Picture Perfect Family.... YES- in pictures ONLY!!:)

The story BEHIND this awesome picture that I'm TOTALLY in love with!

This picture was taken around 4:10 on Saturday afternoon at my moms house. My friend was coming over to take our first professional pictures EVER as a family- and I wanted everyone to look good. i figured this session would go pretty well because if you can have pictures done with 3 kids 3 and under and the pure chaos that comes with it- then you can handle 3 older kids and a newborn............. BUT this time it was the "session" that went chaotic-- it was the "before" the session that went CRAZY!

15 min. before Jen, the photographer, was due at my moms house.

Chet - snoozing on the couch, not dressed in picture attire.

Dante and Ethan- in the pool, swimming!!

Erin- putting make-up on, because she wants to look pretty in the pictures (including hot red lipstick)

Mom- perfectly dressed and running around trying to get kids out of the pool, waking Chet up and rubbing off Erin's lipstick - she got away with the eyeliner as you can see in the picture.

approximately 5 min. before Jen's arrival:

Chet - frantically ironing his shirt and the boys shirts wondering why I didn't wake him earlier (always the wife's fault, huh?):)

Dante and Ethan - STILL swimming in the pool, and slowly making their way to the stairs to get out before I drag them out by their ears.

Erin- all ready for pictures!

Mom- trying to get the boys OUT of the pool and saying- just put your jeans on over your swimsuits-- she is going to be here ANY minute!

Jen arrives:

Chet- ALL dressed- picture perfect

Dante and Ethan- all dressed- picture perfect

Erin- NOW starts to throw a tantrum that she doesn't want to wear jeans but a skirt instead that will not match the pictures in the least. REFUSING to get in the family picture unless she is wearing the skirt.

Mom- thinking- "are you kidding me?"

Molly of course is a rockstar throughout!

And obviously Erin won- because as you can tell Jen strategically placed her behind me and Chet so that her skirt wouldn't show.

Jen worked her magic and we now have picture perfect family portraits!

Moral of the story: No matter how much you stress in life- it will all somehow work out-- so WHY stress?? Just realize whatever happens happens and somehow will all workout for the better:) And sometimes it just takes someone else to work their magic - but it will be worked out!

ps- check out Jen Petty Photography here and I highly recommend her.

If our kids are having a BAD day.........

Then we allow them to stay up a little later then the other siblings AND then...............

In this case-- Ethan was the one having a rough day--- and he got to participate in the nightly ritual of "after bed" torture-- and don't worry- they have their fun with mom and dad too sometimes, because REVENGE is sweet!

Molly Mae at THREE months! (holy cow!)

Molly Mae- March 28th, 2010 - 3 Months

Molly is still such a sweet and good baby! That is why I am posting pics of her crying- because she does it so rarely, I feel I need to remember- "Yep- she cried! "

(or maybe it is because I just have really bad picture taking timing)

She also loves to snuggle! Molly can pretty much sleep anywhere and in any position- but her favorite place is on some one's chest... and my kids LOVE it when she falls asleep on them.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures-- Ethan(5) and Molly:)

SO SWEET!

She is also starting to smile and talk a ton. My favorite alone time with Molly is in the car- while I'm driving, and the radio is off-- and we "chat" back and forth- and she tells me ALL about her morning:)

She really is a "go with the flow" kind of gal.

We love you Molly Mae and couldn't imagine our little family with out you!

Miss Erin aka Er Bear!

One lovely afternoon Erin walked into the office with her hair done like so....... I thought it was very creative!

I exclaimed, "ERIN! Look how cool your hair is! Good job! How did you learn to do that??"

She quickly answered, and was like, "London Tipton, of course!"

OF COURSE-- what was I thinking?

Thank you Disney- I new I could count on you for more than just entertainment for my kids.

What happens when I ask my dearly BELOVED to do something?

Sometimes when I ask

(lazy but INGENIOUS Chet)

to help me out a little- I learn something new!

Like when I asked him to cut up a cantaloupe for Ethan..... because I had to feed Molly.

I meant into little squares like I usually do-- but instead he cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and handed Ethan the cantaloupe with a spoon. Dante thought it looked like fun and dug in too!

This made my life easier! Ethan could eat cantaloupe all day long- and now this "new" way of "cutting" cantaloupe has saved me time! :) INGENIOUS!

And other times when I ask

(lazy but NOT ingenious)

to help... like put away the refrigerated stuff so I can feed Molly- and then going to the fridge to grab something and finding all my groceries put away like "this"

Still in their bags(this was a re-acted photo- instead picture a fridge with 20 bags full of groceries stuck in the fridge)! Which isn't quite "easier" for me to find things in the fridge. Something I will NOT start doing:)

You learn some and then sometimes you laugh REALLY hard- because you are like, "What?! Who does that?!" But you love him NO matter what!

What has been happening at the Ranger house?

I always sit down to update my blog-- and then something happens and then I never get back around to it- or I forget what I was going to say, or I get tired of the interruptions or I remember I have something else more pressing, etc... Do the excuses really ever end???:)

Anyways-- I thought I might as well hurry up and update while 3 out of 4 kids are sleeping, and while Chet is having father/son time with Dante.

