Lucky number 7.

Well, hello there! Whereee have you been??? Wait - where have I been?! Just here. Around. Busy. Although we all know you're not really supposed to say that. It's the cliche reply to any question presented that you really have no answer for. Why don't I go to the gym? Busy. Where have you been all week? Busy. Why didn't you write on your blog for the past two years? Busy.

Whatever.

I'm here now. And you're here. And I'm grateful! Thanks for stopping by to say hello and see what's been going on in our lives. We're still just hanging in The Laundry Room...laughing, loving, learning - and let's be real - crying, fighting and exhausted too. But loving just the same.

OH! And we had another baby. If you follow along from a non personal level, you may not know that we've also added a fourth little Laundry to our brood and now yes, the kitchen is closed for any further business. (Yes, I'm 73849370% serious this time) Six is a good number, right?! Seven if you count Rocco. And we do. So seven...Lucky number 7!

Let's keep our greetings short for today. Come back soon to hear more about our seven and all of the great and not so great things we're doing. I won't bother recapping everything now, I'd be here forever. But I'll fill you in as we go and it'll be just like when you missed a week of those soap operas you used to watch when you came home from high school and ate potato chips with oodles of noodles at your best girlfriends house while you gushed over what was happening with Sonny and Jax on General Hospital. Oh, you didn't do that?! Never mind. Just come back and I promise it'll be good.

Until next time!

 Brooklyn

 Gavin

 Mason

Owen 

Fall Fun Fotos.

Here in New England, Fall is in full swing and this season is just SO much fun. While we're missing the long summer days, running around in flip flops and playing with the hose all day, this time of year is just so comforting. The temperature is dropping so we can bundle in hoodies and scarves, the leaves change and make everything beautiful, and the season brings in a new sense of family, friends and most importantly (sorry friends and family) food! Over the past few weeks we've been throwing ourselves into all of the above and enjoying every minute of it. I've gathered a few of our Fall Fun Foto's to share if you'd like to see! 

Playing in the pumpkin patch.

Cousins

What??

Orchard Fun

Hi little Masie!

Farm Work.

My oldest nephew, off being old. 

The animal whisperer.

Shoulda seen her face when he licked her. 

Bahhh.

What does the rabbit say?

Hey Babe.

Pumpkin. Rainbow. Fall.

My three sons.

Mama enjoying the view.

My life in a nutshell.

It's just a honey stick.

Super Mase.

Apples Apples Apples

Pies Pies Pies

Picked this gem in our front yard!

Owen's first bus ride on his first field trip.

Friday Night Lights

Go Blue.

DEFENSE

I hear I'm raising Groucho Marx ;-) 

PS. I do know foto isn't spelled with an F ;-) 

Happy Fall!!

2am Confessions.

I have a confession. Now when I tell you this, you're going to think I'm crazy. Or lazy. Or crazy, lazy. But whatever, I feel like I need to get it off my chest and maybe that will solve the problem. You know, like a cathartic sort of thing...in with the good, out with the bad. Although it's not really that this thing of mine is bad, it's just kind of silly I suppose. Silly as in crazy. Crazy as in lazy. Well friends, if you're still reading along after all that nonsense then you must really be interested in hearing what I'm about to confess because most people probably would have clicked that little 'x' in the top right corner by now. So thank you, thank you for being patient with me and my verbal diarrhea. Did I just write diarrhea on my blog? That's probably inappropriate to talk like that when we're discussing such a serious topic. I take it back. Sorry. Anyway, now that I've taken you on this whirlwind of nothingness, it's about time I get to that confession of mine...

