Our Crazy Life

Our Christmas

2012-01-13T10:04:00.000-06:00

We had to keep "e-mailing" Sant and asking him to come later to our house (I know not something kids typically do, but our kids were very understanding this year). Our busy December schedule made it hard for Santa to find a time to come, but we finally were able to get all the "schedules" worked out! :-)

Kyra loving her new pillow pet.

Gavin is ready for baseball next summer.

A new doll house for the girls - this thing has more furniture than our real house has!

Present time!

Dress up shoes! Carley LOVED, Daddy - not so much!

Reagan loving her pillow pet!

So we were getting the stockings out the night before Christmas and Reagan didn't want to hang them up, she wanted to wear them on her feet?!

Kyra's year to put the angel on the tree.

She was not so sure about the height thing! She has a death grip on her Dad's hand and she was chewing us all out the whole time.

A new baby for Reagan.

Gavin has 3, count them...3 pillow pets, but Santa just couldn't turn down a Twins pillow pet - for Gavin it doesn't get much better - Twins, stuffed animal, and something to snuggle with. Heaven!

Christmas With the Nana & Papa

2012-01-11T12:07:00.000-06:00

We finally have a big enough house that we could host Jed's whole family for a holiday. We LOVED having them all come to our house! It was a fun weekend.

Papa, Kyra, Carley & Reagan doing sand art.

Carley, Nana and Reagan reading a story.

Nana, Reagan, Carley, Papa, Kyra and Gavin playing cards.

Keetyn, Kyra, Jed, Morgen and Brittin playing Uno.

Uncle Ernie and Reagan reading stories.

Aunt Laurel and Carley being silly while they snuggle.

Hayden, Reagan, Papa, Carley, Keetyn and Kyra (aka Papa's girls) having supper.

Reagan and Hayden hanging out. They look so serious!

Reagan and Papa opening gifts.

Morgen and JAcson waiting for their gifts!

Reagan loved opening this bouncing ball - so much so that she had to sleep with it for her nap (ON HER HEAD). Literally she would not go to sleep unless it was touching her head - I tried to move it even after she fell asleep and she would wake up and grab for it. Okay, she wins!

Papa and Carley snuggling

Reagan and Papa hanging out.

Crazy gift opening time - 9 kids + gifts has to equal crazy!

She got a baby. Loves those babies!

Hayden and Ernie.

Papa made Reagan a craddle for her baby. LOVE IT!

And he made Carley a highchair for her baby.

SO CUTE and means so much because Papa made them!

The boys playing cards.

When you tell Jacson he can't do something - he proves you wrong. Reading a story to us with both his feet behind his head. Ouch!

Kyra and Keetyin dressing up.

Carley dressed her baby up. She's so proud!

Papa and Reagan playing cards together.

Okay, I literally have about 200 group pictures on my camera looking for the one good (not even going for perfect or great) picture of 9 kids together. Let me explain what a good picture is with 9 kids - ALL LOOKING IN THE GENERAL SAME DIRECTION - that's all! :-)

The Christmas Tree

2011-12-28T12:19:00.000-06:00

This year with a bigger home I wanted a bigger tree. I had to have a small, 6 foot, skinny tree for the past 8 years in our old house. This year I wanted it to be different - I wanted a real tree and I wanted a big tree to go in our great room. For those of you who have not been to our house yet - our great room has 12 foot vaulted ceilings in the center and tapers down to 9 foot ceilings on the edges. So, one icy, cold Saturday morning we all bundled up to go to the local greenhouse and pick out our Christmas Tree. The kids loved the adventure and Jed and I had fun watching them enjoy. We walked through the greenhouse (Jed only knocked over two trees and Kyra only knocked over one - I say only because both of them could have made the entire line of trees go down with their mishaps)! I was crying I was laughing so hard - hey, it wasn't me, I could laugh. :-) So, Kyra finds this little 3 foot Charlie Brown tree that she falls in love with. We tried to explain to her that we had a bigger tree in mind for this year - one that would hold all of their ornaments and maybe be taller than she is! She was disappointed but kept looking for "the big one" with us. We finally found two that we thought looked really nice and were good sized but not too big. We decided on one and the guy working there asked if we had a pickup. Jed turned and said, "no we have a van". The man paused, then "okay". The woman who was working with him rolled her eyes and then grabbed one end of the tree. She was less than impressed with this family that was going to transport their tree home in their mini-van. But, they got it up there and we got it tied down and headed home at 30 miles an hour so that we wouldn't lose the tree - a 15 minute drive can take forever when going 30 miles and hour (on icy roads I might add). So, we get it home and get it into the house and so begins the fun and the mess. As Jed and I started to lift it up into the tree stand I quickly realized that our tree that looked like just about the right size in the big greenhouse was a little too large for even our 12 foot ceilings. So, we laid it back down and Jed started the "trimming" process - a foot off the top and a good foot and two feet off the bottom and we were ready to try again. And as Jed is trimming it, Kyra says as serious as can be, "You know, if you guys would have picked the tree that I wanted we wouldn't be having this problem." :-) We had a good laugh about that - what you can say when she's right?! As you can see in the pictures below, the whole trimming/arranging process left quite a mess on our floor (and on our hands, we spent days trying to get rid of the sticky sap on our hands - Jed kept reminding me of scenes from the Griswald Family Christmas. Truly, it was kind of like that!) But, even with all of the issues that we had, it was a great experience and a fun day together as a family and one we aren't soon to forget.

Miscellaneous - December

2011-12-28T10:49:00.001-06:00

Our Shining Star

2011-12-28T09:45:00.000-06:00

Kyra's class did a Christmas play last week with their 5th grade buddies. She liked telling people she was "the star of the show". She was a star IN the show but we tried to teach her not to say the star OF the show! :-) She did great. The first picture she is supposed to be a shy star, every once in a while you would see her peeking through her fingers to see the crowd. :-)

Great Grandma & Aunt Sharon's Visits

2011-12-28T09:34:00.001-06:00

We had a busy couple of weeks with visitors. We had a week at Thanksgiving with Grandma Miller and a day later Aunt Sharon came for a week. We love having our Ohio family come to see us!

Sunsets

2011-12-28T09:08:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite things about the new house is the beautiful sunsets that we get to experience almost nightly. I am not sure why this is such a change from the old house - we are in the same location (just back a few feet) but whether it is because we have more windows, bigger windows, are sitting up higher or what I do not know, but the sunsets are beautiful in our new house!

St. Michael

2011-12-28T09:02:00.000-06:00

Gavin's class did presentations this fall. They each had to choose a Saint, they had to research the saint, write a presentation to teach the other kids (and parents) about the Saint, and they had to come up with a costume to look like the Saint. They had such fun with it - especially the costumes. They all did such a wonderful job and I really did learn a lot about Saints that I did not know! Isn't he cute?!

Thoughts from an 8 Year Old!

2011-12-28T08:29:00.000-06:00

First of all, I apologize for the lack of blogging over the summer/fall. I promise that I am going to work really hard to get back into the blogging in 2012!

