Everybody's Talkin'

This morning I was singing Ghostbusters…

Me: I ain't 'fraid of no ghosts
Ry: You're singing the words wrong. It's supposed to go "Ice cream for no goats."
Me: Really...
Ry: Yea - cuz goats don't eat ice cream

He shot me a look of "duh" and said, "That's it, I'm outta here." Like he couldn't even stand to be in the presence of someone who (a) Got the words wrong and (b) Was under the impression that goats do indeed eat ice cream

Then...

Cole was standing at the screen door.

Cole: Mommy it's dark outside!
Me: Hey, who turned the lights out?
Cole: Mr. Mark did [our neighbor]. He turned the dark on

Philly Phever

Cole (Hamels), Charlie (Manuel), and Ryan (Howard) rooting for our World Champions! Honestly, we didn't name our children after the Phillies players...it just sort of worked out that way.

This is the definition of brotherhood...covering Charlie's eyes from the Yankees. Go Phils!

Hair...Hair...Everywhere

I swear...when these boys arrived at school their hair was perfect. It was combed neatly to the side with just a smidgeon of gel for shape.

Of course they still look adorable...but that hair remains my nemesis...it's on!

The Sky's The Limit

The boys had a Daddy Day today...hanging out at the park with their heads in the clouds...

Introducing...Leaf Boy

Tonight Ry found an old mask buried in the depths of a drawer at Grammy & Poppy's house. He put it on and declared that he was "Superboy."

He went outside and as he jumped into the leaf pile he sang, "Make way for...Leaf Boy!"

At dinnertime we came to learn that we were sitting with the all-powerful "Nugget Boy."

I think you catch my drift...hopefully "Chore Boy" will make an appearance tomorrow night when it's time to clean up after dinner. Until then, "Sleep Boy" rests upstairs in his lair with his faithful sidekick, "The Cowlick Kid".

My Own Mark Anthony (Not J-Lo's Husband, The Other One)

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.

To Everything, Turn...Turn...Turn...There Is A Season, Turn...Turn...Turn...

The leaves are at that point where the color is so bright and vivid you want to stop every 5 seconds to take a picture. The sun is finally out and the weather is warm...not chilly...thank goodness for a day in the beautiful sunshine!

Boo

The boys had a Halloween parade at school on Thursday. On Wednesday night Ry asked if we could put on their costumes to "practice." I'm pretty sure that laying around on the couch doesn't constitute practicing, but it was a cute moment anyway.

Onto parade day. We wrangled the babies into their little outfits and put them into these industrial strength strollers. Poor little guys had no idea what was going on and half of them were crying...Charlie just chillaxed in the back and sucked on his pea.

Then came the 2 year olds. They must have told the class to march on the yellow line for the parade - as you can see Cole took this instruction very literally. The rest of the kids were running around in utter chaos, but our young Batman decided to stick to the line (all of a sudden he's become a rule follower??)

Just when I couldn't handle anymore of the Halloween thrills, out came the 4s - Ry's behind the Pirate and in front of the Rainbow Cat. He's been wearing his costume ever since we got it (yes, that was us in Wegman's with the kid in the Transformers mask) but it didn't take away from any of his excitement.

I think that all of the people screaming and waving at the kids got to Ry's head. Here's the big shot waving to his adoring fans.

Having 3 kids in 3 different classes was a little crazy (I definitely should have changed out of my heels) but totally worth it to sneak the candy out of their goody bags. Next stop - another parade in town this week. If only I had that industrial stroller to cart all of those kids around!

Soaking In The Sun

We paused from a busy weekend to have some backyard playtime in the sunshine. You'll note that in the second picture Cole has his tongue hanging out of his mouth - it seems that going down a slide takes maximum concentration for our little guy.

Wood Resealing = Bad. Ice Cream For Lunch = Good.

We were all home the other day, so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to check out a park we heard about from a friend. It's a gigantic wooden castle with slides and major fun-ness, so we piled into Big Blue and took a ride up the Turnpike to Lansdale.

As we turned down the driveway, the castle loomed in the distance. The boys started screaming, "The castle! It's the castle!" We pulled up and...buzzkill alert...the entire thing was closed for wood resealing.

Luckily we weren't too far from Freddy Hill Farms. To make up for the playground guilt we were feeling, we let the boys eat ice cream for lunch (homemade, delish) and then checked out their farm.

They had lots of animals - baby cows, pigs, chickens, llamas, deer, buffalo - when I pointed out the reindeer Ry said "his nose doesn't look very red" but I think he was still impressed. Not as impressed, however, as he was by the discovery of a catepillar.



We rounded out the trip with a visit to their pumpkin patch. I think I've officially given up trying to get a picture with all 3 of them looking cute - between Ry's lemon face, Charlie's look of major concern, and Cole's hair (in his defense it was very windy that day) this was the best we could get.

Happy Fall!

