MJ

Madeline Jane, 18 months old.

 

 Impossible not to love.

The norm

Tuesday night Bible study prep...

Wednesday afternoon stop at Miss Kate's on the way home from Bible study/preschool...

Wednesday night dinner, just the two of us while the others were at Awana...

(I like to keep it classy when there's no one else to cook for. Salami out of the bag and half of Ellie's leftover pbj? Yep, that works.)

"Hey Maddie, let's wash your hands..."

And before I could turn around with the damp paper towel to wipe her down, she was on her way to the bathroom to wash her hands like big brother and big sister.

Up on the step stool, reaching for the soap!

Didn't realize how much she understands, puts together, and is capable of.

As Rob says, we have no babies.

Nap time

Last weekend

Last weekend Rob went to the Notre Dame game with some friends, so the kids and I enjoyed a Saturday on our own. We enjoyed an early dinner at Chick Fil A and killed the after dinner time in the play place.

Robbie was winding Maddie up just by chasing her or surprising her by coming down the slide as she stood at the bottom.

We headed home and started the process of going to bed.

This always begins with some distraction playing. You know, maybe Mom won't make us go to bed if we play quietly and nicely. 

 Um, I need to check out the bathroom.

I wrangled all 3 of them into the bath tub and cleaned them up. Is there anything better than yummy smelling, clean children?! (not a whole lot)

Not thrilled by something.

Aaaand... still not thrilled. She's even ditched the paci at this point. Translation: I mean business. Get me out of here.

Pretending to write a letter (with the torpedo pool toy).

Baths often end with the older kids in the shower for one reason or another. 

Sadly, after getting everyone in pj's and put to bed, Robbie kept waking up crying. I suspected that he might have an ear infection because he was miserable but couldn't tell me why. We ended up with a very fitful night of sleep, but still made it to church with Aunt Kelsey's help. We were more than happy to welcome daddy home later in the day!

The Orchard

Just the words Apple Orchard make my mouth water. 

We went to Kuiper's Farm a few weekends ago when the weather felt more like summer than fall. We want to do a few seasonal things with the kids this year since it's so much easier to get out and do fun things together as a family! So the Orchard was first on the list, and we had to knock it off quickly because we want to head right back and visit their pumpkin patch in early October, then maybe head back again and pick out our Christmas Tree sometime in November?!

Getting there was interesting. The kids were all tired, since we chose to go in the afternoon. And Robbie did the whole "Are we there yet?" routine about five minutes into the 45 minute trip. 

I think this picture speaks for itself.

Car potty!

Upon entering the orchard via tractor and trailer, we were told that 40% of the orchard's fruit was damaged (or didn't grow?) by the lack of rain and irregular temperatures this spring and summer. They had harvested some of the apples that grew ahead of season, and had them in bins in the orchard so that apples were available to everyone who came. Thoughtful, practical and most likely very necessary for business, but who is content to pick an apple out of a bin when you've driven 45 minutes to pull it off a tree?! Not me. We went to the last row and found lots of great apples to pick off the trees. I actually love that some of them are half the size of regular apples - the little ones are perfect for my kids' little hands and smaller appetites at snack time! 

Trying to get a picture with the kids...

I am grossly outnumbered, and therefore cannot get a good picture of everyone for the life of me.

Oh well, they're still cute and this is much more representative of life now anyways. I'll take it!

I am feeling a little betrayed by Maddie - she totally looks more like a "Livingston" than an "Armbruster" in this last picture! The only child I feel like really looks like me, and she's turning on me for her father's side of the family. 

It's a good thing those Livingstons are a handsome bunch. :)