I have a great story to tell about Gavin. We were driving home from school the other day and it was cloudy out but as we were pulling into our driveway the sun decided to try and poke its rays through the clouds. I hope that I can explain this so that you get a good vision but I apologize if I do not. So, it's cloudy but the suns rays are poking through the clouds making definately lines of light shining down to the ground, I have never seen the sky do this as well as it did it this day. It was beautiful. The kids wondered what was making the lines in the sky. I explained to them that it was the sun trying to poke through the coulds. A couple of minutes later Gavin said, "Mom, I think those sun rays are God reaching down to touch us." Yeah, even now I get tears in my eyes just thinking about what a profound thought that is for anyone, let alone my 8 year old little man. Love it!

Gavin's Birthday

2011-10-24T13:15:00.000-05:00

Gavin turned 8 in August - how did that happen!? He spent his birthday week on vacation with Grandma & Grandpa, fishing in Alexandria. He made in home for supper on his birthday night so that we wouldn't miss out on his big day.

Swimming Lessions

2011-10-24T12:54:00.000-05:00

The three older kids had swimming lessons again this summer. Carley wanted NOTHING to do with it the first day and a half but I was the mean Mom who kept making her go back in there and what do you now, half way through day two she decided she LOVED it and can't wait for next summer to do it again! Carley's was not a pass/fail - if she continues to get her head wet in the bathtub she can do the next level next summer. Gavin and Kyra both passed their levels and will move up next year. They all did great and are little fish!

Fair

2011-10-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

We only made it to one fair this summer since we were so busy with the house and "life". But the kids had a great time seeing the animals, eating the food and riding the horses!

4th of July

2011-10-24T08:49:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...the 4th of July when it's Halloween?! I have a lot of catching up to do on my blogging!

We went to our good friends, the Holland's, for a weekend of 4th of July fun. We had so much fun ALL having a slumber party last year that we decided to do it again this year. We spent Sunday playing in the water and picnicing with the Holland Family, Rose Family, Johnson Family (including those from Chicago and Texas) and Wolf family. It was a great day! We spent the night and were up and going early the next morning for the Annual Morristown parade - a huge hit with everyone once again this year! Then Grandma and Grandpa took the 4 kids to another parade and Jed and I went to buy appliances for our house (long story short - the sale was ending that day)! Then everyone gathered back at our house for some fireworks, bonfire and sparklers!

House Update

2011-08-18T18:40:00.001-05:00

Wow! It's been a busy couple of months. People have been asking for more house picture updates, so here you go! We are getting close. Still on track to be finished by September 1st. This week our tile was finished, our cabinets/countertops installed, window trim in, light fixtures installed, fireplace started, and doors are starting to go in. Next week they will continue with the master shower (tile), fireplace brick, finishing touches on cabinets and grouting backsplash, along with final electrical and plumbing. The week after will be final details and carpet and then we are done!!! Enjoy the pictures.

Siding going on.

I LOVE my porch. It's almost complete - just missing some of the railing on the right. Jed LOVES his garage!!! We now have the cement poured in front of the garage too and the kids LOVE that for riding bike!!!

For the past two weeks Jed and I have been busy staining and varnishing 14 doors and their frames. We will finish this project tonight!!! I never want to stain or varnish another piece of wood in my life!

Our cabinets and countertops are in. I love them! We got our appliances this week too - sorry, no pics yet.

Thankfully almost my whole family was able to help out one weekend to paint. We painted all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Made three trips for more paint and ended up putting on 74 gallons of primer and paint. Yikes! Thanks for all the help family. :-)

Fireplace mantle. We now have a hearth too and the brick is starting to go up.

Another kitchen view.

All of our cubbies - I call them decorative areas, Jed calls them sh*t collectors.

Main bath vanity.

Master bath vanity.

Master bath shower - we now have a tiled floor and he is in the process of working on the tile walls. Can't wait to see this completed!

Master bedroom.

Girls' bedroom. My Mom and Jed think I am crazy to do these two colors, but trust me...it will get better! Once the furniture is in, the boarder up and the curtains up it will be adorable and the girls are so excited. They tell anyone who will listen to them that they are getting a new bedroom and it is hot pink and hot orange colored. :-)

Gavin's blue room. He wants to decorate with Minnesota Twins. This room may not make quite the statement that the girls' room does, but it's going to be neat for him and he cannot wait to have his own room that we do not all walk through and leave our coats and shoes in.

Stairs to basement.

More kitchen.

Reagan having fun in the sink hole.

Main area tile.

House Update

2011-07-16T14:32:00.000-05:00

The builders and subcontractors have had a busy couple of weeks. We have all of the rough-in for plumbing, electrical and heating/air done. We have some more siding on, we have all the insulation done and we have all of the sheet rock up in the house. They will finish sheet rocking the garage next week along with doing all of the mudding/taping of the house and garage. The plan is for us to gather our oh so willing family members next weekend for a painting party - that's right we are at the painting part already! We will have to see how well the tape dries as it is supposed to be in the 90's-100's all this week so there may be an issue with it drying properly. Time will tell.

And, we knew the time was coming...this whole house project has been going way to smoothly, we knew it was only a matter of time before we hit a bump in the road. Last night when I saw my Dad back up to the new garage I knew something was up. He stops in every couple of days to check on things but he doesn't ever back in. So, Jed and I went out to see what was up. We went down to the basement and were met with my Dad and our builder standing in 3 inches of water across the entire basement. Yup, our basement flooded before we are even done with construction. We had had about 3-4 inches of water in the last 24 hours and when it rained in the 24 hours it rained hard all at one time and then would stop, then rain hard and then stop. So, of course our excavating is not done so everything slopes to the house and we do not have gutters up yet so everything runs off to the house, out window wells are not done yet so everything runs tot he house and there is a chance that we have a blockage in the drain tile going away from the house.

The builder, one of his guys and Jed and I spent our Friday night muddy and wet cleaning up and drying out the basement. Luckily there was plastic over the insulation which protected most of it. There were just a few wet spots that we had to lift the plastic and let things dry out. We got the floor cleaned up and all of the debris (pieces of wood etc.) picked up and hauled out. So, by midnight last night it didn't look too bad anymore. Today it is a bit wet again, just due to the humidity, so it will probably stay that way for the week with the warm/humid weather. I am going to see if I can sweet talk our heating/air guy to putting a rush on our air condition to help with drying the basement out and with the mudding/taping and painting process.

So, a little glitch on the radar, but we are glad that it happened now instead of when we have a ton of stuff in the basement. Hopefully we can figure out the problem soon and get it remedied and this won't cause too much of a delay.

For us, we will be very busy this next two weeks priming, painting and staining/lacquering the trim work. Big job but with us doing it we save lots of money, so we will grin and bear it and dream of what the end result is going to be in about a month-6 weeks.

Dining Room

Living Room (the windows are bigger they are just covered with sheet rock laying up against the wall).

Fireplace.

Kitchen & Pantry

Main Bath

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

The mess. :-(

Dodge County Fair

2011-07-16T14:17:00.000-05:00

We went to the Dodge County Fair on Thursday and of course Grandma and Grandpa had to spoil the kids with a pony ride. They all loved it!

House Update

2011-07-16T14:13:00.000-05:00

We have all our studded walls, we have insulation and we have some siding!

Random...

