Happy Birthday Claire

My littlest baby is one year old today. She loved the cupcake and ice cream smiled really great for her messy pictures. She tried to share her slobbery cupcake with anyone who was willing and then through it on the floor. (which she believed was quite funny). Our wonderful neighbors came over to share the event with us and showered Claire with some great gifts. (Light up rubber duckies, a striped stuffed bunny, and books, to name only a few). A great time was had by all as the neighborhood kids ate pink cupcakes and creative ice cream sundaes. (I love to fill them up with sugar and then send them home). Happy 1st Birthday Claire.

Yesterday was our play hookie from school and work day. We did our Toys for Tots, visited Santa, went out to lunch, and just played together. I think that I am going to make it a yearly tradition. It was so nice to spend time as a family in the middle of the week. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Christmas chaos

The Christmas craziness has begun. Tonight is our last evening for about a week that we don't have something going on. I love it all though. I truly enjoy this time of year and all of the activities that accompany it. Haylee and Kenna are in a Christmas pageant at church this Sunday and we have several practices before then this week. I have my yearly ornament/cookie exchange at a friends house on Thursday and we have Kevin's family celebration this Saturday at our house. The most exciting event this week is of course Claire's 1st birthday. She turns one on Friday. I am excited as my baby celebrates her first year, but she is my last child and it is sad to see her going from baby to toddler. We are having some neighbors over on Friday to watch her cover herself in cake and ice cream. I can't wait.

Other exciting activities this weekend include seeing the Nutcracker on Sunday afternoon. My middle school neighbor (and one of our babysitters) is performing in the show and Haylee and I are going. It will probably make me cry because when I performed in the Nutcracker many years ago, it was at the same theater.

We took some Christmas pictures of the girls and I included them along with the picture from last year at this time. My, what a year can do.

Happy Halloween

Yes, the only time that I have to blog is while my kids and husband are out trick or treating and I am handing out candy. We have a little Pocahontas (beautifully made by grandma), a little Tigger, and a High School Musical Cheerleader (of course). Have a Happy Halloween.

Pumpkins

Well, football is almost over and Kevin's record is so far 7-1. One more regular season game to go and then we have playoffs. He just got over being very sick with fevers, cough, and achey. I think that he is just burning the candle at both ends, but seems to be feeling better today.

Haylee finally lost her first tooth. The tooth fairy brought her a gold dollar, some bathtub markers, and a special certificate. She lost it at school (which is what she was hoping) and came home with a little tooth box holding her little tiny tooth. Since her grown up tooth has started coming in sideways and she doesn't even have room for her baby teeth, I have decided that we need to start an orthodontic fund now. Kenna is doing well in school and has started writing her name all by herself. This is quite a difficult task since her whole name actually has quite a few letters in it. She actually did great finally at soccer this week. She ran and tried to kick the ball without any melt-downs. Claire is cruising all over the furniture and finally got her first tooth. She is getting into everything and we have had to step up the baby proofing.

Yesterday we decided to go get our pumpkins. There is a popular place near us that has a corn maze, pumpkin characters, hayride, and big store, but it is very expensive to go there and do all of those things( $30 for a family of four). Their pumpkins are rather expensive too. So, we decided to try out a little farm just down the road and we were more than pleased. The farm is so cute and not at all busy. Not to mention that we only spent $4 for the entire trip (including pumpkins) and the kids got to pet some lambs. This place is the best kept secret around and will be our new favorite pumpkin picking spot. I can't seem to upload any pictures this time. Maybe next time.

Ok, I know it has been too long since I have blogged, so I will update you on the last month:

I have been getting very excited about fall. I am a big fan of this time of year. I love the colors, smells, and foods of fall. Some of my favorite fall things are:

1.Apples from the local orchard

2. The rich red of my burning bushes

3. Pictures of my kids in the leaves

4. The smell of burning leaves

5. Pumpkin soup ( and all of the other comfort foods of fall)

Here is an update on the girls:

Haylee started 1st grade. She is at school all day now): She loves it and her teacher is a young energetic lady. The best part for Haylee is that she earns "Hutch bucks" for good behavior and can buy something with her "bucks" on Friday. This reward system works great for my kids.

