Fall Fun, Take 1

We hit Rombach's pumpkin patch this weekend with all the girls ...

From 2008 October

Kim, Amelia, Erin, Bridget, Rachel and moi.

All the guys ...

From 2008 October

Mark, with no kid (HAHAHA), Tim, Shane, Mike and Matthew

And all the yellow school buses.

From 2008 October

Defying gravity are Rachel, Shane, Amelia, Bridget and Matthew

Nice photo shopping, EEJ. It seriously does look like our children are prodigies able to sit/stand by themselves and even drive the bus. Even Rachel looks like she can hold her head up, hooray!

Doesn't it look like we had fun?

From 2008 October

Actually, we did. A ton.

Sure, these outings are now very different than they used to be. They are no longer beer soaked, smoking and darts and Golden Tee 3 a.m. nightmares. Instead, we're doing bottle and spit up and tantrum and sticky hand laden afternoon kidfests. But I have to say, having these five kids hang out is fantastic. Loving every minute of this next step of our lives.

And of course this post wouldn't be complete without a pumpkin pic.

From 2008 October

(Thanks EEJ. That was a LOT easier than uploading and digging through my own!)

Mood Swings

This pretty much sums up life lately. One minute even our trains can't make us happy.


The next minute, we're loving life.


And by "we" I mean Matthew and me. Well, and baby Rachel.

I'm pretty sure Mike and the dogs are holding their own providing meals and sleep keep occurring in some way shape or form.

p.s. To prove I haven't off'd either kid or myself yet, check out our latest photos. And yes, there ARE way too many, so don't feel guilty about clicking past the six exact same shots of her starting off into space.

I Rock and So Does Snapfish

So according to my scientific poll, you're all as delinquent as I am at actually printing photos on actual paper for actual frames or God forbid, actual albums. It's a virtual world and we are virtual girls. But allow me to inspire you: tonight I ordered real live photos - a disgusting 186 of them - from Jan. 1 through my last July download.

So NOW when my computer crashes or I spill coffee on it, I won't have to throw myself off the nearest bridge. Because I will have my child and family and friends captured on PAPER not just megabytes. At least, the last six months. We won't talk about the lion's share of Matthew's first two years of life, just right now.

First, let me point out that at $.o9 a photo, vs. $.19 a photo, Snapfish beats the pants of Shutterfly. EEJ, I know you already are a fan...

Second, let me note that I love Picasa enough to marry it. Was SO easy to run through hundreds of photos, tray the ones I liked, connect to Snapfish and one short Visa order later, have our last 6 months of existence be put in the mail within 3 to 5 business days.

Third, do I have any takers on how long I'll procrastinate to actually PUT them into an album? I say if I can do this pre-baby, I'm a hero. Realistically, if I do this within 2008, I could die happy.

Either way, that's hardly the point, people. I can at least take 2-3 and put them in frames. Because judging by what you see displayed around our house, Matthew is still a newborn and Mike and I are still appily engaged to be married.

Okay, to wrap it up with a bow on top ... in my photo search/queue/order process, I ran across some kiddo shots too adorable not to share:

Matthew and Bridget, Superbowl, acting like goofy little kids (not babies) for one of the first times that I noticed.

Matthew and Max, our frienda Steve and Renae's son, during their last visit to us in June. Acting like the sweet angels they always are. Uh huh.

And the entire Steve/Renae clan - Anna, Aidan and Max - on an earlier visit this spring, at their old favorite haunt (before they became Little Rockians), Kirkwood Park.
The utter boredom of meeting Baby Shane at the hospital forced both kids into the closet, apparently?

Oh come on, you kids don't know from fun. Just LOOK AT HIM!

Naturally, I finally post a newborn photo right about the time he's turning 1. Ok, two and a half months, but might as well be 1, this kiddo has already grown more than I care to think about. Stay small, little guy, stay small ... you break mommy's and aunties' hearts when you grow too fast.

Miss Amelia, that all goes for you too.

I have to say, Matthew appears a little more lively visiting you. Guess he just likes the pretty ladies, and who can blame him. Though I certainly did not take a close enough picture of this baby girl, and I will be rectifying that when I can. Trust me, she is gorgeous.

Guess What You Can Do for An Hour?

When you are two, apparently for an hour, you can happily and silently look through the science and learning toy catalog leftover by our prior house owners. Carefully, painstakingly, page by page, back and forth.

