Let me just catch you up on the whole month of October ;)

Seriously, its been a month?!?  Wowzers.  I have my coffee going and my ONE year old at my feet , so get ready for a long, overdue, catch up kind of post- hopefully it will make sense, Riley-Anne is not the best typer ;)

Lets start way back at the beginning of October.  I had to take Allie-Parker to the doctor because she was having awful nosebleeds.  Like every night, every day, tons of blood, bad nosebleeds.  Well before we went we had a coffee date, just me and her.  It was so fun!  She was just precious.  She ordered a blueberry cupcake (muffin) and I got a frap.  She told the lady her name so they would call it out when our order was ready.  

"Me's nose not bleeding.  Me not need to see Dr. McDonough."

Wait, they said Allie-Parker

Happy girl.

The appointment went great!  Allie-Parker is finally growing out of her intense clingy stage and she talked to EVERYONE at the office.  We ended up just having to put some cream in her nose at night and it cleared it right up.  

Moving right along...  Riley-Anne turned ONE on October 18.  Can you even believe it?!?! I don't remember all of her stats but she weighs around 24 pounds and is 75% for height.    Actually, on her birthday me and Ryan were supposed to go on a long overdue date, but ended up having Ri tag along with us.  So we changed dinner plans and went to a loud restaurant instead!  We ended up having a great time spending time with just her.  She entertained everyone at the restaurant by clapping and saying "DADADADADA" as loud and as many times as she could.

Total Daddy's girl

Cuteness

Ok.   So confession time here.  This year, we were just not up for the whole pumpkin patch thing.  Maybe it was because of football season, maybe its the whole three kids thing, I don't know... I just could not bring myself to figure out three coordinating, cutesy outfits, then iron all those little cutesy outfits, dress the three wild animals and  get everyone in the car with just a CHANCE of getting a cute picture of all three.  I mean, Ri is a year old and I still do not have a good picture of the three of them!  So we boycotted the pumpkin patch this year and did the unspeakable... we took the kids to Walmart, threw them in the hay bails at the front of the store and let them pick out a pumpkin! HA!  I am laughing just thinking back about it!  Me and Ryan were ROLLING the whole time.  But seriously, we had so much fun!  The kids had a great time too- Non stressed out parents = happy kids!  While we were riding up there the ol' Mommy guilty started to set in, but to be honest, we will probably go back next year and do the same thing!  It was so refreshing just to load the kids up and go!  No fussing, no fighting, just fun!  Isn't that how is really should be?  Just doing things as a family for the fun of it, not the pictures?  I have to remind myself of this from time to time.

At the pumpkin patch ;)

Garrison wanted to find a pumpkin that had dirt on it, typical boy

He ended up with the the biggest one he could pick up

Allie-Parker at the pumpkin patch

She wanted this one because "Hers stem needs a band aid."

Daddy picking out his pumpkin

Well that is all for now.  My coffee was just turned over by a crazy one year old that is still a little sugar high from trick or treats :)

A list

I am going to try to catch up on what has been going on around here by making a list.  I am a crazy list maker!  I love to get all my "to do's" out of my head and on to paper.  So here goes my list of recent happenings...

1.  Football season started. 

Actually, we are halfway through the regular season.  Don't I sound like a savvy coaches wife?  I only know this little fact because I overheard Ryan talking about it with another coach :/ Ha, at least I understood what he was talking about! The games have been a little busy with all the kiddos and pretty intense, but we still have fun! The key to enjoying the craziness of high school football is just embracing the craziness of high school football:)

Pre season game. The sweet little white outfits were ruined by week 3.

Week 2.  After taking all three kiddos to the game I vowed I would NEVER do it again.  My mom kept Riley-Anne during this game.  This was the first appearance of the "football man" t shirt.  Garrison insists on wearing the "football man" shirt to every game.  Pick.your.battles :)

Week 3.  This is the week the cute white dresses were ruined.  It rained at this game and was pretty  chilly, but we won so it was worth it!  Garrison did allow himself to wear his rain boots to this game instead of his light up shoes :)

Week 3.  Riley-Anne came to the game!  Where was Allie-Parker? Hm, I don't remember...  Anywho, we lost this game so it did not make for a very fun weekend.

Riley-Anne showing her "paw pride".

I do not have any pics from game 4.  I don't know what went wrong, but the babies took nuts to a new level.  We were excited to hear that Aunt Leste and Justin were coming to help watch the game so me and Gigi thought we were going to have things under control.  Um, we did not.  But we made it all the way to the end of the game and we WON!  Woop woop!

2. My BFF Crystal got engaged.

Yep, its true!  We are so, so, so excited for Crystal and Austin.  I got a call from her during the Foley game and I hung up on her because the kids were all over the place.  Well about an hour later I listened to her message, it said, "I can't believe you hung up on me when I just got engaged!"  I screamed sooooo loud and then cried!  I don't have a picture to document this occasion... Crystal, why have we not taken a pic?!?  But her ring is gorgeous!  Can't wait for March 16 to get here!

