Another year....

It's day four, folks (although yesterday's picture was kind of a cheat...), and pretty soon 1. Tyler is going to wonder why he doesn't have any clean underwear in his closet, and 2. you're going to get really tired of me. :) But I'm so close to proving myself wrong that I can't give up just yet!

You know it's a good story when I post pictures of myself. Heh. This is me with my best "Um, what's going on here?" look, walking in from the three hour trip home from Cincinnati on Sunday night (just me with the kids, where we endured only one potty stop in a gross gas station bathroom, one fit from the three year old, and one Starbucks stop for a Pumpkin Spice Latte for my reward for surviving the trip solo...). Clearly I grabbed all of the essentials out of the van so I could get the kids to bed immediately - pillows, the Elmo potty seat, and Tess's favorite sleeping buddy (Lord, please don't ever let anything happen to that crazy monkey). It was 8:30pm, and with school the next day, I had directed the boys to head upstairs and get their jammies on ASAP.

But instead of catching Daddy watching Sunday night football like we expected, we walked into a party! My birthday was a couple of days away, and Tyler had been scheming all weekend so he could surprise me when we returned. I thought he was being a little obscure when I asked him what he had been doing with the house all to himself for a couple of days. :)

We waded through a sea of pink streamers and lit candles in the kitchen (and a super clean house, by the way, which gets major points), and made it to the table full of presents (doesn't his wrapping paper pick crack you up?!), cake and ice cream. At first I was a little hesitant - all smart daddies should know that you don't ever mess with a tired momma's planned bedtime routine.

Unless you're throwing her a party, that is. I am totally laughing here because every kid is whining about wanting to be the one to blow out the candle. When you're a mom, that is sort of how birthdays go. Thank goodness for Tyler's sweet effort, because my actual birthday was full of exhaustion and kid drama. For every birthday phone call I got, there were four needy little people lined up one behind the other, waiting to ask me the most important question of their life. I finally just stopped answering the phone because that just meant that everyone might need something all over again. And even though moms try to act like they don't need someone to make a big fuss over them (and busy themselves with doing the fussing over everyone else), it sure is nice to feel appreciated every once in a while. If you look closely, you can see tears running down my face in this picture. Duh. I seriously must be getting old if cried over a dumb pair of tennis shoes. But when I opened them, plus other boxes filled with brand new workout clothes, I didn't see just the neatly wrapped gifts.

I saw a husband who has listened to my words, and who cares about what I care about.

I heard him supporting my efforts to work hard so I can stay fit and feel young.

I felt him encouraging me to take the time to work out, even when I battle the guilt of feeling like I should be doing something else that would seem to benefit my family more as a whole.

I saw shoes and clothes that I would never buy for myself, and felt so loved that he would take the time to figure out just what I would need.

Another year incredibly blessed by such loyal and sacrificial love... noticed in the perfect pair of Nike tennis shoes.

Who knew.

Fall Beauty...

That's right...

I will NOT be called a shallow goal-maker. Even if I just called myself one. I'm sort of getting competitive in my older age, you know (which incidentally gets way older-sounding tomorrow - ugh). So game on this week, ya'll.

Ok, I first have to prove (does this go along with my developing competitive side??) that we are definitely on a shirtless-Jack-O'-Lantern-pose-trend that dates back at least three years. The pic above is from 2009. Oh Chaser, what did those big brothers of yours talk you in to?

I know what you're thinking. Yes, our Jack O' Lantern was super lame even back then. But if you don't clue them in that there are way cooler carving methods, then they'll never know the difference. It's sort of like the fact that there are other options than having your mom cut your hair. Let's just keep that bit of information to ourselves for now too, okay?

And here is the shirtless trio again this year, just in case you forgot what they looked like...

...from yesterday. Since I'm two for two, you know (hey, I'm just as surprised as anyone). I know you all have moved on to Thanksgiving and probably even Christmas by now, but since this is my online scrapbook of sorts, you'll bear with my late Halloween revisit, won't you? P.S. Bjorn joins us again, and he's just plain awesome.

