and the winner is...

argyll's revenge! they played last saturday night at carnegie mellon university's battle of the bands and WON! they won a $150 gift card to guitar center and will be playing on october 29th for cmu's homecoming! i am excited for the boys and look forward to hearing them play! hooray!

the sweetest place on earth

welcome to hershey!

i have been in camp hill/carlisle pa for the last couple days. due to the g-20 summit being held in pgh, our office was moved here this week. i arrived early thursday. let me tell you, it has been a nice but weird experience. i am not used to having quiet time to myself. today i slept in until 10:30 am! it was lovely. when i woke, my friend, stephanie, and i headed to hershey, pa. neither of us had been before. it was a really neat experience. unfortunately, i did not bring my camera for pictures.

we did not have time to go to the amusement park or take the trolley tour, however, we did go on the chocolate tour and took the chocolate tasting adventure class. just so you know, it is now official. i have my master's in chocolate tasting! i also had so much fun buying treats for my boys. i look forward to bringing them to hershey at some point. thanks, steph, for the fun time!



my favorite candy

they're back!

after a summer hiatus, argyll's revenge is back in the groove. wed night they played the rock-n-bowl at arsenal lanes. it was a jolly good time. on saturday, from 3-4, they will be playing a block party in greenfield. let me know if you need any more details. here are a couple pics of wed night's fun. please make special note of ben's hard core stache.

11 months ago...

i had this little dude. he is great! and i love him.

what do you remember?

this was the question i asked jonas after he watched president obama's speech on friday. he said, "never give up." AWESOME!

lest we forget

i know this is a day that is held in remembrance for many. a day of sorrow in which many lives were unfortunately and unfairly lost. i hope that we can all take some time today to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for those that have made sacrifices to serve our wonderful country. i know i am grateful for all the soldiers, fire fighters, ems workers, and police offers that serve us daily. today, i wore my red, white, and blue. i know it is cliche, but i am proud to be an american. i know we are free: free to live our lives how we choose, to worship how we choose, and to remember as we choose.

today at jomi's school, we were asked to bring in cookies. the cookies were then boxed up and distributed by the children and their parents to local police, ems, and fire stations. the kids made thank you cards to deliver along with the cookies. we brought ours to the penn hills universal volunteer fire station #6. i was teary eyed as the boys offered their cookies and said thank you. such a little act of love, but one that helps us remember those that sacrifice daily for each of us.

3 boys

i love these 3 little guys in my life. i am happy to have them. but it is so difficult to get a picture of the 3 of them together. here are a couple of my attempts.

letter to santa

ok, so it is september, but yesterday jonas was working on his christmas list. he then put his list in an envelope and put a school bus stamp on it. he asked me to dictate a note to santa for him. i had to post what it said.

dear santa claus,

did you have a nice summer? how's your wife? i hope you bring me lots of presents. i've been a very good boy.

love,
jonas

my name is jonas....

jonas' first day of school was great! i woke up at 7:30 am and found him sitting on the couch, dressed in school clothes, with his hat on, all ready to go! he was all smiles and insisted on riding the bus. i had wanted to drop him off to which he replied, "you can drop me off at the bus stop, mommy." so, we all made the trek (1 block away) to the bus stop. the bus was 25 minutes late! but it came and jonas happily jumped on. he was so excited and totally hamming up for the camera too. such a cutie. it was weird not having him home during the day, but after school, we picked him up at the bus stop and headed to max and erma's for a celebratory dinner. when i asked him how his day went, he replied, "good. i didn't go to the principal's office." and he had a green smiley sticker for today. all is well! here is my big boy! i can't believe i have a kindergartener!



all smiles leaving the house



doing a dance



proud daddy



proud mommy



cheesin'



the bus finally arrives



off to school

orientation

jonas had kindergarten orientation this morning at forbes elementary. ben and i both went, thanks to my friend, anna, who watched gryffie and porter. we had the chance to see the school, meet jomi's teacher, mrs. yohe, and meet the principal, mrs. brown. both seemed FABULOUS! ben and i were impressed. jonas has his own little desk, which he was able to pick on his own. mrs. yohe seems to have a very structured and fun learning environment. i think jonas is excited, although nervous. probably his favorite part of the day was riding the bus. ben and i are excited to be involved in the pta and assist as able. jonas will have his first day tomorrow, and is insistent that he ride the bus, so we will be taking him to the bus stop at 7:55 am. tomorrow, neither ben nor i have class or work, so after school we are taking jonas and the other boys out to dinner. jonas picked subway. crazy kid.

i have to mention the rest of my day, which was great. after orientation, i dropped ben and the younger boys off at home. jonas and i went shopping at the children's place for some school clothes. then we went to baskin robbins for ice cream and then to the library. jonas picked out some movies and books, and i already read two of them to him (we are asked to read with him 1 book per day). also, ben had requested the new arctic monkeys' cd- humbug- which is awesome. i listened to it on my way to work. after getting home, the boys watched barney's halloween (1 of the movies jomi picked out) and i made chocolate chip cookies. it was a good day!

a freakin' dorable

one of the best sights to behold. my boys (jonas and gryffie) walking up the stairs at the ymca. jonas is holding my i-pod and each have a headphone in their ear. both are singing "what is this feeling," from wicked, quite loudly, i may add. it made me smile and made my day!