Haylee has also started back to soccer and gymnastics. She is getting older and therefore is in the bigger girls gymnastics and she actually has to play a position in soccer. Her games are very exciting to watch now, although I feel like I am losing my voice from cheering so loud (Yes, I am an obnoxious soccer mom)

Kenna is still in preschool and she is doing her preschool at her daycare this year. She loves it. Her daycare provider lives in our neighborhood, but her house is set back from the road in some woods. The kids get to take hikes and look for nature treasures. They are learning about what kind of protective covering animal have (ie. feathers, quills, fur, etc.) Kenna is growing up so fast. She is also in gymnastics and soccer. She is really good at gymnastics, especially the bar, but soccer is a different story. As one parent put it, "it is like a goat rodeo at this age". It is funny and sad to see 8 four year old girls clustered around a soccer ball moving in a big heard. They start crying every few minutes because they fell down or someone took the ball away from them and I am never sure of the score because they always seem to be kicking the ball into the wrong goal. Let us hope the it gets better. I am enjoying being able to be home with Kenna and Claire all day on Tuesday and Thursday. We go to library time and have fun play dates.

Claire is really active now. She went from crawling to cruising in a matter of days. This girl really wants to walk. She is still a terrible sleeper, but she is growing well and talking baby babble all day long. Hard to believe that she is 9 months old already.

We had a recent scare at our house that turned into a funny story. A very thin, sick looking kitty showed up at our door two days ago. I felt so bad for the cat that I gave it some food and after much thought decided that if it kept coming back, I would take it to the vet and give it a new home with us as an outdoor cat. Well, yesterday Haylee scared it and it bit her. Not knowing where this cat came from, I called animal control and they told me to quarantine the cat and call Haylee's doctor. We locked it in the garage as to take it in to animal control on Monday. Last night when I went to feed it, I realized that the cat was declawed. Because I had originally thought the cat was a barn cat from nearby, I realized that it probably belonged to someone. On a hunch, I asked some neighbors if they had a cat and sure enough, it was theirs. Yeah! It turns out that the cat is 18 years old with dementia,deafness, and possible kidney disease which is why it is so thin and sick looking. (and probably why it bit Haylee)

Well I have written enough for now. Hope everyone is having a great fall.

Growing up

Well, my little girls are growing up so fast. We have some tooth updates. Haylee has her first official wiggly tooth. It is the bottom front one on the left. She has been convinced she has had wiggly teeth at various times over the last year as she sadly watched all of her friends lose tooth after tooth. She is soooo excited now. Mommy has to get to the bank soon and get some silver dollars for you-know-who to deliver under her pillow when it finally comes out.

Claire almost has a new tooth. She is gnawing on everything in sight so one must be coming soon.

Our weekend was nice. Saturday was date night, but not like you may think. It was actually a date for Daddy and Kenna. They went to dinner and picked out a special movie to watch at home. While they watched the movie, Haylee and I went to a High School Musical birthday party complete with an outdoor concert, karaoke, makeup/hair station, and microphone drinking cups. What fun to see 15 little girls swooning over Zack Effron.

Rainy weekend

We had a great weekend. Friday, I went scrappin' with the girls from my old office and my neighbor. This was fun except the pictures that I sent out to be developed weren't in when I went to pick them up so I really didn't have any pictures to scrapbook. I spent most of the evening shopping.

On Saturday, Meredith and I visited the farmer's market for cucumbers, corn, zucchini, and some mammoth peppers. (Claire thought that these were very fun) I had never been to the downtown farmers market before, only the one across town. I loved it. The smells, the hussle and bussle and the beautiful food. We visited the bakery after for mocha and a danish. The morning was so nice on Saturday, and then it started to rain. I feel like it has not really stopped raining. Saturday night we had some friends and their kids over for munchies, beer, and cards. It was amusing to see all of us yawning at midnight. I suppose that is what kids will do to you. (This picture is of our girls and our friend's girls having a "silly dress up" parade)

Sunday(another rainy day) was a milestone for Claire. She started to crawl. She had been rocking on her hands and knees for about a week and Sunday she actually made some progress. It seems that I just need to put small toys that are choke hazzards in front of her and she will crawl right to them. YIKES.