2011-07-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

Reagan was pushing her baby around in the stroller but then decided she needed her own stroller - went and got another baby doll stroller and rolled herself around in that while she pushed her baby ahead of her.

...And then the real baby came and she wore me out. Declan was super good and was only there for a few hours. But by the time Jed got home I was wiped out - he had to take Reagan to another part of the house so that she would quit climbing into the carseat with Declan while he tried to nap. Isn't he so cute?!

Kyra was very proud of her long dandelion stem that she found. Not sure what the pose is all about?!

We are dog sitting for some friends of ours. This dog is the best dog on the face of the earth - I swear. We don't even know she is here. She goes out when we go out, she doesn't wine or beg, she only barks when someone knocks at the door, she doesn't mind the kids all over her, she sleeps at the opening of their bedroom door guarding them. She is the perfect dog. One morning (after it had been a stormy night and 3 out of the 4 kids ended up on the floor in our room) Jed woke up to find this scene. Gavin, Emily the dog and Kyra all lined up in a row sleeping. I even think Kyra and Emily are sharing a pillow.

4th ofJuly

2011-07-13T15:27:00.000-05:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend!

We spent Sunday at the lake visiting with friends close by along with friends who traveled from Chicago and Texas!

Once again this year we spent the night at the lake and got up the next morning to head to the Morristown parade. The only parade that I know of that gets thousands of people to attend in the middle of a field. But it's fun to watch the kids enjoy such a small town parade - tractors, princesses, lots of candy...what more could they ask for?!

A couple of days before the 4th the 3 older kids spent the night at the lake with John and Josie. Grandma Mary Jane asked them to help her with a project. This brave, brave woman let 5 kids - age and under to each paint a board on her picnic table. They loved it! Here is how it turned out...

Reagan, John, Kyra and Carley lounging in the lake.

Carley is all smiles.

Gavin and Grandma out in the canoe.

Of course then Grandma had to take them all out for a turn in the boat. Carley.

Gavin and John...as normal as they can be.

And as goofy as they can be!

Kyra's turn with Grandma.

Reagan LOVED this floaty. She spent the whole afternoon in this thin.

We got to meet Baby Kirk who flew on his first plane ride all the way from Texas.

Bree patiently waiting for the parade to start. She came all the way from Chicago.

John and Gavin chowing down on popcorn.

Gavin Johnson, John and Gavin D. Gavin Johnson came from Chicago for a long weekend too!

Reagan enjoying her snack of popcorn and the huge chair that she got all to herself.

Our whole crew - keep going on down the line. I think we had 25 people there, if I am counting right.

Sometimes they do look darling! :-) If not a bit tired from all of the festivities.

Watching the parade in their 4th of July dresses. Carley, Josie and Kyra.

Grandma and Grandpa left the Morristown parade with the 4 kids to go to another parade about 45 minutes away. They got home just in time for supper and then we had a camp fire and "tried" to watch fireworks from our backyard, it didn't work great - darn trees moved this year!

House Update

2011-07-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

When I looked at our blog today I realized it has been a while since I posted pictures of the house. They have made really good progress the last couple of weeks. We now have a house with outter walls, interior walls, plumbing roughed in, a shingled roof, a poored basement floor and a poored garage floor. It's a heat index of 104 today and the guys worked until about 6:00 one night this week and 11:30 another night this week, so they took a much deserved day off today. They will come on Tuesday to put windows in and build our stairs to the basement and electical roughin will be done next week. We have finalized our cabinets/countertops, our flooring and are in the process of finalizing our plumbing fixtures. Hopefully in the next week-week and a half we will have siding on and insulation in and electrical done so that the guys can start sheetrocking in two weeks.

Yes, that is one of the builders holding a pigion. It came to our new front porch one day. The guys noticed that it had a band on it, so someone is probably missing their pet. They decided to see if they could catch it - walked right up to it and picked it up. The kids loved the show!

Day in LaCrosse

2011-07-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

We went to LaCrosse for the day last weekend to help Britton celebrate his birthday. They had the pool out for Zoey and the kids made good use of it for her! We also played volleyball, went to the park and enjoyed food and family time!

Family Vacation

2011-07-01T13:25:00.000-05:00

Well, our summer is beyond crazy busy this year, but when a friend of ours offered us a week at his new lake place we just could not turn it down. So, we were not able to get away for a whole week, but we were able to go for a few days and we had a great time together relaxing as a family. We realized while we were gone that it was the first family vacation we have ever taken (with just our family). We slept in, played games, read leisurely, watched movies, fished a lot, the kids tried to swim (it was cold and wet and windy the whole time we were there, but we had fun anyway), took naps and just unwound for a few days. It was great! THANKS MARK!!!

Kyra won the contest for smallest fish caught.

We saw loons each day. They got closer and closer each day.

Reagan caught this one.

Gavin caught this bass all by himself. He and Jed bought a clearance wrack lure, he came back, put it on his fishing pole, cast it out and less than 3 seconds later he had his bass. I think Gavin will tell that story for many years to come.

Jed is proud that he has at least one person (Kyra) who will bait her own hook.

Day two and Reagan decided she wanted to try her hand at fishing. So, we would cast it out, she would reel it in. On the very first reel in she caught her own fish. She LOVED fishing from that point on. She was a great little reeler...

Not such a good caster...Actually, this was my attempt at trying to de-arm her. She reeled it in and started flinging it around. All I could do was knock it out of her hand so that she wouldn't "catch" me or her. She was not happy when her fishing pole was at the bottom of the lake.

Yes, yes it is raining again.

Putting her baby to sleep - blanket, bottle and music. What else do you need?

Carley trying to go swimming, but it was a tough go all week. It was raining, blowing 40 mph and never hit 70 degrees. She was determined though. She did get in the last day for about 20 minutes.

Bass #2 for Gavin. He wants everyone to know that he caught 2 bass and Dad only caught 1.

Loons closer.

Loons multiplying.

Yes, it is that cold.

One morning we were listening to the loons and at the same time an eagle flew over our heads. It was really neat. Gavin loved it!

Annual Work Picnic

2011-07-01T13:12:00.000-05:00

Jed's annual family work picnic was a couple of weeks ago. Once again the kids had a blast on all of the bouncy rides. This year they also have those trampoline swing things. Gavin and Kyra got up the courage to try it out and loved it. Kyra waited in line for 45 minutes so that she could try it out. She got up there and I thought for sure they were not going to let her go because she was too small. They weighed her, put a smaller harness on and let her do it - thank goodness...we would have had one disappointed little girl if she was too little.

Gavin

Kyra

Random Fun

2011-07-01T13:04:00.002-05:00

Bedtime story.

Gavin, Kyra and Carley spent some time at the lake with John and Josie this week. Swimming, fishing, doing their nails, doing target practice, playing with little Kirk from Texas and going out to eat at the local bar all dressed up in their finest. :-)

Carley was having fun making funny faces on herself with stickers. Also kind of creepy looking?!

Gavin created a Target Field Stadium with Legos.

Doing nails.

Flower child Carley.

Why, yes, that is my brother who is all of 27ish years old riding a tricycle.

It is baseball and t-ball season. Gavin plays on a coach pitched baseball team and Kyra and Carley play on the same t-ball team together, although Kyra likes the sport a lot better than Carley does.

