the best Daddy and husband in the world!!!!!

Skyler blowing up the balloons:)

Balloon fight!

The giant birthday card they made their daddy and one of his gifts just above it for his desk at work.

SURPRISE!!!!!!

This is what our party room looked like.

Chocolate chocolate chocolate cake:)

One more thing....

I was just scrolling down and looking at some previous blogs. I landed on the one of Skyler running in his school uniform a little over a month ago. The shirt looks huge on him. And I kind of remember him wearing them and thinking that I bought the perfect size. Lately? The shirts are just fitting him if he doesn't lift his arms...I know they can probably shrink a little, but I wash them on cold and dry them on low, and they are pretty good quality. And they fit him for the first few weeks of school just fine after I washed them. He had a major growth spurt! When does this happen? And of course, these shirts are kind of expensive so he'll be wearing some short ones for a while....yep, I guess I'm now one of those moms that makes them wear clothes until I HAVE to buy new ones....another situation where I said I would never do that....these scenarios keep happening to me:)

Skyler and I were talking while he was taking a bath last night. He keeps telling me about school in bits and pieces and at random times. He told me that the kids were talking about boys that are surrounded by a lot of other boys. He then informed me that he likes to be the boy surrounded by girls, and he likes them blonde. I am so curious to see if he dates more blondes than brunettes when he gets older!

The Intrepid:)

Here are the unedited pics from the Intrepid. I'm a little too tired to work on them but it gives an idea of the good time we had. It was such a fun day trip...between the ferry and the city, the kids were thrilled. Skyler brought home a map that he drew in school yesterday that included a ferry, worm islands, water, and boats. Loved his reflection of the weekend. I'm sure Sadie will enjoy it even more when she is just a bit older and a bit bigger. Poor thing keeps hearing all of the things she'll get to do when she's a 'big girl'!

The kids just being cute.

Hugging Skyler will boost anyone into a good mood. He is full of such goodness....

This picture sums up my life. Sadie hanging in my arms as I grab her and Skyler taking off....

The ferry ride...Sadie was perfect until Papa declared a group picture. Cue tantrum #28,497,036,539,749.... :)

The New Year in NJ!

We decided to head up to NJ for the New Year. I LOVE NJ in the Fall...at least, where I grew up. It's lush and colorful and crisp. Everything you think of when you think of this season. Plus, we pretty much won't be heading back up there until way after x-mas. It was a short stay, which Skyler was extremely disappointed about, but we packed in a ton of activities and had a fabulous time. I have uploaded pictures from Day 1 which was SO MUCH FUN! And spent around the house and lake. Perfect way to get some outside time in between all...of.....the....rain. The sun came out today and I literally felt weird seeing it. Anyway, Friday we headed to the ferry in Weehawken to head into NYC. We went to see the Intrepid, which Skyler and Michael loved. Sadie was a bit disappointed because she wasn't tall enough to see the submarine, but she still saw the inside of the ship. Saturday was kind of rainy and cold, so we chose to go to the local country fair. We weren't expecting anything much, which is why I didn't bother to take my camera (and I'm kicking myself for that!), but we had such a great time! It ended with pony rides and mini golfing and lots of smiles and fun had by the kiddos.

Here are pics from Day 1:)

Papa had the great idea of searching for worms in the yard to use as bait. Here they are turning some rocks and finding the worms.

Skyler's turn...he flipped the rock and was so psyched that he actually found worms underneath!

Proud of his worm bucket.

Now he was into it...the search continued all around the house.

Ready to fish! Skyler had never really been fishing before and didn't know what to expect. A storm was rolling in and we were crossing our fingers that 'something' happened for him.

My dad was the only brave one who would actually put the worms on the hook. This is how I remember him from when we used to fish when I was a kid.

Could they look any more a like? Not including the hair of course:)

And the fishing begins!

The boys:)

He started getting nibbles and finally the fish took the bait! SO EXCITING!!! Skyler was beyond thrilled...surprised....and couldn't wait to do it again!

But, the storm was literally rolling across the lake, so we quickly packed up and jumped in the car just in time.

Post storm, Nana had the great idea of putting the rain boots on and jumping in the puddles. My kids LOVE to jump in any standing water, no matter how small or big. So, this was the best activity ever for them. By the end, they were soaked, dirty, and loaded with very big smiles:)

Can you see how muddy all of these splashes are??

Nana wanted them to check out the 'big mud puddle'. Here they are checking it out....

And the rest is history!

They were filthy...so, the next logical place to go was the creek! They hiked to the back and threw rocks in the water until we dragged them into the house for their baths.

I will post my Dad's pictures of the Intrepid tonight:)