Our Crazy World

Gavin's First T-Ball Game

2009-06-10T21:13:00.008-04:00

His team name is the Royals

Warming up

"Riding the pine, just like his old man" -Chris

Up to bat!

On first base

After the game at Dairy Queen =)

Gavin's Pre-school Graduation

2009-05-26T15:29:00.003-04:00

May 18th 2009

Faith Lutheran School

Mother's Day Tea

2009-05-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

Gavin and Dylan's classes both put on a little program for Mother's Day at the school.

They both had lines to say. Dylan's was "You're Welcome!", and Gavin's lines were "And when I sit down to eat, I fold my hand up nice and neat", and "She hugs me when I'm angry". of course out of context they don't make any sense. lol

Both the boys made a handprint t-shirt for themselves (Dylan's class wore theirs at the tea, but Gavin's class wore theirs at graduation), and the also made a shirt for the mom's!

An interview with Gavin and Dylan

2009-03-19T10:44:00.002-04:00

1. What is something I always say to you?

G: we're having burritos for dinner

D: Listen to you

2. What makes me happy?

G: obeying

D: Playing with my puzzle

3 what makes me sad?

G: when we do bad things or say no

D: when I scream

4. How do I make you laugh?

G: Tickle me

D: Tickle me

5. what do you think I was like as a kid?

G: Blonde hair and a crazy kid

D: You had a little bear

6. how old am I?

G: 16

D: 5

7. How tall am I?

G: don't know

D: this tall (pointed to the kitchen cabinets)

8. What is my favorite thing to do?

G: Make dinner

D: Make my baby book

9. What do i do when your not around?

G: Scrapbook

D: Stay with Chase

10. what am I really good at?

G: building houses

D: Eating cereal

11. what am I not really good at?

G: working the T.V. (when it's broken, you can't fix it)

D: turning around

12. what is my job?

G: babysiting kids

D: to get cups

13. what is my favorite food?

G: Tacos

D: Cereal

14. what makes me proud of you?

G: obeying

D: when I get tickets at school

15. what so you and I play together?

G: seguence

D: wresting

16. How are we the same?

G: same skin

D: our fingernails

17. How are we different?

G: you wear rings

D: you have a pen

18. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?

G: Mickey mouse

D: a wonder pet

19. How do you know I love you?

G: because I came out of your tummy

D: because you tell me

20. Where is my favorite place?

G: Chuckey cheese

D: the movie theater

My color is

2009-03-16T11:47:00.001-04:00

GREEN

You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

not so glamorous 365

2009-03-07T20:33:00.004-05:00

So I slacked on this big time for a while, took a few pictures, and slacked again, so there's some pretty major gaps in here.

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365-22 - 365-27

forgotten

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365-28
pretty as a flower:

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365-29
Sisters!!

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365-30
smile, please!

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365-31
not a good read, but it's entertaining!

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365-32
Not feeling it

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365-33
forgotten

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365-34
fake out

(don't worry, it's not a real tattoo, I designed it on photoshop)

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365-35
Evil mirrors

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For this one I thought I'd give a little more explanation on it, and why I did it.

"The ongoing battle in my mind over weight and self image. The "me" on the right is the way I see myself, bigger than I should be.
The "me" on the left is thin and the way I think I should be. Then there's the "me" the way I really am standing ashamed in front of the evil mirrors."

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365-36
sunshine on my shoulder, makes me happy

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365-37 -365-38
forgotten
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365-39
relaxation

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365-40 - 365-41
forgotten

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365-42
the only good reason for valentines day

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365-43 - 365-46
forgotten
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365-47
bad hair days = hats

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365-48 - 365-52
forgotten

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365-53
saddened

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365-54
forgotten

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365-55
good morning!
(how I eat my breakfast most mornings)

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365-56 -0365-59
forgotten
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365-60
shhh! Sneaking brownies

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365-61
quiet, happy, shy, simple

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365-62
Rock Chalk!

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365-63
warm spring afternoon

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catching up

2009-03-07T19:53:00.005-05:00

Hello to all! Seems like forever since I blogged last, oh wait. Maybe that's because it has been forever!

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We've been pretty busy lately, but it seems like when people ask what we've been up to and I stop to tell them it really doesn't seem like that much (how does that happen?!). But I guess it's enough to eat up all the hours in the day!

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We're finally all well again, everyone (except Chris) got the flue not once, but twice! That was a fun experience.... not! I actually had it 3 times, but I thing the second time was because I didn't fully recover from the first time, and it just came back on me. It's hard to rest when there's 3 little one's running around! The weekends just don't do it.

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The boys are glad that the weather was warmer this week, and I must say I was pretty darn happy too! We've played outside for 3 days straight! Although the forecast for the beginning of next week is predicting the weather to only be in the 40's again. But that's still a record high for march! I'm just glad it's not snowing!!!

