Summer has come and gone.

Ray Ray started school. He's in the 2's and only goes one day a week. He still is crying for the most part, but last week was much better. If you don't remember Joey cried in the 2's till March, and now Joey begs to go. Hopefully we see Ray turn a corner sooner. My Mom always told me that as a mother you are as happy as your saddest kid. That makes sense right? Anyway, it's nice to have a morning with Louisa. I especially like it because that's the only day of the week I get to shower before noon! Ahhh, the joys of being a mother ;)

 My bestie from growing up, Alli Walli, came to stay with us in August for a few. The kids still walk past the room she slept in saying "Shhhh, Awwwi is sllleeeeping." Alli never misses a beat with the kids.... even on LA time. The kids love her and Ray still pretend calls her daily.

 My beautiful Mom just turned 60. We threw her a suprise 60th dinner at Ruth Chris and the night turned out perfect. It was just a small group of us, but very intimate and relaxing even if the night ended with a debate over where some glacier stopped in Franklin Township many moons ago. You'll have to ask my brother about that :)

 This summer was also filled with my 10 year class reunion. I began to plan it and decided there was no possible way I would put the energy into it that needed to be there. I passed the torch over to an awesome friend and our night was a huge success. Plenty of old friends, pitchers of beer and stories told at a local restaurant. I was impressed with our turnout.

 The girls finally met. Big Joey's best friend, Brian Egan, who is also Little Joey's Godfather, had their first baby. Brian and Jenn just moved back from Portland after both finishing their residencies and are finally getting settled back into Indy. Their sweet baby girl, Layla Jolee, and Louisa may just have to be best buds. For now, car seat buddies.

 We have a HUGE obsession with The Wiggles. We perform, dream, reenact, dance and do all things Wiggles right now. Little Joey can do every dance and studies them off of Youtube videos from our phones. We were able to go to their farewell tour at the Murat, and since then we have been dreaming of our Wiggles Halloween costumes. The Wiggles products are really hard to find. They aren't in many stores, only so many on Ebay and if you order direct from the website the Australia shipping will kill ya. So.... with that being said... if you happen to come across anything Wiggles, please send them our way. If you haven't been up to speed with them, this is their last year and there will be new Wiggles characters as of next year. We are desperately trying to collect all we can before the new guys take over. What we do for our kids, right?

 This pic slipped in there, but glad it did. We are still working on wearing our glasses, but isn't he a doll in them??  It's funny how things change.... when little Joey was a baby, it seemed impossible to have playdates or go anywhere due to crying spells. Louisa prefers the excitement and is bored out of her mind when the boys are sleeping. It's such a sweet blessing they have each other.

 Ahhh, there are the Wiggles. We got our tickets off of Groupon and the seats turned out to be pretty good. They put on an amazing show, and I am actually sad these guys won't be coming back (they are in their 50's though).

 A night away!!!! Big Joey and I finally had a night away. My pledge sister, Abby, got married in Bloomington last weekend. What a perfect place to have a wedding and bring everyone back. She married a Sigma Chi and that is the fraternity we mainly ran around with in college. It was great seeing all of the girls and guys at the old bars.

Lastly, a sweet pic of my crazy Ray Ray!!! If you think of it, say a little prayer for him on Tuesdays around 9:00am when he gets dropped off at school. He needs all the prayers he can get.... and so do his teachers.

Until next time, we will be either soaking up some good weather, performing Wiggles or at a Roncalli event trying to find the band.

Boating and Babysitting

When we were in New Buffalo, Michigan we were able to meet up with my pledge sister (roommate) from Pi Phi. She has 3 kids that are all about 2 months apart from mine. They have a place there too AND A BOAT!!! We had a blast with them! The boys have been begging to go back and jump off the boat since and we can't wait!

 This pic was right at dinner time where we all starting having little meltdowns. Hard to believe we each have 3, Tayte.

Here's a pic of our fab babysitter.
She saved me this summer and I feel so blessed God put her in our life.

New Buff

 We went to New Buffalo, Michigan the last week of July for 8 days with a ton of the Matis fam. My in-laws recently bought a place across from The Stray Dog that sleeps 20. It's amazing and has a perfect set up for multiple families. I always get a ton of anxiety about vacations, especially when I'm the only one with little kids and we are on such a different schedule than any of the family, however, this by far was one of the best family vacations ever!!! It's a perfect place to vacation in summer because you honestly feel like you are in Florida, however, a 3 hour drive is sooo much easier. Everything is walking distance, and we only got in the car one time to go to the go-kart track. I just uploaded a ton of pics from the week, but I obviously still don't have much time to write, so here it is.

 Joey adores the Matis cousins, and they play with him and Ray as if they are best friends. Waking up to them every day made mornings so much smoother.

Playground on the beach, yes!! Wiffle ball games in the pool, yes!

The condos also have mini golf, bocce ball and shuffle board. Of course we drew names for partners and had an "Olympic" tournament.

 Louie did well for the most part. She was extremely flexible and took naps where we were.... now why didn't I do this with my first two????

Ray loved the beach in Florida, but absolutely would not let his feet touch the sand.... and this didn't change the entire trip. Is this a 2 year old texture thing?? It was so strange.... and annoying. But, kids will be kids. Joey lovd the lake. He immediately put on his goggles and was going under like a fish. He's come a long way this summer with swimming. Joey can dive off the side and swim under water the entire width of the pool, and Ray Ray is a maniac off the diving board.

 Mama and Lou Lou.... still working on trying to find some resemblence.

 Finally, a family pic. I wanted to find a place to take our family pic and continue to take it at the same place every year.