First we will start with sweet little Molly Mae! I cannot believe she will be THREE months in a week! That is just crazy talk!

But seriously- how cute is SHE?!

At her ten week appt. her stats were:

weight: 9.5 lbs. - 10th %
height: 22 1/2 in. - 50th %
head: 38 cm 10th %

She is a happy and healthy GROWING baby. She is still small- but SO cute! She has really started to smile a lot and she is experimenting with her voice ALL the time. It is too, too, too CUTE! We are all just so in love with her!

Ethan--- lost his FIRST tooth!! He was SO excited!
Funny story though- he lost it while I was shopping at Nordstrom Rack... and then he REALLY lost, lost, LOST it- at Nordstrom Rack. Luckily Chet was able to find it near the Men's shoe section because it fell on dark carpet. He told Ethan he was going to hold on to it, just so that he doesn't lose it again and keep it safe for the tooth fairy. Ethan starts screaming his head off-- and after about 15 min. of this- Chet gave him the tooth back AND of course-- Ethan dropped it again- but this time on white tile. Chet looked and looked and they couldn't find it - so Chet takes Ethan to the car since he is causing such a scene in the store. I check out- get into the car- Ethan is still screaming. I try to calm him down by getting him to tell me the story and reassuring him that the tooth fairy will still come to our house, etc... Nothing is working- so since I'm SO quick on my feet - I make a "fake" phone call on my cell to Nordstrom Rack-- embellish the story and saying- if your clean up crew finds the tooth tonight- or sees the tooth fairy- will you have them send her our way. AND he finally calmed down--- and was SO very happy the next morning to have money under his pillow! Seriously- that was a FUN night! :) And my baby is growing UP!! (well my 2nd baby)


Erin--- has been having so much fun playing big sister to little Molly! It is the sweetest thing. She is such a big help to me- and would hold Molly ALL day if I let her:)
Sad day yesterday though- Erin accidentally dropped Molly in my bathroom while she was trying to get Molly to look at herself in the mirror. Poor Molly did have a nice goose egg on her noggin, but she didn't fall too far-- and is completely fine. But- Erin was SO torn up about it and felt really bad! I told her that things happen like this- and that we all just need to be more careful with her. I then told her that I probably dropped Elizabeth and Emily when they were little too- in fact- I did accidentally push Emily over a cliff when she was 2-- SORRY EM!-- and luckily her life jacket pretty much saved her life- or from getting hurt. Then I put Molly on my lap in a sitting position with her back up against my stomach-- and not 2 seconds later did she "flail" and almost fall off my lap and out of the chair-- I caught her with my ninja reflexes-- but BOY did it make Erin feel better. She was like "mom- almost dropped Molly too!"
Kind of reminds me of when I was a teenager and I would get a speeding ticket- and it seemed to workout EVERY TIME- that my dad would get one either same day, or day after-- and so he couldn't really punish me! HAHA. That was pretty awesome:)

And we did all have the talk with still needing to be SUPER careful with Molly.

Dante has actually been able to enjoy scouts this year- because it is at night- and he doesn't have any sports during that time. This was his first blue and gold banquet and I was going to try and copy my super cool friends genius idea of a cake here.... BUT- we had to go with the theme- and I decided to take the easy way out. His cake- was a series of Math facts that equaled 100. He had fun thinking of all the different possibilities!! Ps- that is HIS handwriting, not mine:) How handsome is he in his little scout uniform?!
I got some super cute Miss Me jeans-- but I'm really posting this picture- because I had Erin take it-- and this is what she said after she took it and saw the "preview". "Um-- MOM-- I don't think you are going to want to use this picture-- it makes your butt look big!" The honesty of children:) But maybe I should stop my obsession with making these... if I want my butt to look smaller in pictures!

Chocolate chip ice-cream sandwich cookies!! (homemade)

And another new fav--- is double-stuff oreos with mint chocolate chip ice-cream sandwiched in between. I also will sometime just pull apart one oreo-- and put the ice-cream on top of the cream, and then put the other top on. SO GOOD!!!

And as for Mr. Chester!

He is FINALLY taking improv classes! Everyone knows he is a super funny dude-- and now he is out to show everyone else:) He is ready to make the world roll laughing with his funny faces, his extremely good looks, and his ability to think quick on his feet! (I give him good practice) I can't wait for him to actually start doing some shows and show the world what he is made of! He has made me laugh from day one (why I fell in love with him) and hasn't stopped yet! Hahahahahahahaha- SEE!

That is it for now-- I will try to post more regularly -- and I do update my facebook ALL the time- so if you are not my friend- but follow my blog-- friend me on there, and you will see more "ranger action" LIVE! -- Just search Bertie Ranger-- sometimes known as Bertie "awesome" Ranger, or Bertie "Superfly" Ranger.. you get the picture!

One month FREE on-line personal training FOR....

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I know that I need to update my blog with normal family stuff- and I will.... soon! But right now I have to promote my one free month of on-line personal training to see if it is right for you.... So go to:

http://bertie411.blogspot.com/2010/02/spreading-loooovvvveeeeee.html

I'm doing it through Feb. 14th- and it is my Valentines gift to YOU!!:)