Happy Belated Birthday to Daddy!

With lots of love,

your three favorite chicks

xoxo

And happy belated birthday to Auntie Erin! We ♥ you!

Two Very Different Girls

Well it was inevitable. I knew this day would come, I just had no idea when.

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Natalie and Hillary have decided that they do not want to dress alike anymore.

With the exception of holidays and functions, of course! I had to hold onto something!

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Gone are the days where I can grab 3 matching outfits out of the drawer. I mean it definitely had its advantages and was too cute! But it couldn't have come at a better time. Being pregnant and all, it will save me some time and laundry-management skills - having all the right sizes clean at the same time.

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It was ironic that when I dropped the girls off at school (in their very different outfits), the director informed me that they would be moving up to the 4's classroom that day! The girls were excited that they would join some classmates that had already transitioned from the 3's and that they would have two new teachers! When I arrived for pickup, the director pulled me aside to let me know that they were concerned for the last hour or so that I wouldn't remember where to pick them up, so they were very happy to see me. I talked with the teacher for a bit and mentioned that this was the first day that they weren't in identical outfits. She laughed and said that may be why Hillary pulled her aside at one point to say, "We're different you know." The teacher then told her that everyone is different and Hillary replied, "But me and Natalie are different people." Mrs C. said that she could tell she would be challenged by these two - they are very smart! We celebrated with Happy Meals on the way home. And there were plenty of pictures taken.

They also demanded different shoes for the day, opposite Happy Meals and to have separate pictures taken. Now I just have to explain that while it's good to be different, they don't need to ditch each other altogether. But watching them walk into the 4's holding hands tells me that these two do need each other - when it's most important! ♥

Natalie or Hillary?

Either way,

a kid in Groucho Marx glasses is always funny!

Plum Island

♥ Natalie's love for Bandaids ♥

We took a ride to Plum Island one night last week. It was a little breezy but we had lots of fun standing in the crashing waves. The kids really appreciate the beach this year and it's nice to see them truly enjoying themselves. As much as I love fall, I'm sure come winter, these will be some of the pictures that will have me counting down the days to warmer weather. We ended the night with ice cream cones and it really doesn't get much sweeter than that. You gotta love carefree summer days!

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26 Things

We're back! Twelve hours in the car (with one 1/2 hour lunch break) and who would have pegged Mallory to be a complete angel. They all did better than I had anticipated but the twins became restless the last few hours. There was plenty of pinching, tattling and tormenting but who could blame them. As we pulled off our exit they were chanting and even Mallory's little fist was pumping the air. Home sweet home!

But it couldn't just be sweet, right?

We pulled into the driveway and began removing everything from a packed minivan. I had all the energy in the world to have everything back in its place in record time...until I walked into the kitchen.

Which leads me to my unofficial 26 Things. I'll cheat for the sake of this post and share letter B with Kelli. Can you guess what I found? Lying on the floor? A bat. A dead bat! Now some may say, "Hmm not that big of a deal." But to me, this is a huge deal. The questions that were running through my mind were endless. How do situations like this seem to find me? How long has the bat been dead? Does it have rabies? Where did it come from? What has it touched? How do you disinfect every little thing in a house?

At this point Jay disposed of the bat, sprayed "the spot" with Lysol and was rolling his eyes at me. So who else do you turn to in an emergency? My mother of course. Her response to me was, "A DEAD BAT!!!" So I called the animal control officer. Two just to be safe. I'm pretty sure they were rolling their eyes over the phone (I assure you, I was very calm.) I mean its not the end of the world. But at that moment, after driving for 12 hours, I didn't know where to begin. So I took straight bleach to every surface of the entire kitchen.

I was feeling a little better until I searched Wikipedia. This is what I read:

"Bats have very small teeth and can bite a sleeping person without being felt."

So I'll be sleeping with one eye open tonight and bleaching every other room of the house tomorrow. Any other suggestions?

On a side note: I will be treating this as an isolated incident, just like the one mouse we had, so please don't comment about never having just one bat. My father already went there. And I may also be seeking therapy tomorrow.

Vacation!

We're off to Prince Edward Island..."the land cradled in waves".

See you next week!

I hope my pictures are as beautiful as this one! I found this on a PEI blog.

Golf Day

I asked Jay to take the camera along golfing. I thought it was time for a little masculinity on the blog.

Dad & Jimmy

Dad & Jay Coughlin

the guys (Jay, Dad, Jay and Jimmy)

You didn't think that golf just consisted of golfing, did you? They had to do something while they were getting rained out!

It wouldn't be complete without an awesome picture of Jay Coughlin!

Lesley and Rob's Wedding - August 2, 2008

Lesley and Rob were married on Saturday. She looked absolutely beautiful and the wedding was amazing! We had a few bumps along the way...including pouring rain (that cleared up for pictures!) and being stuck in traffic that made the entire wedding party (the girls anyway) 45 minutes late to the church. I'm sure Rob was sweating it out on the alter! The whole day was a lot of fun AND I was the matron of honor, which was a first for me!

getting ready at her Mom's

a little anxious on the way to the church

champagne will make it better...

...much better!

first dance

Lesley feeding Rob a piece of cake

Rob getting ready to throw the whole cake...but he was a gentleman

The band...I think this was the first wedding I've been to with a band and it was so much fun!

I think its pretty cool that Lesley and Rob now share a wedding anniversary with my parents. This year was number 40 for them. 40 years together!

Happy anniversary Ma & Dad!