 Games, games and more games. There isn't much down time with the Matis'. Unlike my family who chooses to take a bunch of naps and lay around, the Matis' are constantly playing games and enjoying friendly competition. Never a dull moment.

 Of course, I had to paint Louie's nails Beyonce style. Aunt Katie helped me with this one. Adorable!

 My wonderful hubby who helps me get through every day. He was a champ on vacation.... staying up late with the crazy fam and getting up early with the kids. I don't know how he goes on such little sleep. Amazes me.

 Cousin Willie always has to have his hands on the baby. He doesn't have kids of his own yet, but I knew he was going to be so helpful with the kids when he was 20 years old and holding Joey for the first time and he asks, "Where's the burp cloth?" What 20 year old asks that?? Louie loooves him!

 And.... Ray Ray.... oh Ray Ray. Constantly making us laugh. Although he usually is being a stinker, he has the most adorable grin that melts your heart. He loved all the attention and soaked up letting every hold him while watching the Olympics.

 Poor Sammy. He couldn't escape Ray. If Sammy was anywhere close to Ray, all you heard was "Sammy, Sammy, SAMMY!!!" Such a trooper.

 Late night games at the ginourmous Matis table were a hit. Really... don't think there is a table much sweeter than that.

 Oh Lou Lou!

 Louie swam for the first time. She wasn't so sure about it, but did great.

 Games, obvi.

It was a wonderful week, and I can't wait to go back. I'm thinking Fall Break?????

Oh, June

Hey ya'all!!

 Wish I had some time to blog, but unfortunately I don't. It's a good thing though. During this busy part of my life where I'm not writing anything down or blogging about anything, I will look back and know I was crazy busy and that's why. Thank goodness for this little girl, otherwise we may forget to pull the camera out once in a while.

 Happy Fourth!! It's been miserable hot. We typically spend our mornings trying to find a pool. I usually bring a fan for the babe and the boys are pretty independent when it comes to swimming. Joey prefers no floaties in the shallow end and Ray uses his puddle jumper and will do about anything in the water.

 We still contine to obsess over Louisa. She has spent so much time in her car seat being sheltered from toy trains being chucked across the room, we have forgot to practice rolling over. She is about 17 weeks and we almost have it down. Louisa has been pretty easy for the most part. She's been sleeping through the night since 6 weeks, takes acid reflux meds on a regular basis and gas drops with every bottle. She's pretty flexible and will take her morning nap in the car seat whereever we are and takes a huge afternoon nap with the boys.

 Joey will go to school 3 days a week starting first of August and Ray starts going one day a week. I may just have one morning a week with baby Louisa, and I CAN'T WAIT!

 Finally our summer will start to settle down. June has been awesome, awesome, awesome!!! I went out to Laguna Beach for my best friend, Tiffany's wedding. I forgot my camera out there, but if I come across some pics I'll be sure to post. It was on a beautiful rock ledge and the waves were minutes from sweeping us away. I went out there by myself, and it was fun to let go and have a timeline of my own. I missed the fam for sure though!

 Last week we got to celebrate Katie Matis and Liam Smith getting married!!!! It was aaah-mazing!
The ceremony was at St. Patricks and the reception was held at Lucas Oil Stadium. We had pictures on the field and danced the night away with Caesars. The boys were in the wedding and their white tuxedos couldn't have been any cuter! Joey was a champ getting down the aisle, but Ray needed a little shove from a few people in the pews. Thanks Carla and Gail!

 We are so very excited to have Liam part of the family. He is from Canada and it has been great getting to know his sisters and family. Katie and Liam just bought a place around 57th Street in Broad Ripple and it's going to be a blast setting that up with them. My boys couldn't love Liam (and Katie) anymore. Liam has spent hours and hours and hours with them and anyone who knew them would say Liam is on the top of their friends list.

 The new and improved Matis fam is above and Katie and her Goddaughter Louisa after the rehearsal is below. Unfortunately, Louisa didn't make it to the wedding. My Aunt Donna watched her the entire day and due to the heat and the anxiety I had of getting the boys down the aisle, it was best to leave baby girl at home. THANK YOU AUNT DONNA!!!

 The boys are getting huge! Some days they love each other and play incredibly together, and other days I split up about 50 fights. Usually it ends with Ray pouncing on Joey and Joey crying-- funny where they get their toughness and sensitivity from. At the end of the day I feel ok about this though because they stick up for each other big time if anyone is roughing them up at the park. I can't wait to show you pics of them from the wedding--- eeeehh, so cute!

 Oh, there they are. The cutest little couple eva!!!! Welcome welcome welcome Liam!! We love you!

 My pics are all out of order, but mid-June we took the boys to meet Thomas. What a super set up they had in Connersville, Indiana. We went on a train ride, played putt putt, jumped in a bounce house, rode more rides and ate for $15/person. It was the perfect age to see Thomas!

 Oh hey baby girl!! She doesn't seem to have much emotion in these pics, but if you say one word to this girl, she lights up!!! She's starting to chuckle and her rolls on her legs are getting bigger by the minute.

 Below is a pic of Katie Matis with her Man of Honor. Yes, ladies and gents, no maid of honor for her... but Willie Matis (cousin) was an amazing Man of Honor. Even though the entire church lost it when he held her flowers and fluffed her dress, he couldn't have had a better attitude and did an incredible job.

I think I'm going to try and do more frequent, shorter posts.... these posts may be less of an update and more about something funny that was said or done. When thinking back, these are the things I'd really like to remember.

I will leave you with something funny Little Joey said today.
 "Mom, it smells like I'm going to poop." -LJ, 4 years old.