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Gavin is doing good. He still thinks he knows everything (he definitely gets that from his dad!), and he's a pretty smart guy, so he just might!

We got the bad news at his last dentist appointment that he has two cavities, on his baby teeth, so we made an appointment to get those filled. Then we got the statement from the dentist and we're going to have to pay close to 300.00 to fill them! Yikes!! Just seems like a lot of money to spend on teeth that are going to fall out, but then again I don't want to cause problems for the future either. So I have to talk to the dentist and figure things out.

And for those of you who need to know, he's had a name change. He would prefer to be called Optimus Prime (from Transformers) now, not Gavin. We will let you know of any further name changes when they take place. lol

He's also grown and inch since November, and is wearing size 6T now. I was shocked when he stood against the wall and he was that much taller.

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zx q QQQQrrrr r nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.... this is courtesy of chase.....

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Dylan is a little bugger, and is pretty much a carbon copy of me (darn!) I see so many things that he does, and I can remember doing the same thing to my brother and sister when I was little, it's just scary!

He was evaluated by a speech therapist at his school, and she thinks we need to get him into speech therapy to correct some of his problems. I completely agree, and we know a lady at our church who is a speech therapist, and she's agreed to see him!!! I just have to wait until she gets a cancellation, and then we can start working it all out.

He's doing really well in school , when I can get him to let go of me and stay in the class! We have the same problem every week, but after we get him comfortable and I'm gone he does just fine. He's also very smart, loves puzzles, books and music. It's so funny, in the car we listen to "the Optimus Prime song" by Lincoln park (that's not the real name of the song btw), and he and Gavin just sit back there and sing right along. It's so cute!

This little guy though, has only grown 1/4 of an inch since November, He's wearing 5T shirts, and only 4T pants, because of the length. I'm sure he will grow eventually!

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Chase is growing like a weed, and is super cranky right now. He's getting his top molars in, and is not doing well with it at all. He's not sleeping well, and he's not sleeping in his bed at all! So it makes for a long night for everyone. But this too shall pass, and there will come a day when I will miss having I'm snuggling against me while trying to sleep.

He also is completely convinced that he is at least 5 years old, and can do anything that his brothers do. That includes riding bikes, and not just on the sidewalk where it's safe, but he thinks he's big enough to get them to the sidewalk by zooming down the driveway! Thankfully I saw what he was about to do and got there before he crashed and face planted on the cement. He also doesn't think he should be limited to his trike, but thinks that Gavin's bike would suit him just fine. Um, no.

The other day we were at the park, and he had to be on a big swing just like his brothers! So I put him on and told him to hold on tight, and no to let go. He did great for a long time, then he suddenly thought he needed to let us know how good he was doing and said "ta da" (therefore taking his hands off the chains and putting them up in the air).... he promptly fell to the ground and made a loud thud. He wasn't going fast though, and the swing was really low, so he was fine after a few minutes.

I have a feeling we're going to have out hands full with this one!

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Chris is working hard as usual, they're finishing up the house they built over the winter to keep busy, and it's really cool! It doesn't seem like the economy has slowed down business for them much for the spring. Chris has been working on quite a few bids, and they keep coming in! So for that we are extremely thankful.

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I have been babysitting quite a bit lately, which is goon for the money, but very tiring. Thankfully though the only day I have a bunch of kids here at once is on Friday, so I think I can handle that.

I just joined a 24 hour fitness place here in Derby called "the body shop". It was a great deal, only 30 dollars a month, and you can go whenever! Which is awesome, because I am not a morning person, so getting up before 5to be at the gym just wouldn't happen. And Chris doesn't get home until after the rec center is already closed, so that wasn't an option either. So I think this will be great!

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That's pretty much what's been going on here for the last month or so. Now I need to remember to do this more often, and it won't take as long!

not so glamorous 365

2009-02-11T10:08:00.002-05:00

365-15

Fogotten

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365-16

New Shoes!

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365-17

relaxing

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365-18

painting

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365-19

KU Rocks!

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365-20

on the go

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365-21

Mommy needs a time out

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Update on Grandpa

2009-01-28T10:18:00.002-05:00

They kept him at the hospital yesterday and overnight, because when they got him up to walk around he got really short of breath. Grandma was a bit hesitant to take him home if he still wasn't feeling good. So they decided to stay just one more day. He was moved to a regular room where he could get up and around more.

Hopefully he Will be going home (if he's not there already) today.

I talked to them both for a little bit yesterday, and they seem to be handling everything very well. Grandpa sounds good, and I told him not to do this to us again. So hopefully he listens. lol

Thank you all again for the thoughts and prayers.

