Back yard shenanigans

The new house has a great setting and one of my favorite views is outside the kitchen onto our back patio, especially when my little people are out playing.

 Last night Grant had the girls help him with a little yard project....these are my favorite kind:  he had them entertained and dirty and I left to go to a school meeting, when I returned they were all bathed and ready for bed:)   Snaps for dad.

 This morning we had a little treat out the window....the suburban safari experience, we like to say.  Grab your cameras, your coffee and a blanket and sit back and enjoy the wildlife:)
...okay, slightly different from our trip to Africa (another lifetime ago)

"Where's Eddy, he usually eats these things?"

*please tell me you know that quote.  Please.

Shhh....

Don't tell Ryan and Reese but after we say goodbye to them at the bus stop:

Emerson and I are living the life.....long walks around the neighborhood, Papa met us up at the golf course for our morning coffee....

 And who wouldn't want to fall back asleep at 10am and sleep on the back patio?

 Excuse us while we do some baking, straighten up around the house and cuddle.  But if the other two ask, we're sooooo bored and do nothing fun all day:)

Bounce with me...

Grandma and Grandpa got a bounce house!  

In other news, school went great - the girls loved their first two days, their teachers, riding the bus, seeing their friends, they head off again this morning all smiles.  As with the start of the school year (especially kindergarten) they were hot messes after they got home and all weekend.  Kind of bad.  Like 'oh my gosh, are there still boarding schools available?' bad.   So we are regrouping, trying some new 'parenting' things and hoping for a less dramatic household (myself included).   I'm sure if I nip this in the bud I'll never have to experience drama again*....with three girls....holy sh*t, where's the Tylenol? 

That's all I have right now...  Happy Monday! 

*obvious sarcasm

1st day of school!

When we first looked at our house and fell in love with it, I immediately then drove by the elementary school assigned to us and.......wha wha wha.  From the outside it was the complete opposite of Ryan's picturesque 2 story, brick beauty back in our old, adorable neighborhood.  This kind of looked like a medium security prison:)  I called Grant in exaggerated fake tears saying 'no way....we can't take our kids out of their precious school and send them here, no matter how much we love the house'.   He, who is used to my tendency to over-dramatize things, was quick to put me in my place by insisting we tour the school first before counting it out based solely on looks.  Terrible of me, I know, but I couldn't help it.  Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and after we toured the school, met with the staff, I was 100% at ease sending the ladies to the 'ugly duckling' school.  And now, I couldn't be more thrilled - there are many aspects I actually love more than her previous school (which was the cat's meow to me at the time).  You live, you learn.  Anywho....the girls were very excited about the first day (Ryan a little more realistic with a 'woo hoo' accompanied by an eye roll) but the Reesers was a ball of smiles.  Thank goodness, my heart could not have handled resistance and tears.  This is the first chance the ladies have had to ride the bus.  I used to dread the idea of them doing so until I talked to a number of moms in our neighborhood and learned that our bus only services our neighborhood and that the bus driver is the sweetest guy whom all the moms requested back again for the year.  And we got him!  So the idea of the girls riding to school with all their new neighborhood friends (a majority of whom we already know and love) and a bus driver the mom's rave about, not to mention the bus stop being one house down, made the call a no-brainer.

 Ignore the weeding that desperately needs to take place....add that to my to-do list.

 Woo hoo school!

 2nd grade

 Kindergarten

 If that's just not the saddest thing, seeing my Reesey Piecey off to school all day.  God help me when Emerson's turn comes...I will be a complete mess.

 They kill me....love these girls.

 Heading to the bus stop

 Dad drove by to say 'goodbye' but, in true Grant fashion, he was just heading up to school to surprise them at the front door when they got off the school bus.

 Reese's face when she saw the school bus coming around the corner:)

And with that, they were off.  All smiles.  Except for Emerson who was a hot mess.  Crying for her sisters and wanting to ride off with them:(  Fast forward 30 minutes when she realized it was just she and I, no one to fight with and all my attention, the girl has been all smiles ever since.