Reagan hanging out at the baseball game.

Fly In Breakfast

2011-07-01T07:50:00.000-05:00

Both Jed and my Dad have wanted to go to our local small airport for the "Fly In Breakfast" that they hold every year on Father's Day. So, we decided to check it out this year. Not sure if the Dads or the kids liked it best, but it was a hit.

For Our Dad's...

2011-06-20T13:56:00.000-05:00

For all the things you said and did

that made me such a lucky kid,

The working hard, the taking care...

for being strong and being there.

For all the things that helped me grow,

the staying close, the letting go,

The honesty and humor, too...

for being real and being you.

For all your love, the gifts you give,

the man you are, the life yo live,

For all these things and so much more,

you're the dad I'm thankful for.

Happy Father's Day!

(I did not write this, but I couldn't put it in any better words.)

House Update

2011-06-13T11:35:00.000-05:00

Well, with 100+ degree heat two days last week and a day of rain, our house project was not as prouctive as we had hoped. But we did make a little progress. We now have a sub floor on top of our poured basement walls, basement windows and wall are framed in, and the excavator was able to get back out and do the backfill around the house. Today (Monday) they are already hard at work framing the upstairs. No walls up yet but there is one finished one laying on top of the subfloor so we are hoping that by the end of the day we have a wall or two that is up! Will post more at the end of the week. Supposed to be a wet week again, so hopefully between the bouts of rain they can get in and get more framing done.

A Visit from Aunt Sharon

2011-06-13T11:27:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful phone call last Monday when my Aunt Sharon called to see if I could pick her up at the airport the very next day! Of course!!! Sharon was able to make a last minute trip to MN last week and spent 5 days with all of us. We had a great time, as always!

Dad and Reagan snuggling and reading a book.

Aunt Sharon feeding baby Declan!

So big!

Carley and Jacque reading a book together. Carley looks more like Jacque than she does me.

Gavin showing off his reading skills to Aunt Sharon.

Carley cornered someone else to read now - that girl never gets enough of books, which is good!

And...yet another...Carley reading with Aunt Sharon.

Okay, yes, we did do more than read the whole time. :-)

Watching Uncle Brandon move the tractor around.

Playing Memory. Kyra won - Kyra always wins.

We all had to take a turn to see who could reach their tounge to their nose. Does this count?!

Washing their feet after being outside.

Yes, more reading and more snuggling.

Those girls can't get enough of that little guy.

All the cousins.

Baby Declan

Kyra spoiling Declan. That kid is never not held. My Mom says you can't spoil a baby. We will see what we can do! :-)

Why yes, yes they are reading! Uncle Bryon and Carley.

Gavin's Field Trip

2011-06-13T11:18:00.000-05:00

Gavin's school took them to a water park the second to last day of school this year. He had such a wonderful time!

Having Summer Fun

2011-06-13T11:16:00.000-05:00

Gavin's last day of school.

Reagan - once again has "fun" all over her face. I think this was an M&M snack.

And here she didn't make it through her snack - fell asleep right at the table.

Reagan loves her baby - which means baby has to sit at the table with her every morning for beakfast, but not only that anymore, but the baby now needs a bowl with cereal in it too. Really?!

Best friends. Carley and Reagan.

Kyra picking flowers from Grandma's backyard.

Reagan and Jason sharing a ride.

She looks determined doesn't she!?

Making pancakes for breakfast - they pretty much did it all!

Reagan now has gotten to the point that she not only has to put one of her diapers on her baby but she also has to wipe the baby's but with a wet wipe. She really goes to town. When I start watching Declan I am going to see if I can train her to replace the doll with the real baby and change his diaper for me. :-)

Reagan's Birthday Party

2011-06-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

It was the party that almost never was...Poor Reagan, had to postpone her birthday party because Kyra was sick. Then the postponed party was cancelled because birthday girl and Carley were sick. Then we couldn't find a date that would work for most of the family to be able to help her celebrate...but FINALLY, we were able to celebrate yesterday with a picnic lunch on an amazingly beautiful day. So, the first pictures of her with her "cute" cake are from the first round (I already had her cake made before Kyra got sick). Then I took the easy way out the second time and just did regular old cakes. Sorry Reagan!

Having Fun in the Sun

2011-06-06T16:21:00.000-05:00

We have been having fun in the sun. Finally a stretch of days without rain. This week now it is feeling like summer - two 100+ degree days this week.

Check out her hat!

Reagan would live outside if she could. Unfortunately, even when she has sunscreen on she tends to get a little red, so we have to pick and choose the times of the day that she can be out or else cover her up a bit.

Say cheese!

Hanging out on the house supplies.

Gotta love that smile!

That one too! :-)

And she was not loving the water that day.

Carley LOVES to go through the sprinkler, but her version of playing in the sprinkler is one time through, get the towel dry off, get dressed, wait 15 minutes, put swim suit back on, run through once, dry off...you get the picture. It annoys the heck out of her mother!

Oh, that's cold.

Time for a drink. She was so proud that she could do this.

Everyone now.

Gavin decided to build a model of our house plans. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

Bebopping around in the gator.

And yes that is my 7 year old driving.

Reagan loves Declan. She has to be caressing him whenever she is near him. And she is good a throwing a fit if she can't hold him when she wants to.

Kyra likes her quality time with Dec too.

First time Reagan got to hold Declan "by herself".

Gavin likes having another "guy" around. Even if he does sleep all the time.

Hanging out in the garden.

Planting some perennials. Unfortunately, because of the new house and tearing down the old house, all of our flowers now have to be planted in the vegetable garden until w figure out where everything will go (a couple of years from now).

She was a darn good little gardener. Better than the 3 older ones put together.

The troops.

One of her breaks from the slip and slide. She does that the same way she does the sprinkler.

This morning Gavin and Kyra came running in at 6:00 to wake us up to show us the wildlife in the backyard.

Week 2 of the House Build

2011-06-06T13:41:00.000-05:00

We have basement walls! I know, it's the little things in life. :-)

Last week the builders spent two days putting forms up, about 2 hours pouring cement (the cement trucks were lined up on the road just waiting their turn to unload - unfortunately the girls all had dr. appts. so I did not get to see this but Jacque and Declan came and watched and Bryon timed it when they built their house and every 10 minutes a new truck would unload. Now that's quick work!) a half day of drying, and a day of taking forms down. This morning we were greeted with a load of lumber that game. The guys are busy in 100+ degree heat index (and supposed to be even warmer tomorrow) framing out the basemnt today. We hope by the end of the week that we will have a completely famed house. But of course that all depends on the weather and not only rain but also now the heat. The guys have already planned to start early tomorrow morning to get a jump on the hot/humid weather, but they plan to be done by about lunch time so that they don't have to endure the heat all afternoon - can't blame then for that!

Couple of Funnies for the Day...

2011-05-31T07:47:00.000-05:00

Gavin and Kyra have had me laughing a couple of times this weekend. Thought I would share!