That well-used (sometimes stinky from sweaty boys!) little dress-up bin sure does come in handy every year when I challenge the boys to go create a Halloween costume from what we already have in the closet (P.S. I love NOT spending money!). I'll admit that I drug my feet a bit on Jack's all black mystery guy, but Tyler and I decided that we're not going to get hung up on a color. He wanted to be hidden, we don't worship Satan, and he wasn't trying to make a statement. Truth is, ten year olds don't want to dress up like five year olds. So we let him be ten. Which brought on a huge discussion at the dinner table about why we Trick-or-Treat (uh, candy, hello...), and why some people we know don't celebrate Halloween. Of course everyone has the freedom to celebrate (or not celebrate) a holiday as they choose. But, boys, do we think that dressing up in costumes and going door to door for candy compromises our beliefs? Not in the least. Even if my kid wears all black? Um, still no. Thanks for asking. :) Ok, moving on... The best part of the night? Going around our subdivision and running into tons and tons of neighbors, both great friends and acquaintances alike. What a fun, socially-packed evening! When was the last time you snuggled with a skeleton and looked this happy? :) We got back to the house in time to hand out some candy ourselves, and luckily we were just in time to welcome a visit from this adorable group of girls from Trey's class. Trey opened the door and was greeted with all sorts of giggles and girls calling his name - hilarious! We all enjoyed watching Trey's face turn a bright shade of red as he tried to sneak away back into the house. The girls and I finally convinced him to pose for a picture, which didn't actually take too much convincing. After they were gone, Daddy asked if he had a favorite, and he did shyly whisper a name (wait, maybe two). Ah, third grade love, when you don't have to choose just one. :)

And on that note, I'm adding another aerobics day this week to work off all of the candy I snuck out of the kids' pumpkins over the last seven days.

Duh.

Well, hello there...

Do you think I can blog every day this week to catch up on the last month of our lives? Yeah, I doubt it either, but I'm going to make it a very shallow goal. Shallow being the key word. Don't hold me to it, okay? Oh, you crazy blog readers are so patient with me.

Gosh, I'm so lazy lately. Well, not lazy. At least raking a whole lot of leaves and refinancing your home doesn't feel lazy, but then again, that doesn't sound like a whole lot either, does it? There has to be something else going on in my life.

Hmm... the kids and I did just get back from a great couple of days in Cincinnati. Cory and Steph loaned me two of their boys while they were out of town, and though it was a full weekend with the one adult to six kids ratio (Tyler's weekend to work), it was so very rewarding. Ah, so much love between cousins, that I got teary-eyed a couple of times even. Wish we lived closer...

I just downloaded weeks worth of pictures, so hopefully I can get my act together and post some on here soon. Uh, like tomorrow if I keep my goal. Which isn't likely, if I'm being realistic, but you never know how crazy I'll get during nap time in between loads of laundry. Heh.

Until that happens, I have to comment on tonight's picture. I love it for so many reasons:

1. Tyler's in it, which feels like success, since he denies me sometimes. :)

2. The Daugherty boys once again pose with their Jack O' Lanterns shirtless in like forty degree weather. This is becoming quite the tradition, and we don't even have to plan it.

3. Our Jack O' Lanterns are so lame. Especially after seeing all of your crazy creative, intricate, pattern-followed designs on facebook. Seriously lame, but we were so proud of them that we could hardly stand it.

4. Chase totally cracks me up. That's his AWANA verse he's holding up, and this just gives you a glimpse of how focused he is to memorize his verse each week. I write the verse out, and he literally carries that paper around the house all week reciting it to himself. So proud of that boy.

5. Tess stands out so much surrounded by all boys in her hot pink outfit (thank goodness she DOES have a shirt on!), and is never without a baby in her arms. I look at this picture and see how far she's come in the last few months: much less aggressive and much more nurturing. Thank you, God.

The appraiser comes in the morning to finish up the last bit of the refinancing gig. Uh, are you supposed to clean your house for that?

Oops...