...and then there were five.

I've mentioned to several people lately that it was very easy for me to slip into single girl mode when my kids left at the start of summer. How quickly I forgot how it feels to have to race against the clock from 4am til 11pm day in and day out. It was easy to get used to having no one to care for but me. There was hardly any laundry. Almost NO cooking. I think I only had to take the trash out to the street maybe three times while they were gone. Since their return, incidentally, it's full three days after the garbage truck empties it. (How can these tiny little creatures generate so dang much refuse? It's mind boggling). It took me half as long to get ready in the mornings and I got twice as much sleep.

But none of this is shocking to anyone who has children. It's just life. It's what I signed up for-- what we all signed up for. So, while I'm still adjusting to being a mother of four--again--after a long reprieve, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm tired and overwhelmed and short a few hours every day, but most of all just plain glad that the cubs are back in the den with mamma bear.

Winter is around the corner.

Bears don't eat their young, do they?


There are a lot of pictures here. I've been doing some catching up.

Hallie and Livvi got new haircuts today for school. Look at the cute girls with the stacked bobs! We're in Utah now. We basically have two options: the big tease or the stacked bob. I think you know which way I lean on this one.

Having lunch at the pizza factory after haircuts (and numerous other exhausting errands). This is a classic Livvi face. I just wish the lighting wasn't so horrible. Also, that Hallie's finger wasn't in the foreground. Curse you, cell phone cam!

The fam got together at the park for a family night-slash-belated celebration of Livvi's 7th birthday. I love this picture of Livvi. Look how pretty she is.

My niece, Emma. Doesn't get much cuter than that. Way to work the pigtails, Em.

Uncle Jim bought fishing poles for the kids and taught them to fish (thank you, Uncle Jim!). Ben was reelin' them in!

We went with Auntie Jenna and her boys to a park that's typically a hot-spot for sledding in winter. Can you see why? Hallie looks like a deflated balloon near the bottom of the hill.

LATE-BREAKING ADDITION TO THIS POST:

Livvi's new friend, Randi is here playing for the first time. She just came up behind me and said, "Hey, you're really pretty." Randi will be playing at our house a lot, I think.