47

Yes, that's right...47 pictures to follow.  I know!  But hey, that's what I need to do to get it done.  And I have many more to share...!

We ventured to Scott's Antique market one Sunday after being at church from 9:00 to 1:00 while my mom was in town.  Yes, the kids were wiped out, but they did great.  We found this great buffet for the dining room so Ricardo set the kids up to play restaurant and they entertained themselves for almost an hour.  It was precious! 

 Seriously, it just hurts sometimes...the cuteness, that is.

 I have to upload the pictures from the rest of the day, but last Monday Ricardo took the day off of work and we kept Diego home from school (which his teacher totally supported) and we went apple picking and pumpkin hunting.  We started the morning off with a fire in the fireplace...

 ...pumpkin pancakes...

 ...and daddy reading "Boxcar children"  It was wonderful to have such a leisurely morning on a weekday!

 My girl peeling apples for our apple pie.  She is in the kitchen almost as much as I am these days.  She is so eager to help and I love it!

 Ricardo and I looked down at the kids the other morning and Marco was watching a video with Diego, with his arm around his shoulder...he moved it right before we snapped this shot, but this is still precious.

 Today (Oct 1, the day I'm writing this post) I hosted a little birthday brunch for Christy and Hannah who share the same birthday.  It was totally last-minute and low key, but it was so much fun!  We had 13 children between us and 7 kids were at school so it would have been 20 kids between 8 of us!

The beautiful birthday ladies and their babes.

 Alexia loved having so many of her friends over at once!

 After dinner tonight the kids shared a bowl of melon.  Not sure how, but it turned into the sillies and I just love these pictures of them.

 Ok, now we get into random order.  This is a picture from Tio Diego's last night in Atlanta.  We went out to a fabulous dinner at Rathbun's and had a great time!  Diego had won a gift certificate so it was his treat :)

 The crew making pizza

 When school started I thought my snack ideas were just so much fun so I took a few pictures.  Doesn't feel so exciting anymore, but thought I'd share the picture anyways :)  (that's mango in there, the kids absolute favorite)

 I took this picture of us.  I cuddle Marco before his naps and bedtime and I know these precious cuddles will end soon so I wanted to capture it.  He is such a cuddle bug and Ricardo and I both soak it up :)

 Scrubbing a tire so some friends could make it into a tire swing

 A Saturday afternoon hike by the river.  I'm freaked out by snakes so I didn't do well here.

Building towers with pegs

 My mom came for a visit in September and we had a great time.  We took Marco out to lunch on Saturday while Ricardo was at Rock Ranch with Diego and Alexia and other Heritage dads.  The next two pictures are from there:

 A coffee date at Alon's with Grammie

 The kids wanted to go to Chuck E Cheeses with Grammie so she was happy to oblige.  Alexia sure adores her grammie and loved having a buddy to enjoy this ice cream bar with :)

 Redeeming their tickets

 This is Mrs McCarthy, Alexia's teacher.  We ran into her at Mellow Mushroom one night and invited her to join our family for dinner and it was incredibly special for Alexia. She could hardly believe it!

 We took a trip to the farmer's market and Marco LOVED the fish!

 The kids requested a zoo outing for grammie's last day with us.  Holden is one of the boys that we carpool with so we took him along and everyone had a blast!

 This is very typical of Alexia.  She loves smoochin' and lovin' on her brother and it's precious...until he doesn't think so. 

 My mom made us her incredible cioppino (fish stew) while she was here and it was oh so good!

 Marco insisted on Alexia giving him cuddles before nap which turned into a 15-minute cuddle fest and Alexia was over the moon!

 Ricardo and I had a rare opportunity to have a date with Alexia one Friday so we took her to the Flying Biscuit for breakfast and then to play at Piedmont Park for 3 hours.  So sweet!

 We participated in a fundraiser for one Diego's good friends who has Cystic Fibrosis.  We were the purple power team!

 My 5 cute lunch dates two weeks ago.  I was taking care of Jack for the day (his mama was in the hospital with baby sister while she had some testing done) and Diego had a play date planned with his sweet buddy, Helen (the one with Cystic Fibrosis).  I took them all to lunch at Chik Fil A and...survived!  They were all so good and I couldn't believe how pleasant it could be to take 5 kids to lunch!

 Diego and Helen

 Jack and Marco.  Jack was with us all day and was so well behaved.  He even skipped his nap and didn't have one meltdown.  I was impressed.  He calls me "my lady friend Andre"

 Photo courtesy Alexia

 This is Marco's perch and is where you can find him whenever we are out with daddy!

 At lunch after church last Sunday.  It was a glorious day!

 This boy is growing up and it really touches our hearts to see the boy God is growing him to be.  

 Diego and Alexia both had dentist appointments today and were rock stars!  

 My lil chef watching the oatmeal

And no, it's not all fun and games.  Here's my volcano of laundry that I need to go fold!!