so thankful...

 

here's a shot of my darling boys giving a shout

out to all of those we love and hold dear. 

I hope your Thanksgiving was as full

of hugs, laughter and craziness as our was.

We had such a great day ♥

good times

life here is never dull. we've been dealing with 6 weeks of colds, flu and variants of the two combined. oh the joy. i'm certain that the motor is gonna burn out on my little green (steam clean) machine at any given moment. i'm not at all sure that i'll ever get the smell of vomit out of Flynn's car seat. this past Friday we had (yet) more plumbing problems and went more than 12 hours before it was fixed/working correctly. oh the rapture. and then as if all of this wasn't enough... we are left with this heartbreaking news today :

 

 

Flynn broke his collar bone :( 

this time last year...

 

totally cannot believe this was already a year ago.

where O where does the time go??!

AuShoddy... We Miss You!!

 

Here's a shot of Henry working on his "Trophy Finish" at golf practice.

Some weeks I think his extra curricular activities are gonna kill me.

He's recently informed me that "Now is the time" for his guitar lessons.

oye.

 

My Sister just left after a truly wonderful week long visit.  During her last visit, Flynn referred to her as "Him."  Like, "Where'd Him go?"  This time around he graduated to calling her "AuShoddy" [for Aunt Shari].  Sooooo super cute!  And I'm pretty sure that he has asked about her at least 47 times just since we took her to the airport this morning.  ♥

highly suspect...

 

love this shot from Gareth's Birthday.

everything is highly supect with him.

lol. 

duck faces...

duck faces anyone??

kiss, kiss!!

 

 

so how exactly is it...

that since school has started i actually have LESS time for everything?!!

 

here's to not getting shit of any kind done.

awesome.

hugs 4 school...

we are ever sooooo very slowly adapting to everyone having to be up at 6 am in order to get ready for school.  aye, aye, aye.  the boys are doing pretty well with it... except Gareth, of course.  who keeps the noise level elevated with all of his screeching, screaming and wailing.  

 



one of  the sweetest things in the mornings are the "hug outs".  Henry says that they have to have big huge ginormous hugs from everyone, so that they'll last for the whole day.  ♥♥♥

 

and my lack of a camera frustration continues.  my iPhone camera takes decent shots outside... but inside it's truly horrific.  everything is so super grainy and dark... and no filter in the world can totally disguise it.  heaven forbid trying to use the flash, as it blows everything out and results in totally gross red eye pics that can't be corrected with even the best of my photo editing software.  grrrrrr.

grrrrrowwwwl....

lion impersonations.

 

 

oh yeah.

totally nailed it!!

holding out...

so I'm fairly certain that Patrick mentions just about every. single. day.

how much Gareth is in need of a haircut. 

hmmmm.  perhaps he has a point. 

 

but then again.

 

I just adore his little curly wings.

I'm not ready to see them go.

I'd miss them.

 



 

and since I'm the one who'd have to snip those darling things off...

it's safe to say that they'll be with us a while longer.

 

much to the chagrin of Papa Young.

doa...

The boys always have a great time with their cousins ♥

and it appears that my camera is dead.  i went to use it last week - on my birthday, no less - and the damn thing wouldn't turn on.  i'm so completely frustrated... there's no telling how long it will take to fix it... or worse - how much it will cost, as the extended warranty just ran out this spring.  ugh.  soooo super irritating.  so now i'm without a real camera and with Henry starting school tomorrow, i just want to punch someone in the face and cry.

special request...

I can't believe that school is starting next week! It's so unbelieveable that summer is over... where on earth has the time gone?  We've had loads of fun during summer break and although there have been some truly challenging days for me... I still don't want to see them go off to school.  Call me crazy, I guess.  And while I am excited for them... I dread it at the same time.  Of course, I think little Gareth will be the saddest of all.  He absolutely adores his big brothers ♥

Flynn will be in preschool and Henry 1st grade.  And as much as I'll hate to send them off each day, I know how much they'll love and enjoy the school experience.  They're both such social little butterflies... nothing like their parents at all - hahahaha!!

I also have a little request.  If you're not already collecting them for someone else, please consider helping us clip, collect and save the box tops for education coupons.  Henry's school holds several fun promotional drives throughout the school year, where the kids can earn fun prizes and classroom points for their collection efforts.  Last year, Henry's Kindergarten class did so well that they earned an ice cream party for their participation.   The coupons can be found on an insane amount of product packages these days and are so easy to acquire.  Just hang an open ziplock on the fridge and drop them in as you clip them.  When the bag's full, zip it up, drop it in an envelope and mail it to Henry.  Easy peasy.  It's something so super simple that will truly send him over the moon :) 

Zzzzz's

Sweet little Gareth...

catchin' some Zzzz's at the zoo ♥ .