3.  Garrison went dove hunting.

Look at that cutie!  He posed himself for the pictures!  Garrison and Ryan went up to the country for the Moss's annual dove hunt earlier this month. Garrison had such a great time! He is still talking about it! He pretends to shoot birds EVERYWHERE we go (can be a little embarrassing at times;) and after he makes a boom sound he says, "See you in the soup". Ha!

4. Garrison has stopped taking naps and started making "artwork" out of our bedding. 

5. Allie-Parker likes school.

I was trying to get a picture of the smiley face on her thumb :)

6. We bought a van.

Yep, I drive a mini-van. Never in my life did I think I would say those words.  But, seriously, I love it!  We have so much room now and the big ol jogger stroller fits in the back without having to move any seats!  Sorry no pictures of the party van.

7.  We bought a boat.

Ryan is so stinkin' excited over this.  I must admit, I am too! 

8.  We share the van.

HA!  This story is funny now, it was not so funny while it was happening.  So we bought the van, a day later Ryan took his truck to pick the boat up.  Well, the driveway in our new house is VERY steep and awkward, so we had a hard time backing the boat in.  Well after about 15 tries of going up and down the drive Ryan pulls his truck in the middle of the street and says, "I think Im just going to walk it up" and takes the keys out.  In the same second we hear a loud BOOM and smoke starts coming out of his truck! Seriously, it was like a scene out of a bad movie!  It was ridiculous.  So there we were in the middle of the street, in our new neighborhood with our broken down vehicle.  Great way to meet the neighbors, right?!?!  Well, a man who was tired of waiting for the road to clear good Samaritan comes by and helps Ryan get his truck up the drive a bit so people can actually get to their houses.  Oh but what, the story gets worse... Later that night Ryan goes back out to make sure the truck hasn't blown up and our sweet neighbor across the street offers to help Ryan push the truck over so we can actually drive the new van we bought the day before! Well Ryan gets in, takes the brake off and the truck ROLLS DOWN THE DRIVE, ACROSS THE STREET, INTO THE SWEET NEIGHBORS YARD!  At this point I am literally dying.  Our across the street neighbors work in their yard every day, it is perfectly manicured and beautiful and now it has a broke truck right in the middle of the yard.  Great, pretty sure we wont be invited to the neighborhood Christmas party :/  

Well, that pretty much sums up the last week or so.  Ha!  Isn't life crazy?!?

School Days

Today was the first day of "school" for Garrison and Allie-Parker!  I can not believe I have two going to school now!  The day overall went pretty good.  Garrison did as we thought, walked in, said, "bye momma" and started talking to his teacher... non-stop.  He was still talking to her when I walked by his room after dropping Ap off :0  Allie-Parker did not go so easily.  She ran out of her classroom crying!  Ah!  I stayed for awhile and she did finally calm down.  But poor thing, she just wasn't into it.  I asked her on the way home if she wanted to go back in a couple of days and play, to which she replied, "I have toys in me's playroom at home to play with".  Fun times.  But after we got home and settled in she  was very chatty about playing with her buddies and the toys in her classroom, so hopefully school will be fun for her :)

Here are some pics documenting the first day of school!  

For breakfast we had a new family favorite, banana dog bites.  You can find the recipe here. They are super yummy and veeerrryyy filling.  Maybe too heavy in my opinion, but the kids ate them up! 

Don't you wish your hair looked like this in the morning?!?!

 More breakfast pics... hello crumbs on the table and clothes on the couch :)

After we ate we headed out to take some MORE pictures!  I know, can you believe it?

It took one snap to get this picture of Garrison.  He is looking so big boyish these days.  I can't really say that I like it all that much, but whats a mom to do?

Then we moved on to our little "picture diva".  I kid you not, I took 15 pictures of Allie-Parker and these were the best I got!

  

She was very proud of her new shoes, that she picked out herself.  She is also OBSESSED with her lunch box.  After every picture she would say, "Did you get me's shoes and box"?  I just love that little munchkin :)

Both kiddos got great reports from their teachers.  I really think it is going to be a great year! 

**Big thanks to my Mom who came over before school to watch Riley-Anne so I didn't have to carry her in**

Learning to Run x3

For some reason I came up with this ridiculous great idea that I was going to start running.  Well, there is something you should know... I can not recall a single moment in my life that I have ever ran more than 10 steps!!!  But even knowing this about myself I ordered a triple jogger and vowed to run like I never have before (literally :)

Just seeing the box made me super nervous...

It wasn't too awful putting it together.  The next morning I decided to put the kids in the stroller, adjust the straps and take some pics of them.  I am a firm believer in baby steps.

The next day Ryan was home so we decided to take the stroller out around the neighborhood for a "test run".  Well, I didn't really run that day, but walking really fast and pushing the stroller was not bad!  Again, baby steps.  I am planning on going to a secret location in the morning to try running with "the tank" ;)  I will let you all know how that goes.