camping

we went camping this past month for 4 days at the river's edge. let me tell you, camping with 3 little guys is crazy, but fun. we enjoyed the campground as well as our new tent which is roomy enough for the whole family. george (our beagle) came along with us as well as many of our friends and family. we enjoyed campfires and swimming, biking (not me), and lots of delicious food. we did not love the rain, however, and ended up driving home friday just to avoid it for part of the day. (we drove back that night).

jonas loved being able to ride his back around the campground and gryffie took to running laps around the loop. he would run multiple times per day, and loved it so much that we think we are going to sign him up for a kid's run in october. cute boys. i enjoyed trying to get george to swim in the river and playing at the pool. i loved watching the guys do their frisbee pass off while jumping in the pool- they were able to have all 6 of them throw and catch while jumping in- impressive. i think ben enjoyed this, too, as well as swimming the river with chrissypoo. here are some of my favorite pictures.

be of good cheer

this was our lesson in relief society yesterday at church. i admit, i have been struggling lately to do so. these last couple weeks have been rough- in multiple ways. i won't go into detail, but i have been having a difficult time keeping a smile on my face. i have seen the impact on the boys as well. i can tell they are acting out a bit more, most likely due to the fact that i have been stressed and impatient with them. so tomorrow, i am going to the temple. i haven't been in a while and i really felt the overwhelming desire to go. i am dragging my wonderful brother-in-law, chris, with me. we both work tomorrow evening, so we are leaving at 5:00 am. early, i know, but necessary.

i also heard a very good quote today. it was actually on ellen (i watch it on mute while at the gym). "resentment is like drinking poison." this was said by nelson mandela. i am trying to do this and feel better already. i definitely needed to hear that today- and i need to work on doing that as well. ah, life. sometimes all you can say is "it sucks." but we can't know joy if we don't know sorrow, right?

web albums and sleep...

i am addicted to both of these.

i have a couple albums to add from the county fair and also from our camping trip this summer. but it has not been working today or yesterday and i am going crazy! anyone else having an issue?

i worked night shift tuesday and wednesday night. last night, i went to bed at 9:30 pm and slept until 8:00 am. it was FABULOUS! the boys are fed, and we are off to the gym. it's amazing what sleep can do! i feel happy and refreshed!

portie on the go

portie has been a bit of a late bloomer. he just started crawling about 2 weeks ago. i forgot what it was like to have a mobile baby... the grabby hands, the dislike of being confined (as seen above with jomi), and for me, feeling obligated to vacuum more than once per month... but i love that he is interested in exploring the world. if i could just get him to stop eating grass and dirt!

washington county fair

one of our yearly traditions is to go to the washington county fair each summer. the fair opened last saturday and we were there for opening day. the clarks played that night, too, although we were too busy riding rides to stop and listen (and the boys would not let us anyway). jonas especially has been enjoying rides and he even went on the "fire ball" with ben, although it was not his favorite ride. if you don't know what the fire ball is, here's a picture. i didn't ride it.



i like going to the fair for so many reasons- spending time with family, seeing all the animals, looking at the entries for the different prize winners, enjoying the delicious food, specifically gyros and lemonade, and riding the rides. if you haven't gone to the washington county fair before, i would definitely recommend it. so much fun!

duckies

i think most of you know that we lived in jacksonville fl for a year. it was a rough year for our family- ben didn't really care for law school, i wasn't used to being home with 2 crazy kids, and we were in a new place, trying to meet new people, etc. but the one thing that was fabulous about being in florida (other than meeting new friends and falling in love with the lunts) was where we lived. campfield condos. we had a fabulous swimming pool, which the boys still talk about, and a beautiful pond with a sidewalk around it. we would often take walks as a family around the pond in the evening. various animals would frequent the pond, specifically ducks and other birds, although we did see some otters at one time. one of our favorite things to do was to feed the ducks. and we have continued that tradition back here in pittsburgh. we enjoy going to highland park, near the swimming pool, to feed the duckies. there are geese there, too. the boys love it. and it is nice to walk around the park and enjoy the sun.



the duckies



gryffie fishin'



brotherly love-jonas and portie

kennywood

it's summertime. and summer would not be complete without a day at kennywood. we enjoyed the annual kelly family day at kennywood, complete with potato patch fries, and cotton candy, and fudge, and lemonade. this year was a bit more stressful as we were the only kellers there and did not have family that we felt comfortable passing our children off to. however, the boys are enjoying the rides more and more. jonas is almost too big for kiddieland. he wanted to ride some of the big boy rides. so after dinner, ben took gryffie and porter home and i stayed with jonas. thank you to aunt sue for the ride home! i loved having some date time with jomi (and getting to ride some rides). he told me his favorite ride was the exterminator!! that's one of my favorites too. i think next year's trip will be even more fun! hooray for kennywood, and grandma and grandpa for organizing our kelly fun day!

pictures? of course!

what did they say???

i had to post two things the boys have said in the last two days.

gryffin, at dinner last night, for no reason, said, "that's what she said."

jonas, in the car home from the children's festival said, "that's crackalackin!"

what???

wild animals

we went to a children's festival today, thanks to sadie and mom, where the boys got their faces painted. jonas wanted to be a tiger, gryffie, of all things, wanted to be a skunk. so dang cute. here are a couple pictures of my wild animals.



scary tiger



are skunks scary?



who is the scariest?