I was standing at the sink, Kyra was in the living room, the tv was on. I didn't see it but I could hear that it was an ad for Extreme Makeover that was on last night (a personal trainer helping a woman loose over 160 in a year). Kyra comes to me, "Mom, do I HAVE to be able to pull a plane to be healthy?" Not having seen the ad, I had no idea what she was talking about. "What do you mean?" "I want to be healthy, but I don't think I can pull a plane. But on the show they were pulling a plane to get healthy." Sure enough, I saw the ad again last night and they were pulling a plane for one of their exercises. Poor girl, thinks she has to be able to move mountains (or at least planes) to be healthy. :-)

Last night I was cutting Gavin's hair. We were going back and forth debating on whether to use the longer clipper head or the shorter one. Jed said, "Remeber Gavin, bald is beautiful." As serious as Gavin can be he replied, "I wonder if my wife will be bald." Oh, I cried I laughed so hard. Of course he couldn't figure out why that was so funny. He was serious. He was torn - he wants a beautiful wife but he doesn't really want her to be bald. :-) I love how their minds work!

Reagan is 2!!!

2011-05-26T11:51:00.000-05:00

Two years ago today at 8:18am Reagan Elizabeth was born.

She weighed 7 lb. 3 oz. and was 20 inches long.

Reagan is two years old today!!!

Where does the time go?! I thought I would share some words/phrases that help describe our baby so that you can get an idea of who she is and what she likes/doesn’t like.

·         She is so funny
·         She likes to use her loud voice to get our attention
·         She is very determined
·         She still loves to cuddle
·         She loves her blanky and no other will do
·         She plays with her baby doll almost every waking minute of the day
·         She does not require as much sleep as the rest of her family does
·         She does not like to have her picture taken professionally
·         She does not like big, loud machinery (which we have a lot of at our house right now)
·         She is sleeping in a toddler bed and we are officially crib free in our house (after 8 years)
·         She loves being outside
·         She is a girl – loves picking out her own clothes, loves to play with shoes and likes to have her nails done
·         She is finally growing hair and she has curls – Mommy LOVES this
·         She looks just like Carley did at this age
·         She is petite, especially when next to her cousin Jason
·         She loves to torment our cat
·         She likes to get up no less than 5 times a night before she finally gives in to sleep
·         She does not typically take a nap anymore
·         She loves the grocery store and knows just where they hide their suckers
·         She is independent – wants to buckle her own carseat, walk wherever she goes, get dressed/undressed by herself
·         She loves buckles of any kind
·         She is enjoying reading more now and will actually sit through a story, but you better read fast because she is in charge of turning the pages and she is a quick one!
·         She needs to sit touching you at the supper table
·         She loves pizza and yogurt and cottage cheese but her favorite food is ice cream, hands down
·         She does not talk much, she doesn’t have to, her brother and sisters do the talking for her, but if they are all gone, she has NO problem chatting a mile a minute
·         She loves to spot cows while we are in the car and say “Moooooooooooooooo” which lasts for about 30 seconds, that’s a long moo
·         She does not like being dirty in any way shape or form
·         If she doesn’t like the shoes you pick for her there is no getting her to wear them, might as well save yourself the time and effort and just pick out a pair she likes
·         She is a Daddy’s girl when Daddy gets up with her in the morning, otherwise she is a Momma’s girl the whole way

We Have a Partial Basement

2011-05-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

The house has been a little slower going than we would like due to a very rainy spring. But the road restrictions finally came off a week and a half ago and the builder and excavator were able to get their heavy equipment in here and dug the basement. We have at least two pumps in it at all times just trying to keep up with the water accumulation in there from all of the rain we seem to have at least every other day. The footings were poured two days ago. They were supposed to pour the basement walls tomorrow and Friday but we will see if that gets pushed back a bit as it is raining again today and the excavator has not been able to finish putting the rock fill in to finish off the bottom layer of the house. If all goes well though, I will be able to post pictures of basement walls this weekend and they are supposed to start on the trusses and floor on Monday/Tuesday.

First dig!!

First week of pictures.

As you can see jut a tad wet.

Walking in the tire tracks that go up past her knees.

Second week of pictures.

This is what happens when you let your kids climb on the hills and the bottom of one hill has a mud pit that just happens to look like the rest of the hill...until you step on/in it. Kyra was not happy or amused. Me on the other hand, was crying I was laughing so hard...until I had to get her into the house and cleaned off. We stuck her in the tub and gave her a shower with her clothes on then another one with her clothes off.

Our biggest concern in digging a house on our property was what they would find once they started digging. Since we knew there were multiple buildings buried here (not to mention all the things we didn't know) we figured we would run into trouble. The excavator has found a couple of pockets of buried junk and brush and a couple of partial foundations, but nothing that has given him too much trouble. Yeah!!!

Footings being framed in.

Jed's rather large garage (it is bigger than our house we live in now).

Pouring the footings.

The builder left a smily face for the kids to see when they got home.

Jed ventured on top of our current house roof to get some pics of the activity around our yard.

The kids meeting their Cousin

2011-05-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

My brother, Bryon and his wife Jacque had their baby boy on May 15th. He had a bit of a rough start so the kids were not able to go to the hospital and see him. But, he is doing better now and came home on Saturday night. They made a stop at our house and let me tell you, Declan will NEVER go without attention at our house! The kids loved him. If only we could get Carley to remember his name now. Before he was born we all called him Thurlow (a family name that Jed ran across when he was doing his genealogy stuff). So, making the transition from Thurlow to Declan has been a little tough on everyone, but especially Carley, she cannot remember that poor kids name. The other day I was in the laundry room and she came in to tell me something about "the baby" and she said, "You know the thingamabobber". Instead of "you know, Declan." Oh, she had her Dad and me both laughing at that one.

Watching him leave at the end of the night. Kyra was in the car making sure he got strapped in right.

Having Fun

2011-05-25T12:31:00.001-05:00

Reagan doing her baby's hair.

Reagan is 100% all about her baby. It goes EVERYWHERE with us and because it is such an active baby it needs to be "stolen" at least once a week for a good washing. The other day I had Declan here (my brother Bryon and Jacque's new little one) and I was literally fighting with Reagan so that I could use the bouncy seat for Declan instead of her baby.

And then later in the day she ended up falling asleep in it.

Carley hanging out at the construction site.

Kyra thought these were pretty big nails. I would have to agree!

Holding baby Declan. She actually held him long enough and was still enough that she put him right to sleep.

Carley doesn't hold him for near the length of time that Kyra can but she enjoys her couple of minutes of snuggle time.

No fear - she would walk right off the ledge if we let her.

Trying to walk in Mommy's shoes!

Lost the battle one afternoon and fell asleep on the chair. Love the pink cheeks.

Puzzle time.

Carley was using stickers to make funny faces. :-)

Painting our toes and nails.

Yeah, they look nothing alike?! :-)

Checking out the building action in the back yard.

Gavin continues to get more and more creative with his Lego nuildin - he made this eagle without any instructions - designed and built on his own.

Spring is Here

2011-05-06T18:06:00.000-05:00

Spring is finally here in Minnesota. We have waited a long time for it but we finally had a warm, sunny day minus the wind!!! The girls and I enjoyed a lot of outside time today. They played and I practiced my picture taking. It was a great day!

This face has fun all over it!

We Have Begun!!!

