With school starting in 3 days (but who's counting?!), I finally feel like I just might have enough "free" time to catch up on blog posts in the next few weeks!  Here's to a blog post bender!

This one is long overdue, but I finally took some pictures of the new house with our stuff in it.  We bought some new furniture so we actually have places for people to sit, eat, talk, and sleep, so who is coming to visit?!












The guest "suite" isn't the Taj Mahal, but it's better than an air mattress in the living room!  We still have some work to do on the basement (busy summer sucked up all of our resources!) and the kids' rooms, so we won't go into much detail there, but hopefully we'll have some visitors soon to fill up all of this new stuff! (hint, hint)

I'm not even going to attempt to blog the hundreds of photos from Yellowstone or Glenwood Springs.  A few days after we got home from the Glenwood Springs trip, Angela's brother and his family came to visit.  What kind, fun, down to earth people!  We spent lots of time visiting on the deck, checking out Old Town, going to Breckenridge (I stayed behind with the baby...I still am traumatized from so much time in the car this summer, so the thought of another 6 hrs in one day was enough to terrify me), and hanging out by the Poudre River.


We celebrated Papa's 50...something birthday (can't tell, since he's blocking the candles). :)


Alaina is looking entirely too grown up these days...


...and the fact that this little guy's first year is wrapping up is way too much for me to handle.  So happy and so sad at the same time!


As we're prepping to begin first and second grade, I was smarter this year and picked out the kids school shoes online and gave them a choice between two pairs instead of running around to EIGHT different stores like we did last year.  As much as an ordeal as that was, I now look at Alaina's beloved kindergarten shoes and can't believe how fast last year went.  It's thrilling and terrifying at the same time!  I never want to forget that she picked the "gems" off of her toes the first week to give as presents to her friends at recess.  She won't ever say "Suspitable Me" for Despicable Me again, and Connor's *this* close to realizing that "comftorful" is not the correct pronunciation of "comfortable". (I stopped correcting them because for some reason, they just keep learning!)  As much as I look forward to them growing, I would definitely be okay with time slowing down, just a little bit!


Mr. Baby is into EVERYTHING these days.  His favorite thing is to splash in the toilet, and with two older siblings who can't seem to ever remember to put the seat down, he gets to indulge himself more often than I'd like to admit!  I feel like between all three kids, I can never keep up with the messes!  If I'm cleaning up Legos or beads from the older kids, I walk out to the shoe rack or diaper bag all over the kitchen.  If I'm cleaning up Harrison's latest escapade into the bathroom trash, the older kids have trashed the garage while making "a boat". It never ends!






As I was driving home from the grocery store a few nights ago, I rounded a corner and was met with a huge Supermoon.  I've never seen one that big; it looked so close to the ground, too!  Eerie and beautiful!


There have been lots of little toads all over our yard and neighborhood.  Anthony caught one while the kids were at a birthday party, so they came back to a little "pet".  We explained that we were just going to keep him for the day, then let him go back to his family.


As we were releasing him, it was almost like a funeral.  Alaina, in a wistful voice, said, "Always remember...he was a part of our family".  Hilarious and heartbraking at the same time.  These kids need a pet, but this Mama does not!!


Woog now thinks that he is a big kid and should be entitled to everything his siblings do, especially going outside.  We have uncovered window wells (hopefully not for long!), so if I can't keep my eyes on him at all times, he can't come out.  When he does get to come outside, he just wants to put the rocks in his mouth.  He knows the word "No", so he has started turning his head and body away from me in hopes that I won't see him eat them, little stink!


Harrison's favorite thing is to play on the bed with his siblings.  It gives me a heart attack every time, but they all love it so much, I have to allow it.


Clapping (or doing his sign for more...they're hard to distinguish) as he's being manhandled.


 I have to go on record and say that his first word with real association is "Dada".  Not fair, but it is totally cute than whenever he sees Anthony or hears his voice, he says it.  Harrison isn't nursing much anymore these days (but wants to get up at 4 AM for a meal, just like Alaina did!) , and while I will miss the cuddles, I will be excited to have my body back.  We'll continue to nurse for another month, even though I don't think he's getting much, just to give his body a little bit more time to get ready for the bigger proteins of whole milk. Almost there!  Also, I have to point out the bruise on his head.  He is my first baby to hit his head against the crib to self-soothe, and his most recent teething episode was a doozy.  He needed lots of self-flagellation to get through it, I guess.



That made a pretty good dent in my backlog!  More to come!