Cam was looking so cute this morning. He sat still for about four seconds! (Not long after, Reagan drew on him, and then he plopped down on the pool steps in this outfit. Shoot me now.)

So...Oh My Gourd, it is time to decorate for Fall! I realize the wreath is too low, but there are two nails in those horrid stones and I can't move them. I'm afraid they'll all come crashing down. The ones on top are barely staying in (we shoved them back in after the last storm and are praying they'll stay there until the remodel). So I got excited about fall and actually made a vegetable soup. Looking forward to all sorts of pumpkin recipes.

We picked out a branch today to make a Thankful Tree, a craft we found in a magazine last year. We'll see how far we get with that...

So the kids love PB...sometimes I find the jar in the cabinet with spoons inside. The other day the Rs decided to let Cam join in. And this is how I found him. I snapped a picture right before I cleaned him up. You can see he still has some curls in the back (in the disgusting kid-infested mirror).

More fun stuff...Reagan decorated some light switches. He shows them off and even took photos of them. I just found the pictures when I was downloading some other pictures.

So today we had a full invasion. I call four a herd. I went outside to take a picture, and they didn't budge for a while. I think they were wondering what I was doing in their yard.

The kids woke me up the other day when they saw deer in the front yard! They said, "Mommy, GET YOUR CAMERA." The deer are getting bolder by the day, and we see them right around the same time every afternoon.

Dylan (on the right) turned five on September 16, so we had a little play date to celebrate. The kids had a sugar-induced blast. Well, mostly mine. Christy and I left the room to chat, and came back to find that seventeen cupcakes (with darling d monograms) had been ingested. Riley is just like his mom when it comes to chocolate (and just about everything else).

So Dylan's birthday is always a little bittersweet for me, because it means that Riley's is five weeks away. Christy and I had the same due date--Dylan came three weeks early and Riley came two weeks late. And so begins our birthday season, with the Rs, then Tal and Travis, and Cam will be in January.

Dylan brought over his little Mustang, because we didn't have enough cars. He has so sadly grown out of his. He is such a big boy! He is bigger than his big brother. The Rs have had a war over their shared Mustang, so it was a huge relief for me. Anyway, Riley and Dylan sat together in it and it was a hoot. They are five weeks apart, and Dylan is a head taller than Riley, and at least twice as broad, maybe more. It just exacerbates the old issue that Christy and I never looked alike.

So Tal has mastered his strokes beautifully, and Riley can really swim wonderfully now. He just loves to fling himself into the pool. He came up with the flip yesterday on his own.

Last night, as we were wrapping up a lovely weekend of swimming and relaxing, a rainbow appeared. I took a picture of Tal, who was standing on the Jacuzzi--you'd never believe we were in a Florida pool in this picture!

Another outing! We have some major stress/travel coming our way, so we thought we'd have one more hurrah with the Mouse while we can.

The Beach Club has been awesome for us. Ground floor rooms are awesome for families with kids, by the way--no pesky elevators, and we can let them run around outside. We had an awesome room overlooking where they are standing, and they had a lovely lawn to play on.

My friend Marilyn (and Andrew The Boy!) happened to be in town, so we took the boat to the Boardwalk and had dinner together with her fiance and his brother. A nice evening, and Riley had a little run-in with the law here. Even the security guys at Disney are fun :).

The first day I had to finish up laundry, get four excited boys packed and into the car (more later on the car losing suspension on I-4 and Tal "I can't read because it is too bumpy back here"), missed a baby shower and showed up an hour late to pick Travis up at the airport. Is that all even possible? So I take Travis to the movies, thinking he will unwind. WRONG. We ended up with two days at the movies. So the next morning we are getting ready to head out for some actual FUN, and I look down and realize my wonderful camera is broken. I obviously love taking pictures more than anything. So Travis loads us up in the bumpy car and we find a Best Buy, and I get the newer model camera.

One of the great things about the Beach Club is that you can ride a boat to MGM, walk to EPCOT, etc. Travis just LOVES MGM (actually it is Hollywood Studios now). So we caught some fun shots here of the kids, and Tal looking so grown-up.

Also couldn't resist showing Tal in his suit. We are having a portrait made of the kids by an artist at the hotel and they just LOVED dressing up for that during fun-time. NOT.

I had no idea we would actually use our four-day passes earlier this year. We used them so sparingly (Is it a park day or a hotel pool day???), but they are finally all gone. With kids, I must say that if you are going to parks all day, it is a good idea to go every other day. I went to get another four-day pass and they about doubled in price, so it made more sense to get the Florida Resident Season Pass, which is an annual pass with blackout dates. Terribly exciting!