2011-05-06T18:02:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have not heard yet...we are building a new house!!! They started digging tile lines this week and working on the well while we wait for road restrictions to go off. We are hoping that happens on Monday and then they will be able to bring in their big equipment and start digging the basement next week. Not too much to show in pictures yet but here are a few. We will be building behind our current house so we will be close by to watch all of the progress each and every day!!!

Random Pics

2011-05-06T17:57:00.000-05:00

Reagan was trying to go the whole day without a nap. I walked into the living room to find this on my floor. Didn't quite make it through the day that day!

Dora, Carley and Dora 2. Gotta love the outfits this child wears around the house. This one is her favorite.

And this one follows in her sisters footsteps with the outfits.

Kyra had a wrestling match with Gavin. She might have won but her eye did not!

FINALLY a flower (actually there are two now) on my violet that has never done anything for me!!!

Carley's first day of preschool.

Bedtime stories.

Easter

2011-05-06T16:42:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's house with beautiful weather, great companionship, wonderful food, a good game of kickball, eggs, candy, kites, a fox and her babies playing out in the field, and more candy!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-21T09:51:00.000-05:00

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!

All I need to know,

I learned from the Easter Bunny!

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.

There's no such thing as too much candy.

All work and no play can make you a basket case.

A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.

Some body parts should be floppy.

Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans.

Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.

The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.

To show your true colors, you have to come out of your shell.

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

May the joy of the season fill your heart.

AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND HAVE A

Happy, Holy,Healthy And Blessed Easter!

**Thanks to Lynn for sharing this!**

Bowl for Kids Sake!!!

2011-04-18T09:47:00.001-05:00

We had a great day on Saturday bowling, winning prizes, getting our faces painted, playing mini-golf, seeing the Easter Bunny and visiting with the Vikings Cheerleaders! Thank you to everyone who helped us raise money for the Big Brothers Big Sister Bowl for Kid's Sake Fundraiser. Gavin, Kyra, Carley and Reagan raised almost $500!!! The fundraiser was estimated that the fundraiser would bring in about $60,000 this year after all of the donations were in. What an amazingly generous commitment to this organization. THANK YOU to everyone who supported the kids and helped Big Brothers Big Sisters this year!

While we were there the newspaper asked if they could run a picture of Carley and Jed bowling to go along with their article. I have included the link for that below!

http://owatonna.com/content/bowlers-hit-lanes-big-brothers-big-sisters

"Spots"

2011-04-15T08:07:00.000-05:00

The other day we were out for a walk and I noticed that Carley has freckles that are starting to appear on her cheeks and nose. I said, "Carley, you are getting freckles on your face." Carley, "What are feckles." (Yes I meant to leave the r out). "Freckles are little dots that show up on your skin, you have some on your cheeks and your nose." At this point she reached up and tried to start wiping them off. "Freckles don't wipe off like dirt, they just stay there, but your freckles are really cute Carley." She just got this big smile on her face and all was right with the world. She ran ahead to catch up with Gavin and Kyra. I whispered to Jed, "She will someday hate those freckles!" So now, every day since that conversation, Carley comes downstairs in the morning, goes into the bathroom and looks into the mirror. "Mom, are my spots still there." :-)

Carely's Birthday Party - 4 Years Old!!!

2011-04-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

Kyra's Dance Performance

2011-04-14T13:34:00.001-05:00

Jacque's Baby Shower

2011-04-11T19:09:00.000-05:00

We had a baby shower for Jacque a couple of weeks ago. Some of you have been asking for baby bump pictures of Jacque, so there are some included in here.

Great Grandpa & Bonnie Visit

2011-04-11T17:41:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a visit from Great Grandpa and Bonnie a few weeks ago. They came for 4 days and timed it so that they could help Jacque celebrate her baby shower (that will be the next blog)! The kids loved spending time with them as did we!

Reading with Bonnie.

Playing "monsters" with Grandpa.

Giving Grandpa love!

Peek-a-boo!

Gavin hanging out with Uncle Britton.

Playing games.

Carley and Daddy snuggling and reading.

Reagan making friends with Uncle Bryon.

Cheese!

Carley found someone else to snuggle with and read a story with.

Wonder if she can feel baby kicking in there?

Random Pictures

2011-04-11T16:30:00.000-05:00

Random pictures from the last month...

Sisterly love! :-)

Homemade scooter made out of a Lego bin. So far, no one has gotten hurt (knock on wood).

She is ready for school. I don't even know what was inside, but except for snapping this picture I had to hold her up so she wouldn't topple backwards. She reminded me of a cartoon, no matter how hard she tried to stay upright it just wasn't going her way.

Too cool for shades.

And this is what happens when you leave Carley unattended with glitter. She dumps the entire container on her glue filled paper and it was a big container.

I think I have blogged about this plant before but I just have to do it again. This thing was dead. It was brown, not a leaf on it, dried up dead. Now I can't keep it under control!!! Love it, a shot of spring in my living room.

Nana and Papa sent two big boxes to the kids for Carley's birthday and for Easter treats/gifts. They had a ball opening everything up and they have been crafting fools for the past week (lots of craft/woodworking gifts received).

Big Brother Big Sister Fundraiser

2011-04-05T07:58:00.000-05:00

Hello All!

Once again this year we will be participating in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Annual Fundraiser Bowling Day. Our goal is to raise at least $50 each to go towards the fundraiser. If you would like to donate and help us reach our goal, we would greatly appreciate it! See below for more information on what the organization is and to learn how you can help support our team!

Thanks,
Gavin, Kyra, Carley & Reagan

How Can I Sponsor a Participant?
Right now, there are kids in your community who could thrive if they only had a caring adult mentor. We are going to be bowling on Saturday, April 16th for the Annual Bowl For Kids Sake Fundraiser for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization. Our Uncle Bryon is a Board Member of this organization and we think it's a pretty neat thing that we can help other kids have opportunities that they otherwise would not have. If you can help us by sponsoring our team that would be great! Go to:
http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=462786&lis=1&kntae462786=160A290AD78E4B82AA0E858C1BB747A9
and click on "Sponsor Participant" on the left hand side. It will then ask you for the participants name. You can type of of our names in (Gavin DeWitz, Kyra DeWitz, Carley DeWitz or Reagan DeWitz) and click the "search" button. Then you will need to scroll down to click on the name that you'd like to donate to. The next screen will ask you to enter your donation amount and will take you through the payment process. Thank you, thank you!!!

What is Bowl for Kids’ Sake?

Bowl for Kids' Sake is about having fun to help kids. It is our most important fundraising event. Funds raised go directly toward matching children with carefully-screened, caring Big Brother and Big Sister volunteers.

What is Big Brothers Big Sisters?
Big Brothers Big Sisters is not your typical organization. We help children realize their potential and build their futures. We nurture children and strengthen communities. And we couldn’t do any of it without you.

For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in communities across the country. We develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people.

Vision: all children achieve success in life.

Mission: provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.

Accountability: by partnering with parents/guardians, volunteers and others in the community we are accountable for each child in our program achieving:

• Higher aspirations, greater confidence, and better relationships

• Avoidance of risky behaviors

• Educational success

Our Programs Start Something
Here's the proof. National research has shown that positive relationships between Littles and their Bigs have a direct and measurable impact on children’s lives. By participating in our programs, Little Brothers and Sisters are:

•more confident in their schoolwork performance

•able to get along better with their families

•46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs

•27% less likely to begin using alcohol

•52% less likely to skip school.

