what we've done

I'm playing catch up right now, so when I do my blog book this year I will have all the other random things we've done documented... so for all those readers out there {I know who you are} this is a wonderful reflection of my inability to be consistent...

at Wonderlab

the best water works table

a little to nervous to put her face on it, just stick with the feet!



the dinosaur that will "eat me" - Pierce



golf ball maze, a favorite

A little bit of IU Law School!



future student, sitting at her daddy's desk
{the creepy pic is of a past professor}


























gazebo on campus or a castle to the kids!



the stain glass is gorgeous in the background

Justin's fellow brotherhood

The house of Pi...
I'll send this pic for her RIF legacy letter some day;-)

waiting, waiting, waiting................

5 o'clock!

And Nana came!

Since beginning Law School, Nana Dee has come to visit every six weeks! It makes the weeks more fun, bed time less stressful, and we eat out {we're on a student budget right now.... imagine that... with 3 kids}, so Granddad Ken sends Nana with instructions to eat at all the fun places... and that we do!

Pierce, our future pilot!

 We went to the Children's Museum in Indy, again, ridiculously cool! Here is the Egypt exhibit, the first time we've been in it since going. You take a simulated airplane ride and land, then when you "get off" you are inside a market place, you see the Nile River, ride in a taxi, its all quite amazing!

on the sphinx

driving Nana in the taxi

riding a crocodile




and then there's the race car

























of course we needed some souvenirs
from the museum store,
and Pierce chose dinosaurs...
they are what he is into right now!



























We went to a local winery {Oliver Winery}, it was amazing! They had a store where you could buy sandwich stuff, and then walk around on their manicured lawns with a lake! It was lots of fun, and it was the first time Pierce said, "mom, its like the Ranch" {this is where I teared up a little}. It indeed was  {of course minus the wine}. But this little boy played for hours wandering around the trails, throwing rocks in the lake, and feeding the fish!

this is what our pics look like now..
no one actually wants to look at the camera!

he is SOOO happy right now!

we ate a picnic on the dock!

fed the fish... they were huge!

Ran... A LOT!

admired the giant frog!

And bought a case of wine!

Okay, now I'm not a wine expert, but this winery makes their own Blackberry wine, and I don't think I have ever had anything like it! It was amazing! So, if your a wine person and have a few bucks to shell out I would recommend looking up www.oliverwinery.com and ordering a bottle. You WILL NOT be disappointed!

we went shopping...
rides were a reward for good shopping in the store!

Thank you Nana for a great week! We couldn't do many of the fun things with out you! Can't wait to see you again!

The 2nd City {Chicago}

It has been a while since I blogged, there have been many tears shed between my last blog and this one. The reason why? Well, we decided to update our operating systems and changed to Windows 7, so that meant a complete hard drive reformat, etc, and in the midst of everything, my dear sweet, so helpful, so going out of his way husband, didn't down load all our pictures, just some.... So after the help of {brother-in-law, EE, Garmin employed} Ted, we discovered that they were indeed LOST. FOREVER. S.A.D..... sadder for my husband {mainly, because I was sad}. So all that to say, BOO HOO. But I am thankful for Facebook and all the other techie stuff out there, we've been able to get a lot of the lost ones... just a few key ones are missing...

But in during Justin's break between summer school and fall start, we went to Chicago! So fun to be close to such a GREAT city! And our favorite Rara was there with us too! We had a blast!!

At Navy Pier

Pretending he is a turtle in the pond!

All the fabulous faces of a 3-yr-old

the shooting water at the garden is a 2-yr-olds delight!

Sweet Girl~ looks just like her brother at this age!

At Navy Pier

This is date night!

We ate at Graham Elliot... the food was amazing!
{he is one of the judges on Master Chef}



 

 The smart thing we did was bring Rachel with us to Chicago! Then one night, she and Justin went to Second City Comedy club and one night Justin and I went on a date... lots of fun for Justin... Its kinda his thing... he's the fun guy!



Justin's dream chair... we will never, ever own it... because we have kids,
and because you could buy an orphanage in
 Africa for the price of the chair~ instead he can visit it at the store!











First ride on the El



it was quite fun... kids ride free!



American Girl



giant woody, outside LEGO land!

Life through the phone...

Here are some recent pictures, {taken with my phone} enjoy!

The 3-year-old likes to be silly in all the photos!












flying home to the Ranch
{we've been here 6 weeks, and they still ask}



Two sleepy heads.. sometime around 6:30



the three-amigos!







They messed up Justin's drink at Sbux and the big guy asked for it...never to early to start... right?



Happy 3 Months Sweet Girl

Today marks the 3 months for our sweet girl. Each of our kids has a nickname that was given to them very randomly; so far we have Peanut, Big Guy and Sweet Girl {I think she got the best one}. Given to her by her big brother, and its the cutest coming from him, pronounced: s-eeet g-rrLL.







You weight 14.5 lbs, much more petite that your siblings were at this point. You sleep 7 hours a night, four naps during the day {five on the busy days}, and you are the perfect #3 child our family needs!

You smile at almost anyone!

And you seem to be the most opinionated of all our babies thus far. For example, you like to have down time; 7:30 on the dot each night you like to go to bed, cry a little, or coo quietly; either way, if we try to hold you or interact, you show us this lovely face, so instead we give you time alone.

We love your ginger colored hair!
 Happy 3 months Sweet Girl!

Children's Museum

For those who have moved, you know that there is always a period of "quiet". Its a time of reflection from where you've come, a re-framing of where your going, and it offers the opportunity to change things up a bit schedule wise. So that's what we've done. We've reflected {better known as crying}, remembering all our sweet friends, and fun summer time activities, that we miss. We are changing up where our priorities are, not what we value, but where we are spending our energy. For example, Justin is leaving around 6:45am every day, and returning well after 10pm... yes this is a little more than we thought it was going to be. But that means we make it a point to drop of lunch and dinner to him. He hops in the car, we drive around the block while he talks with the kids, sometimes we go to a nearby park for 20 minutes, and then drop him back off. Today Blythe said, "I really like the stairs at daddy's new home where he lives" , she is referring to the steps that lead to the front door of the law school {hilarious and sad all at the same time}. So when Justin says he has a free moment, we stop what we're doing, load up in the car, just for a few minutes here and there.

Thank goodness there are just a few more weeks left of craziness and then he has a 2 week break to be all ours! So as not to dwell on the past and everything great that we left, we have been motivated to make some new memories here to make it feel like home. We've visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum, which is the largest children's museum in the US. It is amazing, and if you're ever in the area, it is worth the price to drop in. Justin and I have talked about how we would like to go on a date there {that is how cool it is}!

So in efforts to make new memories, here we go.



There was a Dora the Explorer exhibit for kiddos ages 5 and younger!














Dinosaur Exhibit was so cool!
A little over our kids head,
but there was a section that looked like you were
walking through Jurassic Park!



A whole area dedicated to trains, this was Big Guys favorite!
They had an old caboose that was simulated as if
you were riding it. I think he could have stayed there for hours.

Barbi! This was Peanuts favorite!
There was a design studio, fashion runway,
doll dressing area, pretty much a little girls dream!

Big Guy was quite intrigued with the phone!