NYC or bust...

Off we go!
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Alli and the boys, curbside,with our stash of bags, etc.
Not bad... for a traveling party of 7!

A few of my favorite things...

Just came across this little diddy,

which {insert huge sigh of relief} still makes me smile...

..

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Quite possibly my favorite picture that I've ever taken!

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Sometimes,

when I least expect it...

amid all the underwear wrestling...

the bumps and dents in our walls...

the disturbingly unexplainable "mystery" bruises...

the constant coat of caked mud on their shoes...

the stained sleeves they borrow and use as napkins...

the wall murals painted in sharpie and/or white-out correction tape (Umm... yeah)...

the glitter glue I'll never get out from between the floor boards in the Craft Room...

the incessant arsenal of whirling plastic weaponry...

the indian burns and purple nurples...

the super-hero dress ups...

the little growling dinosaurs...

the blanket forts and bubble baths...

the entire cast of miniature 'CARS' cars which magically drive themselves all around our house...

the Legos... {insert exasperated sigh}... oh, all those darn LEGOS...

the skateboards and scooters and bikes and rollerblades and ripsticks...

the crayons, paintbrushes, colored pencils and markers...

the dog-eared UNO cards...

and otterpops...

Amid Diego and Sponge Bob...

Zack & Cody, Drake & Josh...

Mario Kart and Lego Star Wars on the Wii...

Piano lessons and Pine Wood Derbys...

the grubby smears and fingerprints...

Basketball Courts...

Soccer Fields...

Football Turf...

Batting Cages and Baseball Diamonds...

Bouldering Gear and rock climbing harnesses...

various scattered ski paraphernalia...

the beloved Webkinz and super-powered Sock Monkeys...

the mountainous piles of homework...

the pirate eye-patches and the nerf dart guns...

the CTR rings and zip-up neckties...

the holes in... well... what DOESN'T have them these days?

Yes, amid merciless pillow fights until someone cries... (and that would usually be Trevan)...

the never-ending grass-stained jeans...

Amid "I Love you Stinky Face" and "Where the Wild Things Are"...

the bubblegum tape and the pixie sticks...

and pants that are too short... too quickly...

Somewhere...

Sometimes...

Every once in a while...

I get a glimpse of the amazing, incredible men these boys are growing to be.

And I find myself in the presence of greatness.

Therapy...

Ahhh...

Sigh... What is it about a neatly stacked cabinet full of perfectly sorted,

color-coded* dishes for my kids that brings such joy to my little soul?

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It's just such a beautiful sight, I had to take a photo...

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I don't expect many of you to understand this, but I just LOVE to be organized...

to the extreme!

Silly, I am sure (and I am the first to admit that it's probably right on the verge of unhealthy),

but I can't deny how very, very GOOD it feels!

(Insert a happy smile of satisfaction...)

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*Some of you already know, and maybe I am sharing too much with the rest of you...

but when I say "color-coded", I mean that in a literal sense...

Each of my children is actually assigned a specific color (before birth),

and everything that belongs to that boy is always that color.

(I have lucked out so far that Kaden's favorite color is blue and Trevan loves red...

Everything for Daynen is green, and of course, he is still too little to know for sure,

but I am hoping that he will just be so used to it that it will grow on him!

And in case you are wondering, after much deliberation, Bronson will be orange.)

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Sound crazy? Maybe...

But I ALWAYS know who remembered to put their dishes in the Dishwasher

or who's Art Supplies are still out in the Craft Room, and I love how easy it makes the little things in our life.

There is no fighting over who's is who's or who gets which one.

And for the record, they love this system, too.

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So there... I said it... Now you know.

Indeed... it has come to this...

My children are eating Hot Dogs for Dinner...

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Yes... you heard that right... HOT DOGS!

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Kade even loaded up "duel-ies".

2... yes, TWO... and he'd have had 3 if I'd let him!

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To understand the true magnitude of this moment
you must first understand my true and utter disdain for Hot Dogs...
Weiners, Franks, Hot "Dogs"...
people should not consume things with these names!
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I have not eaten one since the 8th grade
when Dwayne Aragon told me what was in them
after having worked at a slaughter house over the summer.
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Admittedly, I did have a momentary lapse of insanity
(I was pregnant with Kade, what can I say?)
when I thought I absolutely had to have one
because the aroma from that little kiosk was seducing me...
But, alas, I did not actually EAT it...
I gagged it out before I actually swallowed the first bite!
(Poor Matt ate the rest,
shaking his head the entire time
at the fickle appetite of pregnancy...)
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Perhaps only my parents will remember my history with Hot Dogs...
How I swore I would never feed them to my own children...
How I would never corrupt their perfect, pure little bodies
with such a vile, disgusting excuse for food,
just for the sake of ease, convenience and filling up their tummies.
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Oh, no... not MY children! NEVER!
And yet somehow... somehow, we have arrived!
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In my defense, Matt bought them... (I guess they were on "Sale"!)

and the boys do LOVE them... (and probably love teasing me about them just as much!)

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...and hey, I ate TOAST for Dinner!

Heaven...

96 degrees today...
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The boys played outside all morning...

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Our wonderful neighbor's opened their fabulous pool for the afternoon...

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It is just after 7:00 pm...

Here is a view of the back-seat as we wait for our Curbside Dinner pick-up...

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Sigh and smile... We are all in Heaven!

(Grateful Mommy of 3 very exhausted Monkeys included...)