Moving along through Fall

I am realizing that I am not so good at this Blog thing these days.  I am not sure that it is lack of effort on my part of the simple fact that our life is so darn hectic all the time that there is far too much to post and I am far too tired to post at night once the kiddos go to bed. 

Things are going very well for us Juengers.  Lucia and Tim came to visit the end of September and we so wanted them to stay longer then they were able to...a one night visit is just to darn short!  We enjoyed their visit though and caught up on life and the Denver and NJ happenings along with what life is RI is all about these days. It turns out that they have a new family member that my kids are nuts about, that would be their Border Collie named Chris.  Oh yes, this dog is amazing.  He listens, he follows directions, he runs when he is thrown a ball and he brings it back right away and he does not jump up on people and my kids are convience he is perfect!  So, after Lucia and Tim left we heard for several days how they needed to come back and how the kids SO WANT a dog!  Not going to happen though, as our cat is a handful.  I will save that for another day.

Molly and Hailey did give Tim a bit of a makeover during his time here with us in RI.  Molly, Hailey and Tim were all quite fond of their accomplishment.  A beaded bearded masterpiece!!

Working on a new look for Tim

Happiness is a braided beard.

Lucia checking out the "new look"

Moving along to October....Shawn and I were fortunate to experience a second honeymoon to celebrate our 10 years of marriage.  We went to Ft. Lauderdale Florida Oct. 9-12th.  We had a blast!  We stayed at a resort that was gorgeous (Lagomar.com).  We ate good food, drank good drinks, went for a daily 7 mile walk, relaxed by the pool and took a daily swim in the ocean.  Needless to say we totally and completely enjoyed our time together and the ability to have several conversations without interuption.  We also decided we cannot wait another 10 years for this time together, it was fantastic.  I have to say that what helped to make our time away so enjoyable was the comfort of leaving the kids in the hands of Grandma.  I don't think they missed us a bit and they loved having her sleep over our house, something that she has only done maybe once or twice in the past.  The kids and grandma seemed to really do okay without us.  Thank you Grandma!

Back in RI with Grandma and ready for dinner!

Hudson got some cuddle time in with Grandpa.

The kids did not miss us a bit!

Mommy in Ft. Lauderdale

Mommy and Daddy hitting the beach.

Last week we had Halloween.  I am happy to say that all the kids were healthy and happy and really enjoyed the night.  We started the evening at a neighbors Halloween Party and then did our neighborhood stroll with my little Witch (that sounds so mean), my little Ghoul and my Boo Ghost.  The costumes were simple this year and the kids were comfortable and warm so it made a good night. I had to laugh because Myles wore a black hooded thing with glasses that flashed red eyes, a long black robe that was very baggy, and he was dressed in all black.  Well, Halloween morning I was watching the news and they had a reminder to parents: "remember to keep your children safe this Halloween.  It is dangerous to have your children's face covered, to wear long costumes and to be dressed in dark colors."  I had to just laugh as I failed everyone of these tips when it came to Myles!

That pretty much wraps up Fall for us.  We are ending the season with a Thanksgiving Feast here in RI complete with Shawn's Uncle Jeffrey, Aunt Wendy, Cousin Kirsty and Wendy's mom from upstate NY.  We are looking forward to the holidays and I have a feeling they will be here before we know it!  Oh, and Shawn is looking forward to a trip to Cleveland to watch the Brown's vs Raven's on Dec. 4th.  I booked this trip for him to party it up on the one year passing of his dad.  He needs the distraction of good friends and football during what could be a difficult time.  So for all those football watchers that follow us....if you think you saw Shawn on tv going nutty at the Brown's tailgate on Dec. 4th....you probably did!

So much going on and so little time to tell you all!

We have had a bunch of new and fun things going on the past month which have very much kept me from updating my blog.  Aunt Kitty came to visit us from Oregon at the end of August and it was the best way to end the summer.  We shared in her enthusiasm for life and her daily greeting at the door and just truly enjoyed having her be part of our every day lives for the entire length of her visit.  While she was here we had Hurricane Irene visit us too.  While we personally were not affected by this hurricane it did delay the start of school for all my kids by one whole week! Shawn and I and my mom and Aunt Kitty all shuffled our schedules and we each took a turn staying home with the Juenger kids while the others went off to work.  It actually worked out really well as we got more time with Kitty!  She was able to assist with seeing the kids off to school their first day which turned out to be the day after Labor Day (nature's way of telling us school should not start in August) and I will post an adorable picture of Kitty and the kids when I upload them to my computer later!  Aunt Kitty made Molly a skirt (Molly picked out the fabrics) that she proudly wore her first day and the boys both wore t-shirts she bought them.  As you can probably tell she was a real treat for us Juengers to receive! 

