1.  Happy Kids

2.  Setting sun

3.  Fall leaves

However, we forgot the photographer.

After frolicking along the path gathering leaves and sticks, I noticed that the suns rays were really quite beautiful.  I remembered Scott saying that one of the best times of days to get pictures is before sunset.  “Perfect, I thought.”

I sat the kids down on a bench at one of the “exercise stops” on the walking path.  You were supposed to do sit ups here.  My son saw the curved bar and thought he knew what to do.  Before I could even think about stopping him, he had flipped over the bar and landed hard on his poor little noggin.  But, I had just set the girls down for the phot opp at the same instant and I knew time was of the essence.

Poor guy didn’t even have time to recover before Mom started snapping pictures.  And the girls weren’t exactly ready either.

OK…I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I proceeded to snap 28 pictures of them sitting in this pose.  They were pretty agreeable and not bouncing all over the place, which is rare for a photo opp, so I went a little over board.  (check out the shell shocked look on my baby girl’s face)!

I then started second guessing myself…was this the right spot?  Where do I want the sun?  At my back?  On my side?  “Oh, how I wish Scott was here…”

I tried switching angles…

No, this is def not right… having the subjects face the sun is def a bad idea… poor kids!

Hmm, what about this way?

Might have worked, but Momma pushed her luck.  They were done with the sitting patiently on the bench routine.

Guess I better get a few pointers before my next attempt at amateur photography.  Check out THAT Family for more photographic laughs!

No use crying over it, so I snapped a picture.  Check out 5 Minutes for Mom for more Wordess Wednesdays!

But, the circus life can get rather busy.  And as with most things, if I am not intentional, the opportunities and the moments pass me by. 

So, this year I have designated Tuesday as “Crafty Tuesday.”

I have found that having one day a week set aside for crafts allows me a week to plan ahead and get everything together.  I picked Tuesday because it is the one day a week we don’t have a morning commitment.  We typically have a leisurely start to the day, take care of errands mid day and after nap time we work on our “special projects.”   

I try to make dinner something easy on this night, either a crock pot meal, something I prepped earlier in the day, or something which requires minimal effort.  This way we can work on our projects without worrying about stopping early for dinner. 

So far the kids and I have enjoyed several, fun, fall projects such as leaf rubbings, window art, painted pumpkins, and our most recent a thanksgiving collage.    This last one was a two parter as we took a nature walk last week to gather our  materials and this week we glued them down to make letters spelling “Give Thanks,” which we then hung on the wall behind our dinner table. 

Crafty Tuesday works for me, as it provides me with a way to enjoy some quality time with my children each week.  Check out Rocks in My Dryer for more great Works for me Wednesday advice.

We’ve settled into this crazy routine only after learning from the past.  Yes, we have actually sat in our living room with our hands over our ears much like Jimmy Fallon in Fever Pitch while someone left a message on our machine congratulating us on a win.  My husband has even hung up on his mom before for this reason.   As I unplug the phone line and ignore the blinking messages on my answering machine I often fear, “what if something horrible happened to a family member and they are trying to get a hold of us…we always check those messages AFTER the game, in case that is the case.”

Sadly when my husband and I got home on Sunday and sat down to watch the game, I had a horrible migraine and felt sick.  I managed to barely watch the first half of the game before finally realizing I had to just go to bed early.  My dear husband said he would not tell me what happened and was even willing to watch it with me again on Monday night.  This  meant that all day Monday I walked around with my hands in my ears.  I literally held my breath as I entered social situations and was so relieved when I got in my car and knew I wasn’t going to see or talk to anyone the rest of the day. 

Yes, I am crazy like that…but this paranoia proved well worth it this time as it was a down to the last second, win by only one point, kind of finish, and I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened.   It would not have been nearly as fun to watch if I had known the score already. 

Last week the kids were having a jam session in the living room with their play guitar and drums.  As we looked at my son’s pose, with his tongue out, and his fingers holding the “chords” on the guitar, I couldn’t help but think he had a startling resemblance to KISS (minus the face paint)!

Perhaps, I got a little too excited.

When I got the flier in the mail about their “grand opening preview party” on Thursday night, I started making plans. 

And, I kinds got the kids excited brainwashed about it too.  They actually started looking forward to it….”Thursday we go to the grand opening of Safeway, right Mom?”

(Now part of the reason we were all so excited is that last week we accidentally went to Giant for their grand reopening after they had rearranged the store.  It was incredible.  There were 5 clowns with balloon art, every where you went there were people giving samples, stickers, candy, there were line greeters, cashiers, and baggers….it was insane… and we had the balloon art to prove it).

When my husband said he’d be home by 6 on Thursday, my response was “Great, you can come with us to the Grand Opening.” 

Yea…my husband who “loves” to shop was just thrilled to go to the the grocery store with us and a thousand of our closest friends, “just to see the new store.” 

He never complained once. 

Not when we had to circle the lot and wait for the traffic directors to direct us to a spot in the parking garage…not when we went into the elevator and it didn’t work and after standing in there for 3 minutes we got out and walked up the stairs…not when we got into the store and found it completely bazurk with lines going out the wazoo…and when he asked what I needed I responded, “Nothing, just wanted to see the new store.”

