Can you #latergram a blog post?

Imagine the adorable slash pathetic sick photo of Ethan from the previous post replaced with my face...minus the paci and minus any adorableness. Ugh. I was a wreck this week. In bed at 8pm, taking an afternoon off from work to sleep, Nyquil replacing my normal Zzzquil. It was bad. I'm finally on the mend, though I still sound like Kathleen Turner after smoking a pack.

Anyways.

Before the sickies headed my way, we headed to Bemidji for the weekend. The boys golfed and the girls ran mommy daycare; three moms, six kids. We were clearly outnumbered. But if you have to be a golf widow, this is the way to do it!

Emmie helped pack.
An armful of undies and an armful of diapers.
And she was ready to go.

 

Did I mention there was a pool...or two? Fantastic way to wear out kids!
Emmie pretended to be Doc McStuffins the whole weekend.
Ethan found a cupboard and was content for hours.
Shea played puppy while Emmie checked her for a fever.

It wasn't super warm, but there was still time for frog hunting, Olivia's favorite.
And no Diva, the sun isn't even out, there's no need for the sunglasses.

With the littlest little ones asleep, it was movie time.

friends and fevers

 

Hi. We're kids. Could we be any cuter?

 

Ethan, Claire, Declan, Emmie and Molly. 

 

The kids and the parents and more friends gathered on Saturday for the Bison game. I don't claim to be a Bison fan, but I am a fan of friends and drinking so it was the perfect excuse to partake in the latter with the former. (I do claim to be a grammar gal but I'm not even sure if I said that correctly...not enough time in the day to google it.)

 

After the funs, the fevers set in.

 

Starting with Emmie. Finishing with Ethan. And from what I've heard on the street, Molly too. Oh such is life.  The sickies aren't acting so terribly sicky, except for a massive fever and a blah feeling. Ethan is also popping through a top tooth and is already on the pink meds for an ear infection. Basically the tenth month is kicking his little ass.



Just don't even look at me.



 

Zoo

Oh hiiii September...where did you come from? Holy. And hiiiii blog...where you been? I'd like to lie and say I lost my passwords or something...but the works, the kids, the Big Brothers they all kinda got in the way of the blogging. It happens.

 

So now I'll give you a post just chalk full of photos so I can get moving on to Tamra's OC Wedding before it's bedtime, ok?

 

I busted out the real camera for the Labor Day trip to the Wahpeton Zoo. I checked the previous photo on the camera roll: Ethan's baptism. So yeah...wiped off the dust and snapped some good pics. And was then reminded why the camera has sat in the drawer for months when I went to annoyingly download everything last night. Phones just make things too easy!

 

And if you follow me on Instagram Instance you'll see I'm getting a little trendier with the app 6tag. A better option for Instagram on the Windows phone. Lots of filters and I can actually watch the videos you post...we're getting there!

 

Chahinkapa Zoo; on the most loveliest of late summer days. Mid 70s, no wind, just sun and fun and family time.

 

 

 

Acting like the monkeys

My bald guys.

 

Me and my babe, minus the bump like last year. Girl got tall.

 

And one big guy, distantly related to the fam.

 

Deck furniture

 

Ah, the deck.

It's 99% complete. And the part that is complete is the part that I care about...so that under the deck side stuff that isn't finished...well, outa sight outa mind.

 

Next step: furniture. After scouring the internet I finally settled on a set right at Home Depot. Andy was hot for a couchlike style, so that's what we went with. Now, the deck, I think I mentioned it's kinda big...so we needed more furniture than just that set. And guess what, deck furniture equals expensive. I could think about throwing down for another set of furniture if I lived somewhere I could use it for more than three months, but alas, here we are in the arctic tundra. Oh yeah, and I'm cheap.

 

We still had a table and chair set that we received as a gift for our wedding...eight years ago. Beige, pretty worn out and not really fitting in with the new stuff. 

 

Light bulb!

 

Could I paint it? Why not try? If it failed, I'd just throw it and not get the $20 the set would've fetched on Craig's List.

 

 

Rustoleum Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze - any surface. Boom:

 

One can of spray paint = new chair.

 It totally worked. And looks great. I sprayed it all. The arms, the seat. I was worried about the spray paint scent staying on the mesh seat and as much as the internets told me it was fine...I was still hesitant. No spray paint smell at all. And no, it doesn't rub off when you sit on it.
 

The metallic ORB color and texture covered any wear and tear from the past 8 years. 

 

 Table too! I used press and seal wrap to section off the glass table top.

 

Reminder from Mom to me to you: don't forget to cover the under side of the glass too.

And I'm now making a collection of other stuff I can ORB. New addiction.

Back to school

What is it about back to school that sets me into a squeeze it all in, the summer is ending frenzy? I have no children in school, I'm not a teacher, it's supposed to be 95 degrees this weekend and yet something tells me I need to relish these last few days.

 

And so this week, that's what we've done. We headed to the lake for the weekend with the fam and I took today off to crash Dave and Kristy's vacation week at the lake with the Miss.

 

 

 

 

Toes

 

These toes.

 

After a little mommy mani pedi, they are looking like cute baby girl toes again.

 

And that color? Lucky Lucky Lavender.

 

Remember that color? The one that I wore throughout my first IVF journey and pregnancy? Yeah, that one.

 

Now on these sweet toddler toes.

 

Lately, life has been a bit chaotic. From work to home, it's easy to get caught up in the day to day frustrations of life. The dinners that go untouched by little toddler hands, only to end up hungry and whining for a snack an hour later. (And if she is touching the food it's likely being dunked in her milk.) The limp noodle body that isn't interested in getting dressed in the morning. The outfit that isn't quite right because she didn't pick it out herself and now she's crying hysterically. Or that outfit that she's happy to wear because she picked it out herself and it shows in the striped shirt, polka dotted skirt, Halloween socks with Keens and headband. And the bedtime. Oh thank God we got that under control because I was about to lose it.

So these Lucky Lucky Lavender toes are exactly what I needed. To bring me back. Back to cherishing every minute. Back to taking in her toddlerhood and all the craziness that goes along with it. Back to remembering just how Lucky Lucky I am. 

 

 

 

 

Golfing

 

This past weekend we loaded up the kiddo and headed out to Oxbow. Andy has been promising to take her golfing and on a most gorgeous of afternoons, we finally made it happen. It was going to be a family affair but while we were packing up to go Mom stopped by to drop off some treats and in return we gave her Ethan. That worked out well for us didn't it?

 

 

 

Emmie loved golfing. She told Andy good job and clapped every time he hit the ball and on his practice swings she made sure to point out that he missed the ball. It was pretty entertaining.

 

And then....we let her run. She didn't want to ride in the cart on one hole...so she ran. The ENTIRE length of the fairway. We kind of felt like we were on a small town road letting our dog run by the pickup, but she loved it!