So the week of September 5th brought the start of 2nd grade for Molly and Myles and the last year of preschool for Hudson.  All the kids are doing well and get this- they all  have teachers named Ms. Kim!  Molly and Myles are once again in the same classroom and they are really seeming to enjoy the routine that goes along with being back in school.  There is nightly homework and spelling tests to study for and we just got our first real project assignment.  They both have to come up with 15 interview questions and interview an adult.  They have to write down the questions and the answers and turn this in next Monday. It will be a busy weekend!  They are excited to do the project though, which makes me happy!

This brings me to another exciting happening.  Myles got glasses.  Yes, it turns out my little man has a double astigmatism!!  This may explain why he struggles in school and why he is always so darn tired come 2pm.  He has glasses now and he is so adorable in them that I can hardly stand it.  He actually has two pairs. One pair he keeps at school and one pair is for home.  (Again I will post a picture soon.)

Finally, we have been super busy with soccer.  Shawn is the coach of the team and Hudson was suppose to be the Asst. Coach.  Molly and Myles are loving it.  I have to say it is the first sport they have played (and they have played b-ball, baseball and football) that they both seem to understand and really enjoy.  Back to the Asst. Coach.  Hilarious.  Apparently, Hudson was not cooperative at the first practice and when he was suppose to be helping Shawn with practice he was instead digging a rather large hole in the ground.  So, if you ask Hudson he will tell you that he was fired but if you ask Shawn he will tell you that Hudson quit. It turns out that Shawn nearly sprained his ankle in the hole that Hudson dug in the field the very next week.  So, Hudson and I have had some time together while the twins and Shawn are off to soccer. It has been very nice but oddly quiet in my house on Tuesday nights.

So between soccer games and homework and parenting we seem to really pack the hours well with things like apple picking, room remolding (we redid our family room- see picture of mantle), art and craft projects, fires in our new fire pit and enjoying any company that comes or way.  Life is busy, life is good. 

Agenda for this evening: Visit from Tim and Lucia, we are excited!

M & M turn 7

Molly and Myles enjoyed a birthday on August 17th. We hosted a party at the local watersides and invited 12 special friends. It was so much easier not doing a party at the house and the kids and adults had a blast!


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Hailey, Sadie, Molly and Elliott


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Grandma turned 68!

A lot has happened in the past few weeks. Firstly we had a family celebration in honor of gram's birthday. We had a scavenger hunt for her to do with the grandkids. She had a good time finding the clues and later enjoyed s'mores by the new fire pit. Her favorite!



















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NYC afternoon

It has been awhile since my last entry for a couple of reasons, I did not want to admit my vacation was over and I have been so darn busy the past week! Last Saturday we were sad to say goodbye to Lucia and Tim's house in NJ but super exited to spend the day with Aunt Barbara. We left without a hitch at 10am and made it to Barbara's by 12:30. We had a great afternoon visiting with her; we walked to a near by playground where the kids picked apples (lol) and we enjoyed two wonderful family meals together. The kids and I were so sad to have to leave that we stretched our stay until 8pm and finally got home at 11:00pm. We are hoping to see Aunt B in a week or so here in RI!











Looking at photos on the iPad



Walking to the nearby park.







A lady was making huge bubbles at the park.



The kids were intrigued by Aunt B's mailbox.

The kids made themselves quite comfortable as they wanted to spend the night!

A little bit of everything

I guess I will start by saying that Shawn and I have now been married for TEN years as of today. It certainly hard to believe it has been so long as it does seem like just the other day that I packed up and moved out to live in Cleveland with Shawn and a random room mate and his dog named Vinnie that shed way too much!

Here we are 10 years, 2 houses, countless jobs and most importantly 3 kids later and still both very happy with one another (confirmed as of 5pm today).

So today we did a bit of everything:
We started the morning coloring some rocks to leave behind in the rock yard for Lucia and Tim. I was outside with the kids while they did this and saw three incidents that left me questioning the integrity of people and really what this world is coming to. So I was outside for all of 45 minutes and saw:
1. A man run a stop sign at the corner.
2. A car go by and throw trash out the window AND
3. A car stop at the stop sign, an elderly woman hop out and open and shut the tailgate (as if the driver instructed her to check it) and then the car sped off and left the lady! The lady went running down the street in her elderly way after the car, then the car stopped and a man hopped out and screamed at her and she got back in the car and it drove away. It was such a strange 45 minutes of time. As if I was being reminded of how truly lucky I am to be surrounded by good people who care for each other and the world around them. I know, I know ...random but totally needed to be blogged. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

First thing we did this morning was decorate rocks. Midmorning was spent on the bay at a new playground and watching people catch crabs.Then we went home for lunch and Myles enjoyed a long nap while Hudson and Molly did crafts. At 4pm we went to the ocean for a swim and to collect lots of jellyfish. We were home at 6pm for showers, dinner and sometime outside coloring rocks and talking to people as they passed by and watching Shawn weed the flower beds. Kids are now in bed. Shawn is sipping his beer and watching preseason football with a smile and I am about to grab myself a cocktail.


























Goodnight.
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