Trying Not to Worry

2009-01-26T13:47:00.002-05:00

Which for me, is easier said than done.

I got a call this weekend from my mom telling me that my grandpa had gone into the hospital because he was having chest pain, and just wasn't feeling right.

He had been feeling this way for a few weeks, and just decided that he should probably go get checked out. I am so thankful that he did!

They found out through all their test that one side of his heart was blocked 90%, and the other 60%. They said his bad cholesterol was fine, but there wasn't enough good cholesterol. My mom said they gave the analogy that it was like you taking out your trash (bad cholesterol), but there was no garbage truck (good cholesterol) to pick it up. So the trash just keeps piling up.

The really scary thing is that if the doctor told my grandma they call his condition the "widow maker", because there's no chance of survival if he would have actually had a heart attack. I just can't imagine him not being here. Even the thought about that makes me want to break into tears.

My mom called me today to let me know that they just put in two stints and he is now in critical care to recover. He will be released tomorrow if there are no complications. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers

And if you could pray for my grandma too, she is going through this without any family since they live in Arizona. Thankfully there was a friend with her today while grandpa was in surgery.

Boys and their Toys

2009-01-19T11:24:00.004-05:00

For a while now Chris has really been wanting to do something special with the boys where they could get their hands dirty, use their tools and do some male bonding. lol

Chris shows up after work on Wednesday with some scrap lumber, and declares.

"Boy's. We're gonna make a bench".

On Thursday after they got back from school that is exactly what they did.

STOP!!!!

2009-01-18T15:25:00.002-05:00

Do you ever feel like just yelling STOP? So that time could just stand still for a second, and you can take everything in that your kids are learning, doing, and remember them for the rest of your life. Everything seems to be happening so fast, and I can't beleive how big my boys are getting.

The things that I was only dreaming of them doing a few years ago are happening, and it just seems so surreal.

Today, Gavin was learning to ride his bike without the help of his training wheels. It seems like only yesterday we were trying to get him to peddal his little trike, and now Chase was walking that same trike around trying to catch up with the big boys on their bikes. Where, oh where is the time going?

Some days it seems like things would be so much easier if they were just a little older and self sufficient, but the truth is the older they get the more I miss their dependance on me. The more I want to hold them close and cuddle with them, and protect them from all the things out in the world. It's all so bitter-sweet.

Now for the pictures from today :)

And a few of the other boys too

not so glamorous 365

2009-01-16T11:19:00.011-05:00

365-8
almost forgotten

365-9

holy socks

365-10

he's mine

365-11
Sick :(

365-12
my obsession. the computer

365-13
beautifying

365-14

my favorite mug

the not so glamorous side

2009-01-07T15:58:00.003-05:00

Since getting a new camera for Christmas... yea, that's right I got the Nikon D60 that I've been dreaming of!!!!! Thanks to my mom and dad (LOVE YOU!!!!) I have decided that I am going to start a diary of my day-to-day life with pictures. A picture blog so to speak, or as my Flikr friends call it a "365".

I started on January 1st so it would be easier for me to remember what day I'm on.

I will upload them once a week, hopefully.

Here are the first pictures of the "not so glamorous 365"

(and I've already forgotten two days in here, so bear with me, I'm trying to remember!)

365-1

An introduction of me

365-2

Putting baby to sleep

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365-3

Fogotten

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365-4

Yet another diaper change

365-5

Sick

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365-6

Forgotten

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365-7

de-germination

Christmas Pictures

2009-01-07T14:15:00.003-05:00

Preparing for Christmas:

Christmas with Alana (Chris' mom):

Christmas Eve (with the Greivings, Chris' family):

Christmas Morning:

Christmas with the Melsoni's (my Family)

2008-12-11T11:59:00.002-05:00

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? both

2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial -I'm deathly allergic to the real thing

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the weekend after thanksgiving, but the last two years we've done it the weekend before thanksgiving

4. Do you like eggnog? Blah, no. Of course I haven't tried in in a looooong time

5. Favorite gift received as a child? barbies, dolls, and anything that went with them

6. Hardest person to buy for? my brother's in law

7. Easiest person to buy for? My boys!

8. Do you have a nativity scene? yes

39. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't believe I've ever received a bad gift.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation

12. When do you start shopping? October

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? don't think so

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? all the sweets, 'cause calories don't count on Christmas!

15. Lights on the tree? white

16. Favorite Christmas song? baby it's cold outside

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? we stay home Christmas morning, then we go to my parent's for the evening

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? nope, I can't even keep my 3 kids' names straight!