Carley - 4 Years Old

2011-04-04T08:17:00.001-05:00

Our little brown eyed girl turns 4 years old today! I hope that every parent has the opportunity to have a child like Carley. She has the biggest heart of anyone I know. She is always thinking about other people. She loves to make people happy. She loves to snuggle. She loves to run up and give you a hug or kiss for no reason at all. We could all learn a little something from Miss Carley. Carley is out more timid, quieter child. She is always quick with a smile and is pretty laid back. She loves all things Dora, Tinkerbell, dress up and dance. She puts on at least one "show" for us every day in our living room. I am afraid that pretty soon she will start charging us for admission! Thank you for such an enjoyable first 4 years Carley. Daddy and I are looking forward to watching you learn and grow in the years to come. We love you.

A couple of minutes old and making herself heard!

Napping at the hospital.

1 Month Old

2 Months Old

3 Months Old

4 Months Old

5 Months Old

6 Months Old

7 Months Old

8 Months Old

9 Months Old

10 Months

11 Months Old

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

Happy Birthday Miss Carley!

National Eagle Center

2011-03-21T10:16:00.001-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their anniversary on Friday and asked us to go to Wabasha and Lacy City, MN to help them celebrate for the weekend. The kids left Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa and went to a toy store in Kellogg. This was not any ordinary toy store, it was a toy store that you could play in and eat in and all kinds of stuff! One of the highlights for Kyra for the weekend was riding on the hard carved wooden carousel that they had at the toy store. Some how each kid came away with a bag full of toys compliments of Grandma and Grandpa. Jed and I met up with the gang at the hotel where we were swimming like fish. On Sunday we headed to the National Eagle Center where we learned all abot Eagles and even got to take pictures with them. On the 20 minute drive from Lacy City to Wabasha we saw many eagles flying around the open river water. We even stopped at one look out point and watched them for a while. We did see a few wild ones at the National Eagle Center as well as 3 that they have at the Center that were rescued and can no longer live in the wild. And because it is National Eagle Month they had a special show for us. The Cincinnati Zoo brought a bird show to MN. We walked a couple of blocks from the Eagle Center to an auditorium and enjoyed an hour long show with parrots, pengiuns, eagles and many other birds that you don't get to see every day. Back at the Eagle Center we enjoyed a class learning all about eagles and we got to watch one eat its Sunday meal - a white rat. The kids and Grandma sat right in front and Reagan was definately trying to find a way out when the eagle got a little nervous and was flapping it's 7 foot wing span over top of the crowd. The other kids loved it. On the way home we followed the river for a while and did spot some more wild eagles at a distance and one right over our heads sitting on a branch out over the road but all 4 kids were sound asleep for the two hour drive home! It was a great weekend!!!

Disney Princess On Ice

2011-03-09T11:53:00.001-06:00

Grandma took Kyra, Carley and me to see Disney Princess on Ice last Saturday. The girls were so excited! They got even more excited as we neared the cities and they saw all the TALL buildings. They enjoyed all of the people walking around, the cars going every which way and seeing Target Field again. Kyra still talks about the good food at that game. :-) When we got to the Target Center it took us approximately 0.34 seconds to realize that we were going to be in the minority. At least 75% of the 2-8 year old little girls a this event were dressed up in their princess best. My girls...not so much. I thought I was being the good practical Mom - dressing them in layers so that if it was cold (to keep the ice frozen) then my girls would be prepared. In reality, not such a good Mom decision, they should have been dressed from head to toe in there dress up best - plastic crown, plastic shoes plastic dresses with beads and glitter galore...oh well, I guess I know better for next time. We all had a great time. The show was awesome. It was two hours long but was so engaging that it felt like a half hour long instead - that's a good show! On the down side, every two steps throughout the building there was another booth set up to sell Disney Princess stuff. Okay, I get it, it's a Disney Princess show, so let's sell some paraphernalia, but seriously people, the cheapest thing I saw there was a $7 box of popcorn! Really? $7 for one box of popcorn? The next cheapest was $10 for a snow cone - what? It's ice and some color/flavor - $10??? The girls really wanted a light up wand "thingy" but alas, I was once again a bad Mom and I refused to pay $22 x 2 for a plastic tube that lights up (for the time being). You know that as soon as we got home with it (if it even made it home without breaking or quit working) that it would be shoved in the pile of toys that seems to litter our playroom floor 110% of the time. Okay, I am done with my rant on extremely overpriced, overrated Disney Princess paraphernalia. Enjoy the pics!

And what do "the boys" do while the girls are at Disney Princess? Well Legos of course. Gavin met me at the door when we got home. He was so excited to show me the fruit bowl that he made out of Legos. SO PROUD!

Wow...It's Been A While

2011-03-03T12:42:00.000-06:00

As I began this blog I realized that it has been a while! Sorry Nana and Papa! :-) It seems that we always have something going on but when I look back and try to figure out what we have been up to, not much comes to mind. Just keeping up with the day to day of work, school and extra activities!

Here are some random pics.

Reagan and her baby. She LOVES babies. If she isn't holding one then she is pushing it in her stroller.

This is Reagan favorite spot in the house...the center of the kitchen table.

This is what your wall/ceiling looks like when your two older children decide it would be a great idea to open a Gogurt (yogurt in a pouch) and play catch with it. It was on the ceiling, the walls, the cupboards, the floor, the table, the stove, the fridge. Have I missed anything in the kitchen??? IT WAS EVERYWHERE. And just in case any of you are wondering - yogurt does not clean up well or easy. (Mark, if you are reading this, you will be glad to know that the blue yogurt looks wonderful beside the remnants of spaghetti left on my wall!)

Carley making the big trek to the top of the hill. Jed taking some pics - debatable if he was actually trying to get the kid. I am assuming he was aiming for the beautiful sunset.

She made it!

Gavin LOVES grapefruit (really any fruit, but he LOVES grapefruit) so much so that when he is done eating it like "regular" people do, he then picks up the skin, turns it inside out and scrapes all of the "junk" out with his teeth and eats that. ??? Is this healthy?! :-)

Snuggle time. I physically tried to have Gavin get attached to a blanket, so that when we went somewhere, he had his "security" thing. It eventually worked but took quite the doing. I didn't even try with the girls. Kyra and Carley are still not really attached to anything too much. Reagan on the other hand HAS to have this blanket. When we travel we are worried that we will lose it or forget it somewhere. She does not go to sleep for a nap or at night without this blanket. I even have to take it everyday in the car when we go to pick up Gavin so that she can hold it in her carseat and fall asleep with it. Well, we decided we would be smart parents and plan for the worst. If we lose this darn thing, we need a backup. So, I looked for a couple of months and could not find another one of these blankets, I looked in stores, I looked online, I searched e-bay...couldn't find it anywhere. Finally by chance one day I found it again (and now I am finding it everywhere I look...go figure). But, I got another one so that if something would happen to this blanket we would have another one (you know, like if I would have to wash first said blanket?!) That's another story - it's a battle to the end to get that thing in the washing machine and don't even think about letting her see you transfer from washing machine to dryer - she will stand by the dryer until it's done with its cycle. The only problem now is...she will not use the second blanket. She refuses and you cannot pull a fast one on her. Really???? I can't win.