Grant snapped these from when they got off the bus...if that Reese doesn't make you smile, you must be dead inside:)

 Reese's best neighborhood friend, Lucy, also happens to be in her class this year...double trouble.

Let's hope the smiles are still there this afternoon, and tomorrow, and the day after that....

Summer 2015

School starts in two days (!!!) so it's both hard to believe and 'yes, finally' that our lazy summer days are almost over.  Side note - those moms who are all "I love summer, it's the best, no schedule, everyone sleeps in, I don't want it to end" - I'm not sure we could ever be friends:)  I kid.....slightly.  But those moms obviously don't have three young children, two of whom are apparently physically incapable of sleeping past 7am, and who LOVE to fight and bicker like mine do.  Now, I will say, this summer brought a glimpse into that carefree lifestyle - the new house, new neighborhood, new pool was for sure a huge blessing.  We met a ton of new friends, spent days on end up at the pool, started tennis, golf and swim team.  The pool is perfect for my crew - laid out so that I can easily play with them and easily sit along the edge and chat with fellow moms while keeping an eye on the kiddos in front of us.  Doesn't hurt that I can also order a glass of wine poolside;)  This summer was definitely our busiest yet....we closed on our new house mid-June, had our painter there for 3 weeks because every. single. wall. and. ceiling. had to be painted.  Sometimes 3+ coats.  We went to Michigan for a week and came home a day early so we could spend the actual 4th of July in our new house (our first night there) - neighbors had a party and we watched fireworks in the new hood from about 20 yards away (so loud and close that Emerson was a wreck and "no like fireworks, too loud" - she and I watched from inside).  When we walked home from that party, Grant and I looked at each other in such happy disbelief that we now called this amazing neighborhood our home.  Seeing as the 4th of July is Grant's favorite holiday, it was only fitting that it was the first night in this new chapter for us.  So here are a random smattering of photos from the past three months.

Memorial Day Weekend - first time at the new pool, our second home for the summer

 It took Emerson about .4 seconds to get used to the new hood....

 The greatest call we made was having Ryan transfer schools at the end of February.  We went back and forth with it and decided it'd be best for her and boy did it pay off.  In just three short months at her new school, she (and I) met some amazing new families - most of whom also belong to the pool.  So Ryan had a fun crew in place to make summer, and now back-to-school, super easy.

I played tennis in highschool, so I was pretty excited to see the girls get excited about the sport themselves.  Emerson was pretty bummed she couldn't participate.

 My own little heaven that we can now walk to the tennis courts...

The girls also started golf....pretty adorable.  We're banking on them to be superstars and bring home some scholarships so golf is looked at as in 'investment' -- not sure the return we're going to get on that one:/   But they had fun nonetheless.  

 Other highlights included strawberry picking with new friends...

 Some classy photos of the house after we surprised Grant on one of his work trips and had the huge Christmas tree that had been planted 30+ years ago smack dab in the front of the house removed.  It might look odd in the pictures, but in reality it was so out of place.  All our neighbors have commented on how it needed to go and how long it would take for us to chop it down.

 You can see below why every room needed to be painted.  The pepto pink wasn't cutting it for us.

It's a much more, grayish blue 'me' color now...

 As I said earlier, the girls met some great new friends and celebrated a handful of summer birthdays with them...

A legit mailbox is new to us....we haven't had one before so the girls like to share (read: fight) over who gets to go get the mail (and drop the mail).

 Scenes from the new house....

 Their first art stand (and that evening when we had friends over it morphed into a lemonade stand) - and darn it all if they didn't rake in $30.

 First sleepovers...

 Ryan was 'pleased' Emerson was crashing her party...

 The 4th of July party I mentioned....Reese's face says it all:)

It's not summer without ice cream and there's a great little spot not far from us now.

 Her kindergarten popscicle party...she and her buds escaped the heat by sneaking into the gym and dancing on stage....the girl has zero hesitation about starting school:)

 We've had a fun summer but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to school, schedules, structure and peaceful days with my little Em.....until the potty training starts:)