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? upstairs tree is a star, downstairs is a bow

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? we have Chris' family Christmas on Christmas eve, so they get to open a bunch then, and this year I bought them pj's that they will open on Christmas eve

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? My husband... seriously, he really doesn't like Christmas

22. Favorite ornament theme or color? Never really had a theme or color. our upstairs tree is full of the family ornaments, one's we've gotten over the years, and that the boys have made. Downstairs is just starting out, and it only has big round white lights and silver strings.

23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? The dessert!

I tag Wendy, Tressie, and Mindy!

Shake Your Booty

2008-12-11T11:12:00.003-05:00

I walked into my room yesterday to see Chase getting his groove on to the Imagination Movers cartoon on the TV. So I ran and got my camera...

Mom. I already know everything. You don't have to tell me anything...

2008-12-08T11:05:00.003-05:00

A Quote from my all knowing 5 year old.

The other day we were all sitting in their room at bed time getting them ready for bed, and I was letting the boys know what the plans were for the next day.

Then Gavin just looks at me as if he's insulted to his core, that I would be so ignorant to think that he needed me to tell him what was going to be happening. And he proceeds to say, "mom. I already know everything, you don't have to tell me anything."

To which I reply, okay if you're so smart and already know everything, what is 6 + 6. Thinking that for sure he wouldn't know that yet.

He thinks for a minute, and them thinks a bit longer, then all of the sudden pipes up and says "mom, it's 12!"

Needless to say i was shocked. And I definitely wasn't really sure what to say, so I just told him he was right, and he did a good job (to which of course he replied "I know", so humble....gets that from his father).

I've also come to the conclusion that daddy's going to have to be the one to help him with his homework in the first grade!

Elf yourself

2008-11-18T11:26:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf Yourself

2008-11-18T11:25:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

our crazy world

2008-11-18T11:23:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

our crazy world

2008-11-18T11:21:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-02T21:17:00.004-05:00

Boy was our halloween busy this year!

With Gavin and Dylan both being in school things were a little crazy. We had to make treats for Gavin's class, and I ran the games for Dylan's fall festival.

In the end I'm glad I helped out, but it was pretty tiring, and I felt like I was running all day Thursday!

Friday we didn't do much durring the day because I babysat, but we did have pumpkin shaped grilled cheese for lunch! Which all the kids ate a ton of! Why is it that when a sandwich is in a different shape they will eat more than a grown man could eat?

After all the kiddos got picked up we headed out to get started on filling up our pumpkin buckets!

Gavin was a Dinosaur:

Dylan was a Dragon:

And Chase was a Monkey

(which got mistaken for a mouse several times... even by his own father!)

Our first stop was Anita and Brian's house.
Where we met the Fairies.

We hung around there for a bit and tried to get some good family picture... what were we thinking!

Anita and Brian's turned out pretty good I think.

This one wasn't so bad. Gavin blinked, but it's still pretty decent.

But we had to try again...

Gavin was making sure he didn't blink again!

Then it was off to hit the houses. We got a ton of candy again this year! So this will be a no diet zone for quite some time... if you come over you must eat some candy-it's required!

It was the picture perfect trick-or-treating weather. Really, we couldn't have asked for a better night.

VOTE FOR CHASE!!!

2008-10-31T22:22:00.002-05:00

I entered Chase into a "Cutest Baby Contest"!

Here's the link.

Please Vote!

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index_d.aspx?referid=WlcmKobe&p=832390&x=.JPG

If I get 50 votes I get a 25.00 Visa gift card too... and y'all know that's going towards Christmas presents!

How's that for a bribe! lol

Gavin and Chase's Birthday Pictures... and some creepy crawlies, just in time for halloween!

2008-10-27T14:47:00.010-05:00

Geesh! You'd think by now I would have gotten then hang of this blog thing and be able to keep up with it! To bad you can't just blink and put life on pause for a second just to be able to stop and breathe for a few little seconds.

Two weeks ago we had Gavin and Chase's birthday party! It was so much fun, and we had a great turn out of people who really love and care about our kids. Dylan even got a few unexpected gifts!

Here's a few pics from the party.

And now for the creepy part...

last Friday I get an email from the children's ministry director letting us know that a child in the preschool SS class (a class I have been helping out with this month, and the boys go to) had head lice!

My immediate reaction was....

lice?! I don't want to deal with that...

I don't think we have it, my head doesn't itch...

well, there's and itch... have I been itchy?

maybe I have...

"BOYS!!! Come here and let me check your heads!"

Okay, I don't think I saw anything there.

Wait a minute... what do they even look like.

Guess I'll look it up....

(searching on the Internet) EWWWW!!!

Now I'm really itchy...

maybe I have it, or maybe it's just from reading about it.

I guess I'd better call mom and see if she'll come over and check me out.

