Sydney turns 5

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This is me and my handsome boy, Ryan!

My boy!!

I have to say my son Ryan is a pretty funny kid! For example, tonite he was giving me a hug and Sydney asked him to do something and he said, "I can't Sydney, I am loving on my mom!!" He also says things that are extremely inappropriate that also make me laugh hysterically!! We had to bring him into the ER last week and it seemed as though everyone from the nurse to the NP to the PA to finally the Dr had to look at all the same things. Well, Ryan apparantly hates to have his ears checked, so when the Dr finally came in the first thing he did was to check his ears.....again! Bad move for him!! In the process of checking his ears Ryan became irritated and bit his bottom lip and I heard him say, "fucking"!! I heard what he said and started to laugh out loud! Then Ryan saw me laugh so he points to the Dr and says, "fucking hotdog"!! At that point my mom and the Dr both start laughing and Ryan thought he was a real Jay Leno!! Since then he has been calling me fucking mommy and a fucking cupcake every chance he gets! Ahh the mind of 3 yr old! I just can't help but love him to pieces!!

Could I save thousands of dollars a year just by never setting foot in a Target?

I actually believe I could save thousands of dollars by avoiding one store!! Target! I always have good intentions when I go into Target, such as just getting some toilet paper or dish detergent. Something trivial like this leads me right into the belly of the beast! I always avoid buying such items at the grocery store because I think I can save more money if I just wait and go to Target. 1st stop is at Targets new 1$ store! 18 items I absolutely do not need at $1 a piece...wow...can't beat that!! Then I walk straight up passed the womens clothing. I pick up a $12 dollar shirt because I can't beat the deal on such a cute shirt although realizing it will look terrible after 1 washing! I continue through the store stacking up on everything but toilet paper or paper towels or whatever I had actually come in for. By the time I am at check out I have no clue what even brought me to Target and leave without it!! Duh!
I have actually brought all 4 kids into Target with me. I squeeze them all in one cart and feed them non-stop lollipops!! Fun stuff!

End of Summer

So here we are, as Billy Joel sings, "I'm living here in Allentown." It could be worse. We took one short vacation this year to see Joe's friend Joe Marinucci at his lake house on Lake Winnipisaukee. We thought we would beat the traffic and travel at night while the kids slept!! Haha! The kids did not sleep much and there was night road construction soooooo 9 hours later we arrived to the lake house. Poor Joe drove most of the way and by the end of the trip was near dilusional and shaking! I, as the loving wife would arouse from my slumber every now and again and show concern over his condition. He tried to pull over to catch a nap but then the kids would wake up and start to cry!! Although, after all the craziness we had a really good time just getting away!

The baby really liked Ella, the big chocolate lab and Ella liked him! The kids played on the beach and I got to see my friend Kim and her daughter Katie who came up to play for a couple days! The trip home was actually a dream. No one made a peep and it was kinda relaxing. Imagine that? We stopped off at Kim and Steve's house to have a delicious lunch and celebrate Kims B-day! Happy 36th!

The Ryan Show!!