Too many vacations

Yes, you heard me correctly. We have had too many vacations in the month of July. I am tired. This past week we went to Gull Lake Ministries camp. It was a blast and actually quite relaxing compared to Disney, but I am still worn out and glad to sleep in my own bed again. Here are some great pics from camp.

Disney World

Well, we made it back alive. Our trip was fun, exhausting, and very,very hot. The girls seemed to have a wonderful time and I took 800 pictures to prove it. It may take me the next 15 years to scrapbook everything but I will certainly have fun doing it. Here is a picture of the girls with Cinderella at the Royal Table for breakfast. This was the first day of our trip and what a way to start the trip. My favorite things about the trip were:

It's a Small World

The castle

The safari at Animal Kingdom

Our hotel

The princesses

Busy

Wow, long time since my last post. Not to say that I have not had intentions to sit down and post, but by the end of the day, I really can only think about sleep. We had a wonderful 4th of July and we went to Chicago on the train with Kenna and Haylee for Haylee's belated 6th Birthday trip to the American Girl store. The trip was great. We did not lose Kenna and the girls got some fun things for their dolls. We had a cute lunch at the cafe in the store and then came home. We also visited the Disney Store while we were there. Our 4th was traditional as we saw the parade and then spent the day at some friends house swimming and eating. We, unfortunately missed fire works since the kids crashed about 9pm. Enjoy the new pictures.

34 days

Only 34 more days until we leave for Disney World. I had a little panic attack about how soon this is. I feel a little better since I went to the store today and got some important Disney must haves: fan mister, big water bottles, swim diapers, etc. We received some of our tags and tickets in the mail which was exciting. I am dreading the packing I will have to do, but I am so excited for the trip. The kids are talking about the trip everyday now. I think that I will have to tone down the Disney discussions several days before we leave so that they actually sleep the night before we leave. Mickey (actually me) will be delivering a package to the girls in a couple of weeks with goodies for our trip. ( A CD, the fans, autograph books, pin trading sets, and things to keep busy on the plane.) I am excited to see them open the package. Anyway, I have included a picture of Kenna's play do cookies she spent 40 minutes making for me one day. YUMMY.

Daddy's last hope

Well so far we have two girls who love dress up and playing with makeup. Maybe the third one with be a baseball player. Daddy is sure hoping for at least one who loves sports as much as he does. We will see. I just love this picture and had to share it with you.

A busy week

Wow. How fast a week goes by. I realized this morning that it had been over a week since I last blogged and I started trying to figure out where the time went. When I checked the calender, it dawned on me that we are a very busy family. We had playdates, dinner at my college friend Nikki's house, preschool, work, kindergarten, dinner at Meredith's, mowing and watering the lawn, gardening, soccer, the gym, 4 kindergarten girls over to play on Saturday and a trip to Nana's on Sunday. This of course doesn't include the 3 meals a day, grocery shopping, and church. I only list these things to remind myself of the chaotic, yet wonderful life that I have. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the beautiful weather.

The picture that I have included are

1. Nana's favorite activity

2. Haylee's gallery night at school

3. Claire who has finally found her most favorite toy in the world (her feet)

Mother's Day

I am not sure whether or not I will have a chance to blog before Mother's Day so I thought that now would be a good time. I wanted to wish all of the women that I know a Happy Mother's Day. And yes, I mean all of the women, whether you have young children, adult children, grandchildren, future children, adopted children, animal children, or grownup friends/family who act like they are children. Anybody who is a women should celebrate herself on Mother's Day. I plan to garden, nap, and read. Kevin has promised uninterrupted time to do that. (We'll see) Anyway, here is an adorable picture taken by my wonderful friend Meredith of my little beauties who call me MOM.