And I did just that. I called my mommy, and she came over that evening to check my head for these wonderful creatures. Thank goodness she didn't find anything. And I really wasn't that itchy. A friend I babysit for, who is a nurse also reassured me that I would know by now if I had it. It would feel like my scalp was crawling (another shiver up my spine, ewww!). So I figured we had escaped it, and went to bed, got up the next morning and traveled to the KU game with the family. Everything was going great (except that KU got smashed!) and my head really was fine, not to many itchy-scratchies unless I was thinking too much about it. But when we got home that evening, for some reason just couldn't get the thought of these darn little bugs crawling around on all our stuff out of my head! So I went to Walgreens spent 14.00 to get a lice kit that had shampoo, de-nitter (the eggs) and the stuff to spray on mattresses and things you can't wash.

I went kinda nuts... washed my hair, the boys' hair and even made Chris use it on his head! Then I stripped all the beds, took all the stuffed animals that had been played with and taken into the boys' beds within the last few days, towels, pillows, and clothes and started washing them in the hottest water possible! I even disinfected and boiled my hair combs, brushes and ties! I just couldn't stand the thought of the possibility... so I took care of it. You should have seen the pile in the laundry room! It was HUGE! I should have taken a picture, but I was in de-bugging mode.

And all of this just because of the possibility! You can never be to careful, and I would not have been able to sleep if I hadn't done all that.

So now I think we're officially a BUG FREE zone... well for lice that is... spiders and other creepy crawlies are a whole other story...

Great Photo Printing Site!

2008-09-30T17:40:00.003-04:00

I'm always on the look out for good, but inexpensive photo printing sites to print my digital photos from.

I got word of this one from a mom's board that I visit regularly, and it seems like a really awesome deal! The lady that posted it said that the quality is really good, and you get all of this when you sign up!

*400 free prints (200 4x6 and 200 5x7)*

*free photo calendar

*free 8x8 in photo book (20 pages)*

*2 decks of playing cards*

*5 8x10*

*10 sheets of 4 wallets*

*2 12x18*

and a whole TON of other credits.

All you pay is shipping.

Plus, for every 10 dollars you spend (including shipping), you earn more credits.

You also earn credits for referring people.

Here's is my referral Link:

http://www.artscow.com/default.aspx?Ref=451419

I will put this link in my Favorite Site list too in case you need it again :)

2008-09-28T22:14:00.003-04:00

We found out a couple weeks ago that Chris' Aunt Pam has breast cancer. Last Thursday she had surgery to remove the cancer. I do not know if she is going to have to do chemo or radiation yet.

Tara (my Sister-in-law) said that they saw her two days ago and she was looking really good. So I hope that means she's feeling good too.

I'm no taking this opportunity to remind all you ladies that October is Breast Cancer awareness Month!

And give a shout-out to my Grandma who is a survivor of this horrible cancer.

Love ya G-ma!!!

Finally, a Video of Chase Walking!!

2008-09-22T18:41:00.003-04:00

The craziness that is my house...

2008-09-22T18:13:00.005-04:00

Listen up MEN!!!

2008-09-05T10:59:00.003-04:00

To turn of the music on my page so you can listen to the video, go to the bottom of my page and on the playlist click on the pause button :)

This guy is hillarious. If you ever have any extra time go to You Tube and watch his other videos!

Tim Hawkins.

First Day of School

2008-09-02T20:20:00.013-04:00

Today was the boys' first day of school.

Yes, you read that right! Both boys are going to school this year!

They are both in Pre-school, and I really didn't know whether to cry when I dropped them off or jump for joy!
It was so quiet just having Chase at home today, but I really enjoyed being able to spend time with just him and not have someone jumping on my back when I sat on the floor to play with him!

Here is Dylan before leaving the house. He had to have "cool spiky hair" the first day of school.

I swear those boys are going to be fighting worse than girls over the mirror when they're teens!

The sun was kinda in their faces too, so the picture isn't the greatest. I took about 5 per kid, and this is all we could come up with. But it'll do :)

This is one of his teachers Mrs. Dalke. She is very sweet, and very soft spoken. I kind of wonder how things go in her class with all these 3 year olds running a muck!

This is Dylan's other teacher, but for the life of me I cannot remember her name! (It must be the old age, and if it's not that it's the 3 kids, or the hair color.. pick the excuse that works for you and I'll take it!)

She is extremely sweet as well, but I think she may be the one who keeps the order in the class room.

Here's Gav! And no, he wasn't "trying" to smile.. ugh! Oh well, gotta love the kid any way. lol

He's an old Pro at this Pre school stuff ya know, so he wasn't to impressed by having to get his picture taken for his first day back this year.

This is Gavin's teacher Mrs. Daigle. She might look familiar. If so you're not crazy, well, you might be, but that's beside the point. It could also be because this is the same teacher he had last year!