OMG my kids are growing up. Tal can ride nearly every ride now. Well, everything at Disney. There are a couple things at Sea World/Busch Gardens that he isn't tall enough for. Here is the kicker...RILEY rode Space Mountain and Mission to Mars! I nearly died. And REAGAN and Riley BOTH rode Test Track and Tower of Terror! It was just Camden and me running around getting Fast Passes while they all rode those, can you imagine?

Okay check out Reagan's frog backpack here on the left. He carried it ALL DAY...it contained his two white bears. Very important cargo, huh?

Travis doesn't really enjoy the World Showcase at EPCOT, but I do. So I decided this will be an important part of our homeschooling effort. We'll do one or two countries at a time so it is more palettable for everyone. We got great little passports with stickers for the kids (the Cast Members stamp them in each country) and chose United Kingdom first (because it was closest).

We checked out all the shops and gardens, talked to a British Cast Member, and did some other English stuff. Like get that great creamy chocolate. Anyway, it has been fun to explore things a little deeper.

At the toy store we got our stamp. We were standing around deciding what to do next, and didn't realize we were first in line for some private time with the Pooh characters. That was a hoot. Riley later told me, "I wasn't scared, Mommy."

By the way, it was nothing like going to England for real.

Friday started with a bang. We went to the movies so Travis could relax. It started with a Camden diaper, which I swapped out in the movies in the dark, but not very well. Then he sprang a second one during the movie, but I was trapped with toddlers. Finally, Travis came back, so I raced to the bathroom, holding Cam. By the time I got there, I realized that second diaper hadn't been put on too well. I will spare the details here and tell you that we did NOT see the end of the movie and that I actually changed into Travis' work clothes in the parking lot. Then we got back to the hotel and realized we'd left Cam's shoes in the movies in the process. Day Two was a trip to Best Buy because my camera broke, then I just dropped Travis off at the movies and told him to find a ride back.

I'll spare the middle details and fast-forward to the last day. We get home and I'd left the air conditioners off for some odd reason. It was mid-90's in the house and the cat had a bad tummy. We're talking diarrhea everywhere. So the house was so hot that the chocolate in the pantry had actually melted, and we spent another hour dripping with sweat, bleaching the floors. Then the trash bag split and glass went everywhere, then (skipping more bad details here) we ended up with the cat AND Travis in the pool Yes, James Bond was covered in it, too. I was hoping to avoid that. It took two dunks and some scissors--I may never be the same. Meanwhile, Camden escaped the tub and was streaking through the backyard. We were a sight that day for sure.

But the vacation was fun, and we'll try again soon. We had breakfast nearly every morning at the Yacht Club Galley, where Camden perfected the art of eating Fruit Loops with crayons as his utensil of choice.

I usually panic on the last day, afraid I'll never come back. But we're getting out more, and it is getting a little easier each time with the boys. (Ask me privately about Travis :).)

What is so special about the picture of Tal and Riley sleeping, besides the fact that they are so sweet, and I just adore them in their little scrubs? THE CLOCK SAYS 10:00 AM!!!!!!!! The kids slept in until 9:00 every day, and until after 10:00 on the last morning, just like our first big trip! This was Travis' favorite part of the vacation! Oh, wouldn't the people with the smarmy kid who screamed and refused to brush his teeth at 7:30 AM be jealous about this?!?!?

Travis and Amy had a dinner meeting and a mix-up left them traveling in 5:00 rush-hour on Atlanta's MARTA. Amy blogged live, and it was a riot. Scroll down to her September 4 entries for the rest of the fun.

I swore we had enough material from the good old days for a book. The corporate apartment alone could have been its own reality show.

It looks like things are going to get more hectic (read: more travel for Travis) before we figure out what we're going to do when we grow up. Boo.

Could the election race be any more exciting? I am a staunch conservative. The Republican party has, in my humble opinion, lost its appeal because it forgot to market itself. I went to a Young Republican meeting in college and left early because they spent the whole time bashing Democrats.

I vote for values, not fallible people. John McCain may have been a maverick years ago, but he seemed pretty boring during this race. Until last week. He stopped the banter on the night of Obama's nomination to congratulate him publicly. That sure didn't make the evening news! And now we have Sarah Palin. I think it is less a Hillary replacement and more of a return of the Maverick.

We didn't plan for me to be a working mom (and I'm certainly not a traditional one), but here I am. I can't help but wonder what people mean when they say she should be home with her kids, yet women should be in the workplace? It seems to me that liberals only want us women to have menial jobs.

Travis has the utmost respect for smart women. He'd better. There have been many smart, hard-working women in the business of Bond, and we hope to see Sarah Palin succeed.