Coley K Plus 8

When I tell you that Cole has a cowlick I'm really not kidding. I was performing my daily slick down the other day and had a revelation. He totally has the Kate Gosselin hair cut - just not on purpose.

Hey Kate - if you need a stand-in or stunt double I've got the perfect option!

Charlie's First Day

My little man started daycare this week...before we left for his first day I snapped a pic of the boys. Time for another round of "here's what they were thinking..."

Ry: Seriously mo-om...just take the picture already. This smile isn't gonna last forever.

Cole: Motorcycle for breakfast? Sweet! Where's my cup? La la la la...sure I'll smile but I'm not gonna look at you...la la la la

Charlie: Finally, my chance to bust out of this madhouse. What are we waiting for...let's go!

A Perfectly Flawed Photo

Our camera battery has been lost for weeks. Now we know why...it was under the vaccum (gee, I wonder how that happened) and let's face it, it's been awhile since that sucker has been busted out.

Charlie was the first victim of our camera recovery.

Making Friends Is Hard To Do

My sister gave Charlie 2 new toys - a cute orange monkey and a sweet green dinosaur (or so I thought - turns out they were neither sweet nor cute). I decided to put them onto his car seat so he could have some buddies to hang with during our boring and mundane car trips.

At first he was totally digging the company...seems that Mr. Monkey made for a fine travel companion. Things were going well.


Uh oh, bad monkey. He must have said something wrong...things started to take a turn for the worse.



Cue full panic mode...Dino clearly drove the nail in the coffin of this trial run. Charlie seriously hated these monsters that invaded his happy little seat. Usually he passes right out in the car - this time he screamed his head off until I removed the beasts from his line of vision.

I guess he enjoys the simpler parts of life...gazing at the clouds or the ever-exciting sun protector on the window. Lesson learned.

Oh, The Drama

The other night Phil was taking Ry to karate - he was packing everything up for the trek and Ry was getting anxious that they were going to be late.

Phil said "Just give me a second, I'm coming" and Ry said "Daddy - let's go - you're KILLING me!"

Slick Ricks

Like father, like son - poor Cole inherited more than Phil's devilish sense of humor and dashing good looks. These two have the WORST cowlicks in the entire world!!

The only remedy for both of them is to slick the hair down to their heads. Cole's always pops right back up, but I was able to snag a rare pic of them in perfect formation.

Lookin' good boys!

Shake It Like A Polaroid Picture

My friend passed along the greatest iPhone app. It turns the phone into a Polaroid camera - you even get to shake it to make the picture appear faster.

What's old is new...ain't technology grand?!

Summer Days...Drifting Away...

We just got back from an amazing trip to Ocean City, NJ. I decided to download everything into a slideshow (click on the picture below to see it larger) - we did so much that it's hard to blog about everything individually.

Now that we're back it's such a reality check...summer is really over and it's time to get back into the swing of things. For now I'll just stay in denial by looking at our pictures and thinking about the warm seabreezes and carmel corn on the boardwalk.

See you next summer OC!

So Much To Learn About Ry

Ry created an "All About Me" book this week in school. When he's a grown-up and writing notes for his Supreme Court briefs, I'll always remember his adorable 4 year old handwriting. Wait - that's crazy - when he's an adult they won't even write anymore; it'll all be electronic. But I'll still remember his scratchy, thoughtful penmanship.


No, we don't live in a totem pole. Apparently we're looking at the roof, windows and doors - just not laid out in an architecturally correct manner.

The top part of this picture are the trucks that are part of the border around his room. Red blob on the left is his car bed. Red blob on the right is his zebra. Yes, I know a zebra isn't red...Ry knows a zebra isn't red...but you have to give him props for the stripes. I guess we'll consider him to be in his postimpressionism phase.

His favorite foods as outlined by our young artiste: apple, chicken nugget, grapes, cherry, blueberries, lemon. Really, a lemon? Silly me I thought it was chocolate. Going forward it's lemons for dessert!

He explained that the last page was his favorite book. I was a little shocked to find that he made Corduroy so chesty (being a boy bear and all), but Ry let me know that those are his buttons. Get your head out of the gutter people. Buttons.

Bring On The Fall

The team piled into Big Blue and headed to Highland Orchards for some apple picking. Cole was running from tree to tree and whenever he saw an apple he screamed at full throttle, "HERE'S ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!" I hated to break the news to him that there was about 50 million out there on the trees - he seriously thought he was discovering gold every time he saw one. Hence us leaving with about a zillion apples.

Ry, on the other hand, took two steps out into the orchard and declared that "the grass was hurting his legs" and chose to wait at the car. I think he inherited his Mom's outdoor instincts.

After the apple picking we fed the goats/chickens/donkeys/llama (at least I thought that was a llama...but as I write this I realize it seems weird to have a llama mixed in with goats and chickens...hmm...what was that?) and played on the playground. Evidently the grass length on this side of the orchard was more acceptable.

It's hard to believe that we'll be back soon for the pumpkins and hayrides...wasn't it just Memorial Day???