I was planning on sending Gavin 3 days a week this year, and when she found that out, she asked me if I would re-think it and send him on Tuesday/Thursdays. She said she would really like to have him in her class again.

And it did end up working out better, so then I only have to run kids up to the school on those two days instead of 5 days a week!

Here are a few of the boys together before going to school.

No, I wasn't frisking them! I asked if they would turn around and show me their back packs and this is what I got!

I still can not believe that they are both in school! I'm probably going to be a mess when Chase goes into preschool...

A Sad Day

2008-08-27T14:27:00.005-04:00

It's taken me a week to post about this, and yet I'm still trying to fight back the tears.

I belong to a message board that is made up of mothers, who share their money saving tips, as well as the day to day struggles of parenting.

There is one mother in particular (Rene) who has touched all of our lives with the story of her family and their day to day joys and struggles of raising a child with congenital heart defects.

I loved hearing the stories of Tommy, and her updates of him reaching his milestones. I loved rejoicing with her when he finally was able to breathe without his trachea, and was able to "speak" and laugh for the first time since being born.

Sadly though on August 20th 2008 little Tommy lost his battle with his disease. You can read more about the details on her blog http://www.sectorsgirl.blogspot.com/ because I will not be able to write it out without crying.

Tommy's favorite movie was Finding Nemo and he loved bubbles so I've added this

to my blog in his memory.

Tommy has no idea how many lives he's touched, and how grateful we all are that God saw it fit to lend His little angel to this family so we could all be blessed by his life.

Rest in Peace Tommy!

2008-08-26T16:58:00.001-04:00

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Time Is Just Flying By

2008-08-07T11:50:00.003-04:00

It seems like I don't have as much time to be able to sit and update this blog as much as I would like. So here's a brief summary of what we've been doing these last few weeks.

The boys got to spend some time with Nana and Pa-Pa two weekends ago and spend the night at their house. They were more than thrilled with that!

Chris and I had a bachelor/bachelorete party to go to. It was fun, but not something I want to do again for quite some time. Never having partied like that when I was younger I sure didn't realize how much it takes out of you!

Last Thursday we went shoe shopping with Grandma Alana to get new school shoes! Gavin was so funny, because for some reason, he had to have Sketchers... I didn't even know he knew brands of shoes! But obviously my children watch way to much TV!

Chris asked him why sketchers were cool, and he replied "because I wear them"... like duh! Guess we should've known that. Anyway, I think his shoes are ugly, but he likes them so I guess it doesn't really matter. Most of the shoes there were ugly anyway.

Dylan got a pair of red and white Nike's and they are not as ugly as Gavin's! The only up-side to Gavin's shoe choice is that they have those Z-straps, and no ties, so he can get his own shoes on!!! Yippeee!

Then last weekend Chris and I got the chance to go the Eldorado lake with Kevin and Tara (Chris' brother and his wife), and our friends Hai and Heather.

It was a lot of fun! Although I, being the clumsy one, getting off the boat the first time about 1 and a 1/2 hours after being there ripped my swim suit bottoms. They got caught on the hook that you tie the anchor rope to, and that was the end of those! Thankfully Heather had another swim suit with her that she let me borrow for the rest of the time.

Then Monday Gavin had his first Dentist appointment! He did a really great job, wasn't scared at all. The assistant he had was really kind, and did an awesome job of introducing him to her "friends" (all the tools) and letting him know what they were going to help her do. I've never seen a kid so excited about getting a new tooth brush, toothpaste, and dental floss in my entire life! Dylan got one too for watching and so did Chase!

Everything turned out okay with his teeth. We're going to have to start watching what he's eating and get rid of the sugary stuff! But the dentist wasn't too concerned, just wants us to keep an eye on it.

Chris is doing good, he's working hard, and long right now since the weather was so awful last week. But thankfully it's been a bit cooler these last two days. I don't know how he does it, working outside in 100*+ weather. But he does, and for that I am thankful :)

I am still babysitting a million kids! lol School starts next week for Nic though, so that's one less during the day, and then school for Gavin, Dylan, Isabelle, Gabe and Jordan starts in September. That means during the day on Tuesday and Thursdays I'll only have my sister's three and Chase. Boy. that'll be a change!

Anywhoo, that's what's been shakin' around these here parts.

Until next time...

Pictures From Our Vacation

2008-07-17T15:40:00.003-04:00

This year for our family vacation we went to Kansas City for 4 days. It was really good to get away for a bit, and not have to clean or cook!

We left on a Sunday afternoon, and got back on the following Thursday afternoon.

We didn't do a whole lot, but we did as much as we could with 3 young boys.

Monday we went to the Kansas City Zoo. I wasn't that impressed with it, I think our Zoo here in Wichita is much better, and there's no doubt that the layout of our zoo is better. But all in all the KC Zoo did have some different animals and things that were neat to see.

