
Labor Day in New Jersey. With the Shontz cousins’ recent move to the area, the East Coast contingency of cousins now outnumbers those out west 12 to 7 (Ryan, Lauren, & Lily are not pictured here).

These water bottles go pretty much everywhere with my girls. I love that they keep drinks super cold so that the ice doesn’t fully melt even after an entire day (I have turned my kids into ice fanatics just like me).
While helping me make banana bread, Lucy managed to find a way to one up her big sisters in the licking the batter department. I guess she figured why wait for me to actually remove the beaters from the mixer?

I love the elaborate Playmobil worlds that Ella and Claire create.

Ella’s family portrait. I told her to draw us at her favorite place to go together and she chose the beach. Notice that she made sure to point out her new Dragon sneakers. I just bought them for her to wear to gym at school and they are her new prized possession.

Lucy is having a hard time adjusting to being without her sisters during the day. This was Ella’s second week back at school and Claire just started her “phase-in” days at preschool. On Thursday after I dropped Claire off at a friend’s house so they could play and then go to school together, Lucy cried all the way home saying she needed Claire, and then cried for an additional 30 minutes or so for good measure after we got home. She was not interested in being consoled, so what else to do but pull out my iPhone camera and capture the moment?

I couldn’t resist including this screen shot of Matt’s team name for his office fantasy football league. Matt did not pick the name out himself; it was given to him by his co-workers. Apparently at work they call him the CHO – Chief Hair Officer – because they can’t get over how much his hair looks like Mitt Romney’s. I had never noticed it before but I guess I do see some resemblance (Matt vs. Mitt). And just to maintain my political neutrality, this is not an endorsement of Mitt Romney for President. Just an endorsement of his hair.


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