But then sometimes you do have questions and comments. "Car? Cars. CARRRR!!!" "Trains, mama? Trains!!! TRAINS! Tracks? Where tracks?" "What's that mama? And that? What's THAT?"

For an hour.

Then you look through it again for another 1/2 hour that qualifies as your bed time story. And you sure can charm the pants of your mama while you're doing it.

What Month is This?

How did we go from 77 degrees and this at Forest Park on Sunday:


To 7 inches of snow and this on Tuesday in Shrewsbury:




So far in March, I'd say we got that lion part covered. Now I am ready for soft fluffy lambs.

Well It's About Time for Some Holiday Cheer

It's been a long time between posts and tonight doesn't hold much more promise for a meaningful update as I need to stop soon and pack for my trip tomorrow.

(Side note: thought I'd catch up on my posting while I traveled last week but somehow between catching up on e-mail and dinnner each night, I just ran out of steam around 9 every night. Somehow just being out of town took it out of me. I think my body sensed there's no baby husband or dogs around to need anything ... and just shuts down ... and demands that I self-soothe (being away sucks) by laying in the hotel bed in my p.j.'s eating ice cream from the hotel shop while watching HBO movies.)

Anyway, since I returned it's been a flurry of holiday fun before I left again. Including a visit to Santa (photo, tears and all TO COME once I figure out my scanner), a pre-Christmas visit with Grama LeBaige and not one but TWO trips to Toys R Us (and I know I'm not done) for various kid gifts.

And then - da da da DA - we got our TREE!


Matthew was pretty interested for a while. "Ball, ball!" and liked to shake them. And two broken as a result.
He got most excited about hanging his little teddy bear ... which was actually MINE when I was a kid. Ah, does it get any better than that?
Must have taken 20 photos to get one showing the lighting decently. A photographer, I ain't.
One cheery holiday task down, 892 to go!

A Great Little Thanksgiving

A little ping pong

A little fun in Grama's new tub

A lot of photo shoots in matching outfits
And a lot of cousinly love. Matthew and Danny hope it was a happy Thanksgiving for you, too!

MMMMmmmm

There's a first time for everything with a toddler...
Tonight it was spaghetti!

Post-Halloween High

We've been having a pretty good fall week here at the Muldrows, starting with Halloween and through this weekend. On Wednesday, I got home just in time for a marathon pumpkin carving session.

We also found time to admire our handiwork ...

Oh yeah, did anyone see my chicken around here?

Then, per tradition, we packed up said chicken and met the gang at Trainwreck like we do every year. (Note to self: why would we EVER question the location? We always say expensive beer and bad service. But there are two other much more important words: Mexican ravioli).

And we had new friends join us this year - Mike's friend Brad and his girlfriend Dawn, who are both big Matthew fans, and vice versa.

AND we got some very awesome incredible and just so amazing news ... that I maybe shouldn't share here - but to the readers who know who they are - YAHOOOO!!!!

We had a great time, and you'd have thought it was Valentine's not All Hallow's Eve, the way the love was in the air that night between our oh so coordinated former lion (beautiful Bridget) and former chicken.

(Hey Matthew, her eyes are up here, buddy).

So it was a great Halloween, and through this weekend, we've been on a post-Halloween high ... could it be the weather? The pumpkins still on the porch? The crisp golden leaves decorating our lawn? Or perhaps, might it be the vast soup pot full of Halloween candy we're been stuffing ourselvevs with whenever we pass through the kitchen?

I think the number "six" was involved when counting up chocolate bars yesterday. Those mini Kit Kats just TAUNT me so.

p.s. For the complete Muldrow 2007 Halloween EXPERIENCE, check out our Picasa album (to the right). Grandmas, you can easily download high resolution copies for printing or screen shots - neat trick with Picasa you can't do with Shutterfly, so it's worth the free software download.

Fabulous Fall Fun

After a long week of Work, we finally let our hair down at the Pumpkin Patch this weekend. The boys stomped around the patch.

Matthew toted his "laloon."

And of course we were lovin' the punkins ...

... Punkins ...

...Punkins ...And more punkins!

We had a wonderful day - blue sky, nice crisp weather, and a fabulous funnel cake. It was a happy day to be a Muldrow.


Happy Halloween week, everyone!

P.S. Here's the very giant album of all our fall fun last weekend.