Going to the Farmery

First, a confession. With two working parents, our kids spend a percentage of their time shopping with us. The only way to get our grocery shopping done is to get one of those lovely carts with the car in front, settle a dispute of which two kids get to sit in there and put the third up in the cart facing us. So Erin is very, very familiar with the grocery store.

Now we live in the Garden State, right? So you would think she would be equally as familiar with farms, etc? Apparently not. With last weekend's beautiful weather we decided to go apple picking. When we informed Erin we'd be going to pick apples she said "Oh, at the grocery?" Well, no not quite. So we tried to explain the concept of an orchard to her by using a farm as analogy. The result? If you ask Erin where we got all of the apples she'd reply "At the farmery".

The first set of pictures is from the "farmery".

Since that was such a hit, we decided the next day to take the kids and meet up with friends at a farm with a corn maze. It was a lot of fun for everyone other than the angry cow pictured below. Yes, I used the zoom lens for this one because she really did appear to be quite annoyed by the gaggle of kids on the other side of the fence. Seriously, it was a lot of fun. And I dare say I even matured a bit - I much more appreciate the farms and what they have to offer than when I was a teen growing up in that town and dealing with the smell of cow manure and sheep farms on the highway!

She Walks...and They Fight!

How do you add more chaos to house with three kids, two dogs, a mom who has been working crazy hours and a Dad who's learning to cook dinner every night now? You have a 13 month old start walking of course. Sloane took her tentative first steps a few weeks ago but is starting to get good at it now. Halfway across a room with no spills and going further each day. Are we thrilled that she's reached this milestone? Of course! Are we trying to figure out what to do once Sarah walks and we're outnumbered? You betcha. Once I figure out how to work the handy dandy new camera, I'll take some video and post it.

Ever since we found out we were preganant with twins, we've been bombarded with the twin stories and statements from other parents of multiples "Oh, they'll be so close" and "They'll have a special twin bond". I've now deciphered what all of those parents were really trying to tell us - "They'll start fighting even younger than the average toddler". This past weekend was witness to the first Sarah & Sloane Smackdown. It was like pro-wrestling for toddlers, or a game between the Yanks and Red Sox! Let it suffice to say that after Sloane had taken a crayon from Sarah we learned who could hit, who could push, who could pull hair...and who could bite.

Erin's recognized that all of these events have given her a bit more freedom - while we're busy separating the twins, she's figured out that she can get herself the popcorn, sit back and watch. Hmm.... enjoys bench clearing brawls and dirty fighting - looks like we have another NY Rangers fan in the making!

Random Updates

School: Today was the official start of the new school year/daycare year for the girls. All three girls did very well, even as Mom teared up upon hearing how Erin beamed upon entering the Ladybugs classroom. Sarah and Sloane are now in the Honeybees Part II room and were thrilled to see their beloved R. (teacher) this morning after a 4 day weekend.

Home: Speaking of the 4-Day weekend. Can someone please explain to me how a family can have 4 days off of school and work and manage to get virtually nothing accomplished around the house? I can't complain that it wasn't fun - we had time at the park, time with good friends, time walking around and back to school shopping. Yet, we still haven't managed to grocery shop for the week or get all of the laundry put away.

Work: For anyone still wondering -I actually like my job now! I'm learning a tremendous amount and I've been blessed with great project teams that make me laugh as much as they make me pull my hair out - what more can any project manager ask for?

Random: Many moons ago, I asked for suggestions for blog links. I'm going to start putting them up as soon as I get a little bit of a breather at work. I'm going to add some of my favorites - Here Be Hippogriffs (pregnant with twins after infertility), Nine Texans (my IRL friend) and many more... have patience! I'm also planning on putting up a few book reviews in the next week or two as well (when I have time to read...hahaha)