After the zoo we went to eat at the Rain Forest Cafe. It's definitely a place you go to enjoy the atmosphere and not the food (or the prices!). At first the boys were a bit leary of the animals, but then once they realized they weren't real they relaxed a bit.

Tuesday we went to Mc Donalds for breakfast and saw that Ronald was coming to do a little magic show. So we ate our breakfast, went back to the hotel swam for a bit and then went back to Mc Donalds to see Ronald. The boys got an autograph picture, a coloring page, and some tatoos that they proudly wore the next day.

That evening we went to a Royals game and the boys got a certificate for it being their first time at a game. Although the older two had been once before we still got them one, because no one told us about them the last time. They did excellent durring the game, I was surprised how well they did, especially because the game ended up going for 13 innings, and lasted 4 and a half hours! It was also sprinkling almost the entire game, but no one complained.

Gavin had taken his glove hoping to catch a ball, and a few got really close, but we didn't end up getting one this time. Hopefully next time we can get one.

Wednesday we took the boys to see the movie Wall-E, and went shopping.

And then we slept in and headed home on Thursday!

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I kept forgeting about my camera! Oh well, here are the few that I did get.

Oooooh My Aching Back!

2008-06-23T16:40:00.003-04:00

Last night was a heck of a night with the boys. They fought us going to bed, Chase woke up at 3 to eat which woke Dylan up because he wasn't sleeping good. Then at 5 Gavin woke up crying because his toe hurt and he needed ice for it.
That discussion woke Dylan up who then wanted to sleep in our bed, and I told him he needed to sleep in his bed and to lay down and go to sleep. His response to that was jumping out of bed deliberately disobeying and glaring at me while he did it. I told him that just because it was early in the morning didn't mean he wasn't going to be disciplined.

Of course all this commotion woke up the baby, and so I took him and rocked him back to sleep. Well 20 minutes later Dylan comes prancing into our room. I'm exhausted so I gave in (I know bad parenting!) and he slept with us, but his leaving the room woke chase up again and he was ready to play! So I brought him into our room too, so I could nurse him and sleep at the same time.

Needless to say the sleeping arrangements weren't comfortable.

This morning I woke up and rolled chase off my arm and twisted to get up out of bed and I felt a sharp jabbing pain in my upper back by my left shoulder blade. It took me a minute and I stood up, and I felt sick and like I was going to faint. Then I started shaking uncontrollably, and my back was spasming. It was the weirdest feeling in the world and I had no clue what I had done.

I called my mom who was on her way to work, and she turned around and headed toward my house. She called Brian (my brother-in-law) who waited with me until she got there.

Thankfully the boys slept through it! I was praying so hard they wouldn't wake up, especially chase, because I wouldn't have been able to pick him up.

After my mom got there, Brian took me to the chiropractor. He did some electrical stimulation and then adjusted me. He told me that I had "drunken palsy". Which he explained to me by saying "Imagine a bunch of college guys going out and getting waisted, coming home and passing out in whatever position they landed in. Usually in the sitting or more upright positions (like a recliner and basically goes into little knots. Sort of like a charlie horse in your back." So now I have to take it easy, and ice it all day. I have another appointment tomorrow with him, and we'll see how it is.

It feels a bit better, but my head is starting to ache now and I'm afraid it's going to turn into a migraine. So if I could ask for prayers in that department it would be really helpful!

What a week to do it in too! Chris is working in Newton this week and they have a deadline to be done by so it's going to be from sun up to well after sun down that he'll be gone. So taking it easy wasn't really in the plans. My house is already a mess and it's only the first day! I'm praying it feels a lot better tomorrow and I can do more!

He's Mobile!

2008-06-20T11:49:00.003-04:00

And he's getting into things already!

It didn't take him long after he'd realized that he was moving to head straight toward the cat's food, and then to the lamp cord!

For just learning a few days ago he's moving pretty fast! It amazes me how fast they pick things up.

(it's shakey, because Dylan was crawling on me, sorry!)

So this one is more up my alley...

2008-06-16T15:34:00.004-04:00

It's the Nikon D60 (I'm looking at the D80 too, but it basically looks the same)

It's not as high-tech the D300, but since I am just learning I've heard this is a good camera to start with, aaaaaand, it's a whole lot less expensive.

Which means I'll be able to get it sooner!!!

Not that it will be soon, just sooner than next summer. Yay!!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

2008-06-10T14:07:00.004-04:00

I can't believe you're already 3 years old!

It seems like just yesterday I was bringing you home from the birth house, and staring at your 10 tiny toes, and 10 tiny fingers. In awe of being able to be blessed with another baby, and of God's handy work in creating such a beautiful baby boy.