The kids had our good friends John and Josie come spend the night in February. The kids played outside a lot, enjoyed M&M's, popcorn and hot chocolate for snack (I know, you don't get more healthy than that!), enjoyed finger jello for supper (they literally had a 9 x 13 pan of finger jello gone in 5 minutes), watched a movie, camped out on the living room floor, when to church together (talk about causing a scene and all we did was walk into church with 6 kids all 7 and under???? I knew it would happen but it was even more of an attention grabber than I anticipated - every set of eyes in the church - and it's a big church - turned and watched us all file in). We had a great weekend! We had Jason for part of the time as well. Let me tell you what, when it's 7 to 2, you plan really well and you are organized!!! But we did it! :-)

This is what happens when Reagan tries to dress herself, which is happening more and more lately.

Gavin is playing basketball again this year. The first day it took Jed 20 minutes to convince him to hit the court and then I am not sure it was Jed who convinced, I think it was Gavin's friend Isabella who was so patient, caring and kind, who coaxed him into the court. But now he is ready to go each Saturday morning!

Can we say crazy hair! Well, at least there is hair to be crazy. She was bald for the first 12 months of her life!

Reagan, Carley and Jed playing in the snow. We took Reagan outside at the beginning of the winter and she cried the entire time, she did not want anything to do with cold and snow. We decided to try again a couple of weeks ago and she LOVES it. The only problem now is that she will literally sneak out the door (barefoot and all) any chance she gets. And when the other kids go outside without her, she will scream until you help her get dressed and take her out.

I ask for 30 minutes a day to walk on my treadmill and this is what I get... I got done one day, walked to the living room and Reagan had eaten a whole box of chocolates that she had gotten her hands on. Her face needed a little work, the shirt is pretty much a lost cause, but somehow she did not get one drop on the couch?!

Since Reagan decided she likes the outdoors, this is how she walks around the house - all day every day. Boots and coat - gotta be prepared!

They were putting on a show!

Carley spends 10 minutes a night getting her bed prepared - which means all 6 blankets and all 33 dolls/animals need to be in order and lined up. There are literally times that I cannot find Carley when I go up to check on her.

Some day he will burn this picture...but alas, we will have copies...for some reason he thought this was hilarious - put a pull up on his head like a hat?! His idea...not mine. On the plus side, it was not a used one?!

This plant was dead. Truly, it was dead and little by little it started to green up and now it is going crazy. Not only is it a beautiful deep green with lots of shoots and leaves but it keeps popping out flowers like crazy! I never get my plants to do stuff like this!

Now this is an outfit!

Yesterday Kyra came to me with her newest craft project - which happened to be a piece of paper with a piece of tape rolled up on it and a LIVE ladybug attached to the tape. Even though it was just a bug I figured I better have the "God's Creature" talk with her since the darn thing was still alive and stuck to her craft project. After the talk I had a good laugh. Don't they always say art is in the eye of the beholder?! :-)

Sharing Household Chores?

2011-02-03T17:06:00.001-06:00

I LOVED all of the responses and interaction that I got from "To Fold or Not To Fold" so I decided to incorporate more "conversations" into my blog posts. So, here's to hoping that you all continue to participate and give me your thoughts and ideas! (If you continue to have trouble posting a comment or are not comfortable posting a comment but would like to share your "two cents" you can e-mail it to me and I will post it as a comment for you).

Okay, so I was reading a Family Circle magazine at lunch today and it talked about spouses sharing chores.

From Family Circle:
"Couples Therapy"
Want fewer dustups with your spouse? In a recent survey of more than 1,000 men, 9 out of 10 agree that when they share household chores equally with their significant other, they get along better. So, pass your honey the mop!

Women spend 17 hours a week cleaning, down from 26 hours 30 years ago, while men have more than doubled their duty, from 6 to 13 hours. But, having a husband creates an extra 7 hours of work each week for women.

So, we are definately one of those households that has a helping husband. Even though Jed works 50+ hours a week he still comes home and helps get supper around, gives the kids baths and gets them ready for bed, cleans up the table, sweeps the floor, takes care of getting the corn for our corn stove, takes out the garbage, feeds the cat, does laundry from time to time, and the list goes on. I have an amazing husband. He doesn't ever question whether that is a "women's job" or a "man's job", he pitches in wherever he can. And I can honestly say that we do not fight. We disagree on things sometimes and we each have our bad days sometimes (me more than him) but we just do not fight - maybe because helps around the house??? Who knows. And as I write this I am realizing that I do not tell Jed THANK YOU often enough for everything that he does for this family. So, THANK YOU JED, YOU ARE AN AMAZING HUSBAND, FATHER, AND PROVIDER. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Okay, your turn. I have 4 questions. #1 - Does your husband help out around the house? #2 - Are there chores that he refuses to do? #3 - Does your husband create SEVEN more hours of work each week for you? (I don't think Jed creates anywhere near that much more work for me each week)? #4 - Between you and your husband, do you do a combined 30+ hours of cleaning a week? (I don't even think if I added all of the laundry that I do 30 hours of cleaning a week?!)

Come on followers, lets see your comments!

And Another...To Fold or Not To Fold

2011-02-03T15:30:00.000-06:00

Got a nice e-mail from my long time friend Amy today. She had to weigh in on the "To Fold or Not To Fold" blog as well!!!

Amy Thome:
The subject of folding underwear….. We fold Matts, they fit better in the drawer when they are folded, mine end up unfolded in a drawer and the kids, not folded, but in a nice flat stack in their drawers. The girls actually just started the task of “folding” the underwear and socks after laundry is done, yippee! I am not sure why, but I completely fine with how they end up in the drawers and do not see it changing anytime soon. As far as beds, yes everyone makes their own bed, even our 2 year old (usually tucking in his stuffed animals and at least one tractor!). Granted it is not perfect, but they learn some responsibility. Sometime it is just thrown together, but the covers are up! On the weekend, I have a bit more time than when both Matt and I work 40+ hours a week and everyone’s bed gets made hotel style, it makes me feel like I have a clean house, at least for 2 days out of the week.

Thank you Amy and family!

Another Response...To Fold or Not To Fold!

2011-02-03T06:57:00.000-06:00

Got another response from one of my friends (all the way back to elementary school)! Keep them coming, I have gotten good feedback from people who follow our blog - they like this series of "to fold or not to fold" and everyone seems to be enjoying the interaction that is going on with this topic!

Thanks for the response Alisha!

Alisha Wrote:
Shannon - I just read your blog today. Wanted to let you know that, yes I do fold underwear. I don't know why, maybe it was the years of my mom working late 12+ hour shifts and the girls and I had to fold the clothes and put them away. Boy I remember the lists that she would leave us. Frankly, I can't wait to leave those lists for my own children!! OK, so maybe it's called "child labor" what's a girl to do?! I don't always make the beds - most mornings it's done. The kids beds are made daily, but if I'm running around like a chicken with no head in the AM, my bed doesn't get made. It's funny the converstions that I find myself wanting to have with you after I read your blog. Love to You and the Family! Alisha