Combine crisp leaves, chilly winds, and a few rays of sunshine.

Blend in four siblings. Stir well with dirt and air.

Throw in a football, 2 brooms, 15 pieces of broken chalk into days with empty hours.

Cover in jackets. Let cool outdoors until people start crying or the sun sets.

To serve, place Autumn Fun on a blanket, enjoy with a runny nose and side of muddy shoes.

Love,

Jess

Fresh Produce from friends and family. Between my brother-in-law, mother-in-law and my neighbor we ate like kings this summer. Homegrown kings. (my salsa recipe will be coming soon — save those tomatoes!)

School Supplies. I’ve been collecting odds and ends school/craft supplies for years. It all seems to make sense now that I’m homeschooling the kids.

What you are grateful for today?

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Jess

Ry lost some teeth.

Ryan sporting a summer smile at the beach.

Molly found some patience, fractional mind you, but patience none the less.

Molly tending to her new cousin Max.

Claire found courage.

CJ "hanging" out on the neighbor's play set.

Leah lost her willingness to give up her “thumb” after nap-time.

Leah with her "taggie" on the diaper table in her nursery.

Peter found peace during his time as a canoe leader for a wilderness week Up North. He didn’t loose any of his paddlers.

Pete carrying water at his pre-trip camp site.

I lost my cool and then found it, then completely lost it again, then figured I didn’t need ‘my cool’ because frazzled is the new look for Fall.

Molly, Me, Leah, Ryan in front of the fire pit.

What’s in your lost and found box?

Love,

Jess

A sparkly new sign, made it into my Christmas decor. (Hand painted by my fellow Shabby Mama, Andrea.)

The felt “board” was laid out with our Velcro Nativity set.

My sil, Carly, gave all the sils a meaningful Christmas ornament. It means a lot to me, as I don’t have any biological sisters.

Did I mention, cookies already? We ate a lot of frosting too.

Feliz Navidad,

Jessy

Love,

Jessy

Ryan and his buddy Mason.

Claire and Leah, with their Little People bus, came out to wave bye-bye.

Ryan’s first day of afternoon Kindergarten.

sigh, I’m so proud!

Love,

Jess M.

I’m committed to my cause, but if I didn’t take a minute to stop and smell the flowers, I’d have to be committed.

Love,

Jess

Grilling several times a week on our new gas grill. Love it!

Collecting “Junktiques” to be a Junk Market vendor in a local show.

Letting Claire and Leah explore their curiosities.

Claire loves dumping out the DVDs.

Leah loves chomping on her biter biscuits.

So, how have you been lately?

Love,

Jess

The Rest of our Outings

I used my $2.50 store credit. How could I let the credit expire? It’s like throwing money away, right?

I fed Leah a bottle in her stroller, saved Molly from being smashed inside 4 turning jewelry displays and fielded 3 conversations about “How busy we must be!” I replaced about 14 jewelry items to their proper homes, opened 23 ring boxes that had been snapped shut, and taught Ryan the difference between pearls and white beads.

Finally, I found a clearance fashion ring worth $2.40. Oh, yeah, it was worth it.

Next, off to the Dollar Store! After all, Ryan’s 5 1/2 Birthday party supplies weren’t going to jump over to my house by themselves.

(The twins and I came home from the Hospital on his whole birthday, so we put off his kid party until the Spring. I had six months, but now I had only two days and a family road trip the morning after his party, to prepare.)

Molly convinced herself that we needed to prepare now for her 3 year old party in June. I ignored her repeated requests for pink noise makers, balloons and cookies. Really, she requested everything and everything pink she saw.

I let out, “It’s Ryan’s special day!” as cheerily as I could as she continued with her pleas.

I just kept plotting along, throwing red streamers, golden mini-trophies and juice boxes into my basket, which was now, causing my forearm to feel slightly numb.

On our way to the check out counter, Molly put her foot down. Literally, stomped her foot and exclaimed,

“I want to GO to JUNE’s house!”

Followed by another foot stomp and a even louder exclamation,

“For my PINK-ah-LISH-ous party! Now!”

You may think, at this point, I could have pontificated the virtues of using an inside voice and being self-less. What did I do?

Laugh!

“Who’s house do you want to go to for your party?” I asked surprisingly.

Molly slightly hyper-ventilating explained, “June’s house for my, my, my 3 party.”

I’m quite positive, all the ‘How old is big sister?’ conversations with on-lookers, have gotten her mind a bit cloudy on when her birthday will come along.

I assured her that I will make her pink cupcakes in a few months and gave her a hug.

More importantly, I headed home. Enough outings for one day. I still had to make dinner, make sure all our clothes were clean for our road trip and email my family about Leah and Claire in the Cutest Baby contest for our local paper.

More to Come…

Love,

Jess

The Store

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s…It’s a mom burning rubber in her minivan to get her child to a bathroom!

Park the van. Whip up the double stroller. Buckle in both babies. Grab two hands. Check to see if I have my van keys. Okay, Operation Commode underway.

Riiing! Just as we reach the door, of the nearest department store, my cell phone blares from the underbellies of my purse. I could have let the phone ring. But, no, I answered it, like a loyal dog.

Thankfully it was my dh, Neat Pete. Even now, as I type, I can’t even remember why he was calling. I muttered something about having a potty emergency. Molly pushed as many automatic door buttons as she could find during my 15 second conversation.

Through the open doors we flew. Passed fundraiser stuffed animals, summer sun dresses and brightly colored patio collections, we flew.

Until, I saw, an end cap with jewelry sets. Oh look, something shiny, I brought us all to a stop.

“Mo-om! Don’t doddle!” urged Ryan. (Where have I heard this before? At least I know something I say makes it into his memory banks!)

Leisure shopping is not in my vocabulary.  Plus, the bathroom beckoned us from the back of the store. The jewelry sets left my attention, as quickly as they had gathered it, and off we went, in search of the bathroom.

I accepted help, to open the bathroom door, from a customer service clerk. So, humbling, I promise you.

The girls and I waited for Ryan, who is now happily situated in a stall. Each and every woman, that passes in and out of the door,  strikes up a conversation or tosses out fleeting inquiries about my family.

“Are those all yours?” they cry. “You must be so busy!” they claim. “I could never do that!” they admit. “Are they identical?” they prod. “I knew twins in my graduating class!” they add.

“It’s a lot of fun!” I respond. I feel like telling them I also have a 5 year old boy, but he’s is pooping in the stall next to you, but I don’t. Cause, I’m sane.

“How old is big sister?” they beg of Molly. They of course are met with a blank stare, filled with wonder. I can see her wheels cranking, Why do all these strange women want to know my age?

To which, I say, “she’ll be 3 in June”.

That’s all it took. Molly began whining and scrambling for the door. I knew my patience was getting thin. I sent a how are you doing pal? over the stall door. He was almost done.

Almost done, isn’t done, when your a 2 2/3 years old middle sister, waiting in a bathroom for too long!

She melted into a whimpering puddle next to my leg. At the same moment, I remembered, I had store credit that would expire unless I used it by, of course, that very day.

Back to the jewelry department!

Part 4 – coming soon

Love,
Jess