Alternate title: The first week after the time change so all my photos are dark and blurry because I haven’t gotten used to the sun setting at 4:30. I’m going to schedule a nice, colorful, sunny photo post to go up tomorrow morning because this is too depressing to leave at the top of the blog for long.

Sunday:

They both love this

OMINOUS ORCHARD IS OMINOUS

Putting the kids to work making a pie they refused to eat

Monday:

Toddlers on the loose

Riding the dog like a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment!

Stupid time change

Tuesday:

Why look at fish when you can hang out in the aquarium reading area?

$3 worth of dead fish make the stingrays way more fun

The force is strong with this one

Wednesday:

He’s plotting how to knock the largest number of things off the shelves

While the sun is up the weather is GORGEOUS

Poor ear infection girl

Thursday:

Matching leggings 4 life

MUCH needed nap time

Super ambitious sewing plans (so far so good)

Friday:

Wearing two babies instead of one

Suspicious baby is suspicious

Sleeping like he’s posed for a newborn photo

Saturday:

Weirdos

Bacon crackers. So simple. so delicious.

Playing cards is my favorite

I was really confused when I realized today is November 8th, which means November is 1/4th over already. HOW is that POSSIBLE? As ready as I am for Christmas decorating, I’m not actually ready for Christmas. I still have to plan Thanksgiving and Caroline’s birthday, schedule our family pictures, order Christmas cards, and buy all the presents. Plus E has a bunch of travel for work, which means I’ll be doing it alone. At least that means I can have cereal for dinner along with the kids.

Once again, I love fall. I also love staying home and not doing things for several hours a day while the big kids are at school. It’s a good balance.

Sunday:

Pirates at the cider mill

Pirates at the paddleboard rental place

Tiny pirate at the ice cream stand sandbox

Monday:

I suspect the farmer actually paints these himself

Linc is very helpful while I’m editing #not

Wait. No. Stop. Come back.

Tuesday:

Applauding for The Price is Right because he’s a GOOD BABY

This corner of my house = a snapshot of our life

Yo ho ho and a bottle of milk

Wednesday:

Shopping cuddles

Brutus likes the new rug

This is not what I mean by babycakes, babycakes.

Thursday:

Wait for new IDs is way more relaxing when someone else can walk the baby up and down the halls

My bloggy thing at Boscovs was fun and delicious

Linc loves headbands

Friday:

Yay SPORTS

Fridays, man.

FRIDAYS, MAN.

Saturday:

Peewee soccer is adorable

My assistants waving goodbye to a mini session

Saturday mini session success, even with a nursing break in the middle.

So E was gone on an underway this month that ended up being twice as long as it should have been because of the hurricane. To apologize for the unnecessary sea time, work gave him a few days off, which means not only has he been home to help/enjoy all weekend, he gets Monday off too! That means a whole extra day of FALL FUN to do FALL FUN THINGS.

On Sunday morning, we participated in the Mystic Pirate Invasion. We did it last year too and the kids had a blast, Maybe next year I will plan ahead and find them pirate costumes that fit instead of cobbling together dress up from the last 4 years. They got a ton of treasure (candy + beads + plastic gem stones) and I got my 10,000 steps. Linc was strapped to my back (in our pirate/kraken themed carrier, obvs) the whole time, his pirate outfit went mostly unnoticed.

Look! Linc is in a picture!

Scary pirate faces.

Caroline felt is was VERY important that puppy come with us. The child-sized baby carrier was supposed to just be a toy but now it means I don’t end up carrying around the thing she insisted we bring and then loses/drops/wants me to hold. TOTALLY worth $30.

After we ran home and switched to regular person clothes, we headed to WeLiKit ice cream for their 25th anniversary celebration. A friend told me about the ice cream stand over the summer and I have to agree it is some of the BEST ice cream I’ve ever had. And what can be better than a waffle cone that is so fresh it’s still soft and warm when you eat it? It was a tiny bit on the chilly side for ice cream, but the kids did so much running around and general shenaniganery they were plenty warm.

Watching the waffle cone making. Obviously an ice cream stand is the best place to also buy beef.

Indian pudding, my new favorite flavor. It’s molasses and corn meal and if you think that sounds gross we can’t be friends.

p.s. They also sell clam fritters and chowder. Does it sound like the perfect place or what?!

And because I was so happy to be outside after a week of rain, I talked Caroline into playing model for a few minutes. I bought a set of Lightroom presets from Mastin Labs. They’re based on film (remember film????) and while I’m not going to switch over to ALL Mastin, all the time they are gorgeous. I love what they do to greens and shadows. The ones in her tutu were taken in the parking lot of Scotland town hall. The rest were in my yard.

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Once again I DID a lot more stuff than my photos show. When I have my big girl camera with me I have a hard time remembering to use my phone to also take photos so you get a lot of babywearing selfies in this post.

Sunday:

When you are a grumpy mess by 7 am, you get to hold your blankie even when you’re wrapped

Monkey see, monkey do

Caroline looks like she’s about to fly right off that swing

Monday:

Airplane watching

He rode the whole way in the stroller, but is too tired to walk 10 steps to the car

They have a case of the Monday’s

Tuesday:

That’s a really brave fishing spot

Little boy in the big woods

He really, really loves my wallet?

Wednesday:

His first time ever in the mall playground, poor deprived child

WATCH OUT IT’S A BOUNTY HUNTER

We’ve been eating a lot of pasta salad

Thursday:

He’s not a huge selfie fan

STILL NOT A FAN

Sqeeeeeezing out one more beach day

Friday:

He loves traffic

Editing is fun again, because I get to do it kid-free during nap time

AND I can edit while watching EXCELLENT MOVIES

Saturday:

He kept trying to play peek-a-boo behind the chain link.

OH GOODY WE’RE DOING SOCCER AGAIN

She wouldn’t even let me wash it off before bed

This week is our first full week with EVERYTHING: Judo, ballet, swim and soccer. It’s good and bad. I like keeping the kids really busy even in after-school hours because if they’re doing an activity then they’re not staring at the ipad or the tv. But when they get really tired they’re walking time bombs of tears and disappointment. We’re still working on the balance, especially because our weekends have also been really full. Maybe once the weather isn’t so fantastic we’ll stay inside and all take naps on Saturdays.

It was really hot this week, so went to the lake, wore babies and sat on each other. Obviously.

Sunday:

Morning photoshoot at a marina

They both seemed OK with this, so I didn’t stop it.

Evening at the lake

Monday:

Morning at the lake

Sleepy baby face

The Queens Elsa

Tuesday:

Morning at the lake

When did his legs get so long?

More sibling sitting

Wednesday:

He figures by now he’s the boss of the lake

Linc walked around and around this bench for 20 minutes

Even the kids thought we should buy lavender to bring home because it smelled so good

Thursday:

This is what Caroline requested for breakfast.

Spoiled, spoiled children

Allllllll day at the lake

Friday:

This was supposed to be a nice picture of Caroline holding flowers, but she tried to smell them and stabbed herself in the eye

We were a hit in the frozen section

It’s really hot in my house.

Saturday:

There was music, so she was dancing

Heeeeere’s Lincy!

Planet viewing in the planetarium

SCHOOL STARTS ON WEDNESDAY. It’s so good and also so bad. I’m suddenly going to have a lot of time on my hands in the middle of the day and way too much to do in the morning and evening. I’m worried about the kids having a hard adjustment to classrooms (and Caroline to full day) after and structure and rules and having to wait their turn and stand in line and all of that after a summer of nothing but lake life and vacations.

But going grocery shopping with ONE baby I can put on my back? Heaven. My fridge is never going to be empty again!