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This will be random and all over the place.
Every child has LOVED the Keurig k-cups.  It is one of the best toys in the house (behind the remote, but only the remote that actually works, not an old replacement, these kids are wicked smart).  And it's only good until they start puncturing the tops with their teeth and you may or may not see your child with brown bits of coffee grounds in their mouth (ahem, Reese, ahem).

 Reesey back in the day...

 And with Ryan helping out....

And they are still one of my go-to toys for distracting these hellions angels while I try to make dinner....that and Tupperware.   Emerson wouldn't even know what to do with a legit Mattel toy if you gave her one.  

We'll just file this one under the 'random sh*t a 5 year old can come up with to wear out of the house' category: 

 We got our first legit babysitter for Emerson a few weeks ago (embarrassing, right?  at almost 8 months old), granted I was only gone one hour, but clearly she had a good time.  We're trying it again next week - here's hoping to a life outside the house again!

 Reese is hilarious at the park.....little boys flock to her and she holds court and roars in their faces, orders them around, manically laughs and they all love her.

 We finished up with Mr. Chuck over the summer and occasionally you go back for a quick refresher lesson (just to make sure I haven't screwed them up) - last one he busted out his underwater camera.

 Now with Ryan at school, this one is my new.....

 Grant has been traveling quite a bit lately (and over weekends) so the four of us have become quite close (sometimes a bit too much when our patience is wearing thin with each other).

 Ryan likes to dress Emerson up....

 Reese told me the other morning (at 5am nonetheless) that she wanted to be a mermaid for Halloween.  Later that day as we were strolling through Sam's Club with grandma, what do we spot.....  Good heavens.  She wears this constantly and now demands to be called Aerial.  $1,000 the costume doesn't even make it to Halloween as it already has a nice sized whole up the side.

 9 times out of 10 Reese passes out in the car line to pick up Ryan.  9 times out of 10, she is Aerial.

 We've been walking Ryan up to school in the mornings...forced hug photo op.

 And did I mention Emerson is a helluva a crawler now?  She had her first encounter with a step stool.

Obligatory 1st day of school photos....

The emotional sending of my baby off to school came and went and we survived.  And in all honesty, it wasn't bad.  Ryan being such an independent little thing really helped - she likes school and was excited about all things related:  school supply shopping, picking out a backpack, new clothes, packing her lunches, etc....  Grant and I were able to walk her in on the first day and she made herself right at home and was happy to see a few of her good buddies from preschool.  She had met her teacher a few times before:  once at our house (such a brilliant idea that I never knew existed - the teachers make home visits over the summer) and once last week when they had an open house at school and we took all of our school supplies up and toured around.  She sent us off without a second glance....
New loot:

Touring the school and dropping off all of her supplies....

 The big day.....started off with a special pancake breakfast out with dad

Then home for pictures...

Hand in hand....just a bit further up the sidewalk is where she basically tells us she's got it from here and 'mom, you can go now'....

Someone else in this house also had their first day of school.....the Reesers started preschool!  While Grant, Emerson and I took Ryan, Reese got a special breakfast out with Grandma and Grandpa.  

 Then later that day, she was all smiles as we headed out to the Frog Room.

 I wasn't sure if she'd hesitate or not, but the girl couldn't have been happier (probably helped that she saw this school every day last year, twice a day, when we took Ryan).

 No surprise to me, but her teachers tell me she is 'hilarious' and 'such a hoot'.
Day 2 was the real test and lucky us, they were still smiling...Ryan requested a photo.  Glasses stayed in the car:)

 So, 3 days completed for Ryan and 2 for Reese and both are loving it.  And hell if I'd be lying if I didn't say it is quite nice to be down one for a decent chunk of the day.  Fighting ceases.  Harmony ensues.  Errands get run.   Now if we can just get Emerson on some sort of napping schedule (puh-lease), it'll be like Club Med around here.  

Emerson

in pictures......Those old-school wooden cars?  Those were Grant's as a kid.  How cool is that?

Ryan wanted Emerson to wear the oversized pink polka-dot shirt she is sporting so the two of them could be "twinsies":

 And in case you were wondering what an Emerson temper tantrum looks like, here ya go:

Driving Ms. Daisies

I love my car.  I really do.  Especially since it has long since been paid off.  But when the day comes that I get a minivan, I will be ecstatic.   Currently all three ladies sit side by side in my back seat.  Not ideal because A. Emerson has to sit on the side since there is no way I could get her seat in and out with two car seats on the ends.  B.  Even though Ryan could technically sit in a booster seat, they are so jam packed that buckling and unbuckling the seat belt would be almost impossible.  Leading to C: they are so jam packed back there.  As in she's hitting me, she's looking at me, her arm touched my arm jam packed.   So every now and then I somewhat feel like riding in the car is a punishment, especially on extra ornery/crabby/sleep deprived days.  Yesterday was no exception.  Instead of quietly losing my mind, I turned on my video camera so I could 'see' everything that was going on after rounds of "Ryan kicked me....Reese elbowed me...Ryan's looking at me".  I drove in silence for the remaining 8 minutes of my drive (sped up for your 2+ minute enjoyment).  I especially like that they can ban together to do sort of a synchronized backseat driving routine (of which I had no idea they were essentially mocking me by playing into the camera the whole time as I was obviously driving and not watching them), I apparently need to tighten Reese's seat belt a bit more, and Ryan could be a mime.