Election Day

OK, I have to be honest. I was not going to vote today. I had all of the kids and was watching my neighbors son. It was hot and I did not want to drag the kids out in the heat. However, I have a wonderful neighbor who keeps me on my toes and insists that I do what is right. So, because she was working the poll booths today ( at my precinct) she called me and (firmly) reminded me to come. So I packed up the little ones and ventured out. We voted and then went to the flower shop for some annuals. I am glad that we went because it is important to me that my children learn about their freedoms and see me taking advantage of these freedoms.

Our valued educators

Kevin always seems to volunteer for the strangest things. His latest was related to a school fundraiser in which the winning "team" of kids got to pick a style of clothing for Kevin to were for a day. Well they chose EMO. Ok, I didn't know what this meant when I first heard it. The best definition that I could find was as follows:

Emo is a somewhat ambiguous, controversial slang term most frequently used to describe a fashion or subculture which is usually defined to have its roots in punk fashion and subculture, as well as some attributes of gothic fashion and subculture.

Hope this helps.

Anyway, this was his interpretation of this style. Notice the black teardrop on his cheek. This was a bit funny since he formed real tears when I had to put that eyeliner on his eyes. All I can say is that I was proud of what he was willing to do for a good cause.

Happy Birthday Haylee

I can't believe that she is already 6 years old. It seems like I can still recall the night that I went into labor with her. It makes me sad and happy to see her grow. She can ride a two wheeler, spell her first and last name, count by twos, say her phone number, and is starting to read. I am not sure that I am ready for anymore growing up. At least I can say that she still needs a hug when she falls down, she still wants to be tucked in at night, she still can (and often wants to) sit on my lap, and best of all, she still calls me mommy. Happy Birthday my sweet baby.

Getting smarter

Well Angie (my friend and previous PA colleague) and I just returned from our conference and we are so much smarter than before. We had lots of fun knitting, eating, and filling our brains with new knowledge. I was so glad to be home to see my kids and I was thrilled that Claire was quick to remember how to breast feed. I was a little nervous that she might decide that nursing was just too much work and give me that "are you crazy mom" look, but I was wrong. She actually seemed relieved that I was home. I guess the 30 trips back and forth to the hotel room to pump breastmilk were worth it.
I don't have any pictures of the conference since I didn't bring my big clumsy camera, but you can visit Angie's (http://www.lakesideknitter.blogspot.com) blog to see some greats pics.

Warm weather

My 10 favorite things about warm weather:

1. popcicles

2. riding bikes

3. tulips

4. blue moon ice cream faces at the local ice cream parlor

5. the smell of baby 50 sunscreen

6. the windows down in the car

7. the smell and sounds of the backyard at night when the windows are open

8.sundresses

9. flip flops

10. homemade lemonade from the little girl down the road.



I know that it is still spring, but today felt like a summer day. It is Kevin's 36th Birthday today and we served him breakfast in bed complete with some masterpiece art the girls made for him. After enjoying a very chaotic lunch at Applebee's, we came home to spend the entire day outside. Today was also a very special day for Haylee as she learned how to ride a two wheel bike without her training wheels. It was amazing to me how she went from not riding the bike at all to flying down the road and putting on a "bike show" for us all in one day. Children amaze me.

Spring is here

Today was definately a spring day. High 60's and BEAUTIFUL. Off to the park we went to swing on the swings and climb on monkey bars. There were so many kids at the park and Kenna made friends with some other little girls. I am glad to see her so social. Claire seemed to enjoy the kids playing and the wind in her hair since she cried when I put her back in her carseat to go home. I think that we will go back tomorrow.

My first post

Well here it is. My first post on a blog. My friend Angie has a blog and I enjoy looking at it so much that I decided to try it out for myself. I am not sure how often I will post or really what to say, but it seems that it would be therapeutic to journal and keep in touch with friends and family all at the same time. It is multi-tasking, which with my busy life, is necessary. Well this is all that I will start with until I can get some pictures and my profile updated.