Today I had a breakdown

*This was to be posted yesterday.*

•  11:30pm   Riley-Anne decides it is bedtime.
•  12:30am   A-P wakes up SCREAMING! She smiles and says "Mommy sing 4 songs" when I get to her. 
•   4:00am    Riley-Anne wakes up to eat.
•   4:00am    Ryan starts flipping out because he thinks he is getting the stomach virus.
•   6:00am    Garrison wakes up.
•   6:30am    Allie-Parker and Riley-Anne wake up.
•   9:00am    We manage to lock ourselves out of the house.  
•   9:10am    I meet our neighbors.  I still have on pjs and may or may not of brused my teeth.
• 10:30am    Realtor gets to the house and lets us in!

No, Ryan did not have the stomach virus.  No, we did not make church.  Yes, I did have more than one cup of coffee.

Yack attack

You think its time to change Riley-Anne's formula?

Catch Up (take 100)

I feel like I have 100 posts titled "Catch Up".  I guarantee that before this post is published you will be all caught up on what has been going on with the Little's.  For starters, let me tell you what is going on right now.  Riley-Anne is sleeping away in her room while the oldest two are "sleeping" in their room.  By sleeping I mean squealing, laughing hysterically, begging each other to get out of bed, driving their mother CRAZY! Brb.....

Well now, hopefully that little stern talking to they just received will settle them for a few minutes :)

The good news is this whole kids sharing a bedroom is a temporary thing!  Yep, we are moving!  In 20 days all children will have their own room to sleep in. Woo hoo!  We found a house that has tons more space than we have now, 3 bedrooms and an office.  More good news, I don't need an office and Ryan has two at school, so I think he is taken care of in that area, so Garrison will be sleeping in there, leaving the girls their very own rooms!  No more crazy kid parties at bedtime!!!

We put our house up for rent and we had renters literally the next day.  We had another house in mind that we have been crazy about for forever.  We immediately called to see if we could work some kind of deal were we could rent then buy it at the end of our "waiting period"(we have to rent for a year so we can show our rent on our house we own as income, thank you Obama for all these new crazy rules :).  Well, we had no response from them.  Then we went out and looked at some other rentals  and let me just ask you, have you ever looked at houses for rent?  Wow, some of these houses were nuts!  Like 5 inches of dirt on the floor nuts!  I'm exaggerating a little bit, but seriously...  So we left our first round of house hunting feeling pretty discouraged.  Well, the next day one of Ryan's co-workers mentioned her house that was for sale that we could possibly rent, she would just have to talk to her hubby first.  A couple days later we found out that we could rent it and move in at the end of the month!  Isn't God good?!?!  We are so excited!  1300 square feet is fine and I can make it work, but, Im not gonna lie, I can't wait to spread everyone out!

Thats a lot of wordage without pictures, so here ya go...

Do you know all that vacationing with kids entails?  Lots of psycho list making, packing things on top of the car (can't you just hear the Beverly Hillbilly's song) and loosing children in your vehicle.  Where are you Riley-Anne?  But, we did it anyway and headed to the beach.  The babies stayed the first few days with us, then me and Ryan stayed the rest of the week to celebrate our five year anniversary (go us!)

We had a great time having friends over (Garrett and Sarah, if you are reading this I am still so embarrassed over Gar and AP's behavior that day), eating a late night dinners with Rachel and Allison (and having 2 hour conversations in a parking lot).  Ryan even found some time to go fishing with Stephen while he was in town!  Which was fun, even though poor Sophie thought we lost Charlie on the beach ;) Seriously, nothing can beat a beach vacation.  It was sooooo relaxing, especially the second half of the week.

This was the transportation of choice to get to the beach from the condo.  Look at Allie-P holding onto those chips for dear life!  Thats my girl!  What is not pictured is me with Riley-Anne strapped onto me in her sling, while Im carrying the typically huge mom beach bag, Ryan with our tent on one shoulder and carrying the ice chest with the other hand.  He was also the lucky one who got to pull the wagon ;)

Sweet Riley-Anne went to sleep right on the beach.  

Best. baby. ever.

Ryan took Garrison fishing for a little "man time".  They didn't catch a single thing :(  But, like Garrison says, "You never know what's going to happen when your fishin' "

This is a pic of the kids in their Easter outfits. Obviously.  I had the great idea to dress them and haul them down to the beach at noon.  DUMB, DUMB, DUMB.  Noon is nap time.  They all lost their minds, it was stinkin' hot, sand was flying everywhere, and Garrison peed on himself, so we gave up :(

I did get some cute pics of them playing in the sand... not exactly what I had in mind, but it will work.

Ryan and his buddy Stephen fishing.

The day before we had to leave we sat out on the beach from around 2 until the sun went down. It was ah-mazing.

Well this is ridiculously long... but you are all caught up!  Thanks for hanging in there :)