But hey, they stopped fighting.  So granted my right arm was numb from holding the camera up for 8 minutes, a little physical pain is worth a peaceful car ride.  Am I right or am I right?

Colorado

We took our first family-of-five-road-trip-over-three-hours at the end of July to Colorado for Grant's birthday.   We'll ignore the coughs and head colds that may have made me slightly miserable and left Reese with what sounded like a 12 pack a day smokers cough.....overall we had a great time!   And that's what matters.  Everyone returned home alive and still friends.  While we only spent 3 quick days out in Denver, we did split up the 13 hour drive each way so all in all, it was a 5 day mini-'vacation', but let's be honest 'vacation' and 3 kids aren't synonymous.
Packed up and ready to go:

Sleeping through much of Kansas...

Grant and I don't mind the long stretches of 70 here.....honestly the wind farms keep us entertained.  

The beauty of small kids is that they find joy in the stuff we all take for granted.....bell carts being one of them.  These ladies still remember a road trip to Texas two years ago that included a stay-over in Tulsa, OK and the hotel had a bell cart.  So when we check into a hotel and Grant rolls out the bell-cart to the hotel - obviously we're not staying at the Ritz here people....do it yourself bell carts = Hampton Inn variety hotels:)  the girls light up with excitement.

Riding into the hotel on the cart is enough fun for them we very well could have turned around and headed home afterwards.  And beds you can jump on and not get in trouble???  Get out!

And indoor swimming pools that in a previous life I would have turned my nose up at.....well these girls were in heaven.  And frankly, with my head cold, the indoor steam was exactly what I needed.

Emerson and I enjoyed 'lounging' pool side with the hum of highway 70 as our view...

Roaming the halls...

Eating at an IHOP for dinner....jigga what?

Taking in the beautiful scenery:

Want to know what part of traveling isn't fun?  5 people sharing a hotel room.  We had Emerson in a pack and play, Ryan and Grant in one bed, Reese and I in the other.
Emerson no likey...

Fast forward to 11pm when Emerson was crying and spitting up, my head was wanting to implode and as I'm trying to rock Emerson to sleep quietly without waking the others, all of the sudden Ryan is at my feet, awake and as alert as can be saying "what should we do now mom?"......What else can you do, you stroll through the hotel lobby for an hour and go sit by the pool telling stories.  The three of us provided quite the entertainment for the random family checking in late that night.
Later Kansas, onward to Colorado....

Everyone got a chance to drive....

As a side note, I will say Emerson rocked it in the 'traveling with baby' category (minus the sleeping at night in hotels and blowing out her diaper at almost every change - something about that car seat really 'gets things moving') - but for the car ride she was awesome....her nursing schedule was right on with the rest of us and our needs to stop for food/restroom/gas so she really didn't add any time to our drive.  I'd feed her in the car while Grant filled up with gas, took the other two in to use the bathroom, get some snacks and b/c Emerson is an efficient feeding machine, we'd all be done at the same time.  Two thumbs up Em!
Once we got to Denver the ladies had an amazing time playing with our gracious hosts and friends Mark and Nicole.  They just built a sweet new house that had the perfect layout for our traveling clan....a fully finished basement with bedroom and living room.   Ryan became obsessed with Nicole (rightfully so) and basically stalked her morning, noon and night - so cute that Nicole laid out a whole slew of costumes, party hats and mirror for the girls to play with.  And play they did.....

We went swimming, drove Ryan by the hospital where she was born "I know mom, I've seen it before" (?), had food from our favorite restaurants, went up to Boulder to celebrate Grant's birthday at our favorite brunch spot, stopped by the site of our wedding and took some family photos:

Hard to believe it's been almost 7 years (!!!!) and 3 babies later....nevermind the grafatti.

Comparison shot:

We saw my family and the girls got to meet some of their cousins for the first time.

My little trooper Emerson was OVER it by this point, so tired and just wanted to go to bed.

Ryan was in heaven when her cousin gifted her with about 15 old dance costumes that fit Ryan perfectly.

I'm embarrassed to mention that my cold was so bad and I have terrible allergies to dogs (which Mark and Nicole have two adorable ones), we used some miles to ship my a*s and Emerson's to a hotel for the final night.  I know, I know, pathetic....but seriously I was miserable and going on about day 12 with no more than a 2 hour stretch of sleep at night after dealing with the croup business and my own cold.  The fun part, Em and I had our own little getaway (even if it was only from 8pm - 7am) - it was cute and fun and our first official slumber party.

On the way back to St. Louis we stopped at Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City so the girls could go crazy in the indoor water park.  The place is cheesy as hell but perfect for families - the rooms are fun and have built in bunkbeds (which, hello?  Why don't more hotels do this???),

the indoor water park is big enough to not get bored, but not so big that you feel like you're going to get lost.

Even Emerson got in on the swimming fun...

We got there around 5pm - ate dinner (don't get me started on the lack of healthy eating options in the Midwest), swam a bit, played in the bunk beds and then the girls SLEPT hard core until we woke them the next morning.  They swam again for a few hours

and then we hit the road and were back home by 4pm.   Just in time for Ryan to go through her bag of new dance clothes and come up with this winner to wear to the car wash with dad:

 All in all, a great trip!  The girls were awesome, they loved meeting new friends and family and they have been talking about Colorado ever since.