Guess who is EIGHT months?!

Miss Molly Mae!!!

I can hardly believe my baby girl is already 8 months old! She has been a busy girl!

She is slowly starting to crawl-- and get from one place to another (without one of the other kids helping),
She is still small for her size, but she can take quite the blow. She has fallen off the bed, the couch, dropped a few times (by all my kids) and her 3 yr. old niece-- and she cries for a min. or two and is over it!! She is one tough baby!


Molly is still the best baby in the world! And lately she has been doing a lot of this




and then appropriately awarded with this!

Back to school, BAAACK to schoooool!

Really?! Is summer already over?? This year it FLEW by-- literally FLEW! Maybe that is because I had a week in Miami and then scout camp - then had a super cool friend come visit from Texas and then Chet's birthday, and then me and the kids went to Texas for a month!! Best month EVER!! (minus Chet missing 3 of those weeks)

And maybe because we had to pack up our whole apartment before leaving for Tx. The apartment we haven't moved into yet! But will get to this weekend-- however- our kids needed to start school- because apparently the one they are zoned to in our new place is year round- and had started July 28th--- WHOOPS!

So- after getting somewhat settled- and moving from a hotel room to a corporate unit-- are kids are now situated and started school today- and they LOVED it!!

Dante is a FOURTH grader!!! Which means- I HAVE A FOURTH GRADER!!
He loved school today- and I really like his teacher and am hoping for the best:)

Erin is going into 2nd grade-- and poor girl has gone to 3 different elementary schools for each grade! She is a champ at making friends though:)

And of course we have Ethan who is starting 1st grade and who can keep up with the best of them! He is also very proud of his old school transformers lunch box! (the one he almost didn't get because he kept setting it down- and forgetting it and when check out time came-- he had left it somewhere else, and I told him if he could RACE to go get it and come back in time- then he could get it- otherwise lesson learned!! Did he make it?? Right after I handed the check over-- so I paid cash instead for his lunch box- because I'm THE best mom in the world like that!:)

And one other funny story that came out of today and me being THE best mom in the world-

Erin got an I-Carly back pack and she told me that almost no one in her class can watch I-Carly- and then she added, and hardly anyone can watch tv-- PERIOD in her class! Then I said-- really? And you say I'm a mean mom (anytime I say no, haha) and she looked at me and smiled! I love it when they realize the little things:)

ps--- I had to use my AMAZING camera phone for the pics- since I have yet to replace the one Ethan busted! But hey-- I blogged:)

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!