Almost two years ago for Christmas my mother in law gifted my husband this handy little iPad docking station. It's main purpose was so that we could use it for the speakers to play the music from the iPad and hear it throughout the house. Fun, right? We're a music loving family and always have something playing in the background depending on our moods or the activities going on. It's perfect and we have literally used it every single day since. Thanks, Laurie! Another cool feature is that it has an alarm clock function. Now although it's pretty neat to have that option, truthfully we really don't use it. Except for almost every night at two in the morning. No, really... See the alarm button happens to be right near where you stand the iPad and so when we move the iPad on or off the station, it's very easy to hit it by mistake. Apparently the alarm came preset at 2 am and now whenever we accidentally hit the alarm button throughout the day, we wake to a nice series of beeping that gradually get louder if you don't shut it off. How convenient for someone who needs to get up at two in the morning! Not so convenient for those of us that don't. Now over the past couple years I've told myself that I would make sure to check that it's set to off before I go to bed and of course like any normal person who is exhausted at night, I forget. Then I told myself I would at least change the time so that it wasn't set to 2 am and like any normal person who is chasing kids all day long, I forget. Until the next night when I hear those little beeps and I throw off the blankets and leap out of bed to race against the alarm before it gets to that final BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!!!!! and wakes my little monster children. It's quite entertaining I'm sure to my husband who sleeps right through, or pretends to sleep right through because he enjoys seeing me go about this little show every night. Well, husband the show is over. Today I have decided to come clean about my crazy, lazy, silly little thing I've got going on with the alarm clock and I'm putting a stop to it. Upon publishing this post, I fully intend on marching right up to that sneaky little docking station and showing the alarm who's boss. Unless I forget, in which case I'll do it at two in the morning instead. Wish me luck!

Just Love.

Imagine if every single time you walked through the door you got a standing ovation. No really, picture it... You walk into a room and everyone rises to their feet, cheering and shouting your name. They're running towards you with smiles beaming from ear to ear, arms stretched as wide as they'd reach and hearts exploding with joy because there's just so much love in that moment. Are you with me? Are you feeling that high? Because that's what it's like every time my husband comes home from work... Or from the gym... Or from bringing the trash outside. Must be nice, huh? I guess that's what happens when you're the most wonderful Dad in the world. They just can't get enough and every time they see him is even better than the last. Is there anything more precious? The bond between a father and his sons is like no other and I'm so blessed to see it every single day. They say a picture's worth a thousand words but this one here, it's just love. 

     

Johnny Boys.

This weekend Eric and I took our three boys, along with their Nana, out to the local apple farm for a beautiful Fall day. It was perfect apple picking weather... Warm sun, cool breeze, a perfect blend of the things I love. We started off with a tractor pulled wagon ride for a tour of 'our' farm and got to hear the rundown on the history of it all. I actually found that part pretty interesting as I didn't realize we sort of own the farm. Out city bought the orchards a few years back to save it from being turned into 178 houses and now it's community owned and run.  How cool is that?? It's run strictly by volunteers with the exception of the apple growing guy, because without him, there'd be no apples! In all my years visiting the place the past tours usually just point out which apples were where so I liked the new found information this other guy shared. Thanks, volunteer Bob! He even sparked interest with the kiddos and afterwards we spoke to someone about volunteering as a family to come help out sometime! Can't you see my little munchkins scooping up those seconds under the trees? We can't wait!

After our wagon ride we headed out to the orchards to get to pickin'! And who knew my boys were such serious pickers? They had those bags filled in a second. Luckily Eric took the time to dump them out and sort through the yucky ones so we could refill and teach them how to check the apple first. And one volunteer explained how to 'twist and pull' which we tried to remember too. Throughout all the picking I think it's safe to say that everyone's favorite part was climbing the apple trees. Which you're probably not supposed to do, so don't tell anyone that part! But it's true, nonetheless. The boys were sneaking under the branches and shimmying up through as we heard little apples falling to the ground. Then out of nowhere we'd see a little face pop through somewhere in the middle and they were so proud they'd made it up there. Even Gavin got up there with a little help from his Daddy! Because of all this apple talk and being that we were in an apple orchard and all, I had to mention our good friend, Johnny Appleseed. Who's not really our good friend but a neighborhood legend I suppose. As I continued to cheer on my boys I began telling them I should have brought pots for them to wear on their heads just like Johnny did! Of course they wanted to run with the idea and every time they climbed a tree following that they'd yell, "Look Mom, were the Johnny boys!!" And so they were and we finished our day with lots of memories, laughs and thanks to my mother the hoarder, lots of apples. Here's some photos from our day in the orchard if you'd like to see...