Seriously, not even then. 

We walked around, got samples, the kids had a blast in the cool new cart (good thing we didn’t need any food b/c seriously, I don’t know where I’d have put the food). 

I was the only one complaining…”But Giant had clowns… I wanted you to see the clowns…and Giant had free Starbucks samples…and Giant had way more samples…”

And then my sweet hubby bought flowers for me at the Starbucks stand, and frappuchinos too b/c “he didn’t want me to leave my grand opening empty handed.”  Seriously, is he sweet or what?

As we drove home in the foggy rain after the kids bedtime, they were sipping the end of our frappuchinos (come on, YOU try eating dessert right in front of your kids…it’s not easy) and saying, “MMM tastes like coffee!” I didn’t care that it was after their bed time and we were letting them have caffeine and sugar.  I didn’t care that we spent an hour and a half walking around the grocery store to come home without any groceries.  I was giddy because we turned something like a trip to the grocery store into a family event to be looked forward to and enjoyed by all.  (and I even got flowers)!!

Well, wait no longer…

It only took 18 mths for us to bring our son on his first national park trip.

Much like the beginning of our first trip, this pose was quite normal.   Here we are in Acadia National Park.

The next summer we had a two and half year old and a 7 month old.  Our son fell asleep in the car after a day of hiking in the park.  Unfortunately, we were only in this park that one day.  So, if we didn’t get the sign picture on our way out, we wouldn’t have it.  We had no choice but to take our sleeping child out of the car to pose for our pic.  (He stayed asleep the whole time until we put him back in the car seat). 

And the next year, we went camping with our 3 and half year old, 1 and a half year old, and 2 and a half month old.    No need for funny poses now.  Getting all 5 of us in the shot creates enough fun poses in and of itself.  

He’s fast, but not quite fast enough.

The older two had a blast playing while Mommy and Daddy figured out the best place to set up the camera.

This pose was destined for a Fro’ Me to You post… My husband is straining to hold our middle child while she fights him, I am blinking, and my son is pointing to the sign with such enthusiasm….making sure none of us miss it!

These next few pictures are from the same trip, but a different park. 

My son is checking out the park sign. (Dear son, you will spend many, many moments over your lifetime waiting in front of these signs for us to take our family photo)!

And here another Fro’ Me to You moment…

I am sure as we grow, the pics will just get better…though none can come close to my prairie dog pose!

Check out We Are THAT Family for the Fro’ Me to You Carnival, and many more photos that don’t belong in a scrapbook!

Click here for more pics which need no explanation!

This genius idea is courtesy of my dear friend Rebecca.  When I saw a porta potty in her minivan I instantly said, “I need one of those!” 

And let me tell me it’s worth every penny.

I have a little potty seat in my minivan.  In the bag behind it I have the tube of mini M&Ms (her potty reward) hand sanitizer, Lysol (for disinfecting the seat) and extra clothes (for times when we don’t make it to the seat fast enough.  I recently added plastic shopping bags (for when she goes number 2).    Now, instead of dragging my 3 crew circus into the bathroom stall at every store on our errand run, I have her go before we go in.  (while her siblings are safely strapped into their seats (germ free).  At the soccer field with no bathrooms?  No worries… she can go in the privacy of our van. 

Changing my minivan into an RV courtesy of a $10.00 potty seat, definitely works for me.  For more great tips, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

My husband and I both have grandfathers who served in WW II.  We are proud of their role in defending our nation.  We are proud of the sacrifices they made for our freedoms.   They are true heroes.

We want our children to recognize what a true hero is.  So, we don’t encourage our kids watch that show anymore.  I just didn’t want to take away from their definition of a hero.  

One thing that has always struck me about my husband is the honor he gives to veterans.  Ever since we were dating, when we are out and about and he comes across a veteran, he always walks over to them and thanks them for their service to our country.  We’ve taught our children to do the same, and to also thank the fire and police men and women we see.  

My son has an uncle (my brother in law) who currently serves in our army.  My son knows that his uncle fought bad guys in Iraq.  He adores his uncle and loves to be his “army buddy” and help him fight bad guys.  Anytime he’d ask questions about pirates (to which I often didn’t have an answer) he’d respond, “I’ll ask my uncle… he’ll know”…. because if it had to do with anything bad, clearly the good soldiers would know about it (since their job is to fight bad guys).  Hence his misconception that his uncle was in Iraq fighting pirates.  While he might need a lesson in geography and while at his age, I keep most particulars rather vague…we are instilling in him an appreciation for the fact that our soldiers are taking care of us by fighting bad guys.  And this makes them heroes.  And when we see men and women in uniform, we give them respect, and awe.  While you could make the argument that they too are good citizens, helping others by doing their jobs well, they are making many sacrifices to do so and they put their life on the line in the process. 

This Veteran’s Day I want to say thanks to the men and women and their families who have served to protect my freedoms.  And I think with pride of our grandfathers, cousins, and uncles who bravely fought for our nation.  I am truly filled with pride to be a part of their family line.  And I am thankful for my brother in law serving right now in our army for providing my son with a real, tangible portrait of a hero.