So last week I decided to bring the whole brood down to Binghamton NY to visit my mom for a few days. Surprisingly, she is always just as happy to see us coming as she is to see us going!! That said I really wanted to take just my mom out for a little quiet time, a bite to eat, a beer or 2 and to play some quickdraw (NY states version of bar gambling.) But of course asking anyone to babysit my 4 kids is also like asking them if they would have preferred to have been born without a face. I could not possibly spend one more night in the kitchen, making 8 different things and then cleaning up the floor for an hour, so I decided it was time to try to take everyone out to eat again. This is not something we do with my husband because of his embarrassment issues so it has been probably a year since we've even taken 2 of the kids out to eat! So after contemplating the most kid friendly environment I decided we would go to Friendly's!!
Everyone was excited to go and we got seated without incident. In fact, the restaurant wasn't very crowded and there were more than enough small children that my crew wasn't that big of a distraction.......yet.
The first problem arose when the kids had to decide what color beverage to get. The choices were red, dark blue and light blue. Knowing the girls would want red I ordered them red drinks while Ryan usally only wants blue things. Although, if he sees the girls with red drinks, he may think he is missing out and demand a red drink as well. I had to take a chance and order him blue. This turned out to be my first mistake. As soon as the drinks arrived, he saw the girls drinks and immediately pushed his drink away and insisted on a red drink, "like Georgie". Next thing I know Ryan is banging in his booth which backs immediately to another booth where a nice man and his wife and daughter are having a leisurely meal. I ask the man if Ryan is bothering him and he says, "oh no, not at all, I don't even know what is going on back there." The words are no sooner out of his mouth than Griffin gets a hold of a glass dish and pitches it on the floor. Bamm!! My mom says, "now you do."
Griffin, my sweet, sweet, baby!! He has decided the bottle, snacks and jar food that I fed him before we left were not enough and he is starving. He starts letting out a scream that can only be described as tribal. Something you would expect to hear in an African jungle.
The food comes!!! Yes, things will get better! It doesn't, because Ryan, dillusional from a lack of a nap, decides he is not hungry!! He wants out of his booth. He was not taking no for an answer. So we let him out of the booth and I see he has removed his sandals. As I am trying to put his sandals back on him he decides to grab one and whip it across the restaurant. There is this woman sitting with her husband looking very unhappy throughout the whole scene. Normally, I would have thought my children were making her unhappy, but this time I think she actually came in unhappy. I felt bad for her and worse when my sons sandal nearly gave her a black eye. I quickly apologized and she seemed to be very forgiving. By the time I made it back to the booth, Ryan is back in his seat turned around and grabbing the shoulders of the man behind us!! The man says, "just take my wallet, don't hurt me." Thank goodness he had a sense of humor! I normally do not embarrass easily but at this point I am mortified and so embarrassed that I feel all warm and mushy on the inside and just want to crawl out of the now crowded restaurant. We finally leave, giving the waitress a large tip, and get in the car where Ryan promply falls asleep! The moral of this story is, we will not be going to a restaurant with all 4 kids for a long, long time. Anyone have good take out suggestions????

Blog Title Explanation..........

The reason I called my blog 3 redheads and a brunette is pretty simple.........I have 4 children, 3 redheads and a brunette. This may not seem like much of a big deal but neither my husband or I have red hair. So nearly every time we take the whole crew out we get "oh wow redheads, where does the red hair come from?" I just always say that I blame my husbands side of the family!! Apparantly his Grandfather Max had the red head!! I still can't believe 3 out of 4 of my children have it. I guess we will just go through a lot of hair dye!! No just kidding, I think!! On the day my 4th child, Griffin, was born, the second they pulled him from my gut I said to my husband, "what color is his hair?" Joe, my husband, said....."uh, hmmm, well, uh, yeah, it looks like..., yep.....it's red!!!" Obviously I have some issues with the red hair but I am learning to love it!! A lot of people tell me that they always dreamed of having a red headed child. Funny, because I never had those thoughts. I even try to tell people my kids have brown hair with a little red in it. They just look at me funny and say, "really, cause it looks pretty red to me." Well anyway.....like I said I am moving on and getting used to it so you won't have to hear about it anymore!!
My children truly are God's greatest gifts to me. Jordan, my first born, my beautiful, snuggly, lovey little brunette (oops I mentioned the hair thing again) is 4.
The twins, Sydney and Ryan, my funny little monkeys, are 2 and 1/2. Wherever there's chaos and trouble, the twins are never far from the scene.
The 3 together, my husband and I refer to as "the gang". Jordan is the leader of the pack.
Last but not least is baby Griffin. He is currently 8 months and loves dirty shoes and any remote control he can get his lips around. I am in love with his chubby buns!!
My husband Joe and I have been married for over 9 years!! He said he married me because the thought of living his life without my dog, Jake, was too much for him!! I am pretty sure he loves me too!! Together we have a crazy, chaotic, hectic, busy but very loving life!!
It will be fun to share it with you!!!