Although at 3 you're still a miracle, it's harder to overlook the whiny attitude, and mischievous ways to see it all. But it's nice to take a step back every once in a while and see how silly and goofy you can be. You love being the center of attention, and you will do anything to get a laugh out of someone. I love how you still climb up in my lap to read books, and sing songs. You are definitely one of a kind, and I wouldn't trade you for the world, even though some days it's pretty tempting!

So Happy Birthday to my Little Pickle.

Mommy loves you!!

Happy Birthday to my Mom and Granny too!

Dylan was lucky enough to be born on their birthdays :)

My First Adventure in Cake Making

2008-06-08T18:50:00.002-04:00

And what an adventure it was!

It was for Anita's sister-in-law Tiffany, who got married this last Saturday (the 7th).

It took a few trips to Michaels (which is never a bad thing, unless it's at 8:00 the night before the wedding and 3 hours before the cake is supposed to be there!!), a few trips to Wal*Mart, a bunch of cake mix, powdered sugar, and butter, and a very messy kitchen for a couple of days.

Thankfully it all worked out and they were happy with the end result. Plus I got some experience under my belt for the next one. That is if my husband can withstand me working on another one. He about went crazy with the messy kitchen and the piled up laundry. He was very helpful in taking care of the boys while I worked on them.

Here are the pictures of the end result.

They put flowers on the top and in the middle of this after it got to the site, but I forgot to get my camera out and take a picture of it.

Groom's Cake:

Gavin's Preschool Graduation

2008-05-27T16:09:00.005-04:00

It took a while for the videos to load, but here they are finally!

Busy, busy, busy

2008-05-27T14:47:00.006-04:00

So I've been pretty bad about keeping this thing updated. We've been super busy around here. This last weekend we had a garage sale that Anita and my mom both helped out with. And poor Brian was recruited to help too because of his being off work due to surgery. He couldn't do a lot, but it sure helped having him here to price stuff and keep a watchful eye on all the kiddos.

Chase is getting big, he's now 7 months old! He's now sitting up on his own, eating baby food, and trying to crawl. Yesterday he was trying to pull himself up while holding onto my leg. I'm so not ready for him to be mobile yet! I have a feeling he's going to be my wiry-into everything-can't keep me in one spot even if you chained me-kid. Something I am so not ready for! But I guess the upside to that is I'll get my exercise!

Dylan is still my big helper and loves the babies (Chase and my sister's baby Addison), even though most the time they would rather be left alone than bombarded with hugs from him. He's loving the summer weather and being able to play outside. Oh yes, I can't forget the most important update on him... he can now (drum roll please) stand up to go potty!!! Yay! He actually grew a tiny bit over the winter, which is surprising, but he's still wearing most the clothes he wore last summer. We're hoping he grows a bit taller over the summer too. The poor kid is a little vertically challenged.

Gavin "graduated" from Preschool. But not really. He's actually going back in the fall because his birthday being in October he misses the cut off. But he is happy that he gets to go back and see Mrs. Daigle again. He's still trying to convince me that school is not over and that when it's Tuesday he still has to go to school! I explained it all to him, but he's still adamant that he's missing it. Ah, the days of loving to go to school! I'll be sure and remind him of this when he's fighting and crying because he doesn't want to go in a few years.

Well, for me the summer is going to be pretty full. I am going to be watching 10 kids, so that should be interesting! I'll have my three (of course), my neighbor's two Isabelle and Gabe, twice a week, Jordan and Nick, 2-4 times a week, and Anita's three a few times a week. Most of the days they all be here at once, but I'm sure there will be a few times that will happen this summer. So if you think I'm bad about updating this blog now, just wait! lol

I'll have a nice break in the fall though, because I'm pretty sure most of them will be going to preschool/school on most of the days. So I won't be busy until after 3 those days.

Things for Chris are busy, busy too. Right now is the busy time for the irrigation business. He's not been working to extremely late though which is nice. He normally gets home about 7 or a little after, but he's up and at work by 6:30am so he's still working 12 hour days. He's also playing softball again this year. His games are on Mondays and Wednesdays and I think they might have a pretty good team this year, and win some games :)

So that's the scoop on what's been going on over in our neck of the woods the past few weeks. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything that's really important. I guess if I'd actually update it when things happen I wouldn't have to worry about forgetting anything! Oh well, such is life with a billion and one kids... lol

Mother's Day

2008-05-13T21:39:00.002-04:00

I had a wonderful mother's day. We got up and got ready for church and the boys brought in a card for me that had a gift card for 150 minutes of tanning! So now I won't shine like a light bulb when I wear my shorts. lol

After church we went over to Curtis and Shara's house to eat lunch and celebrate Kevin and Bradon's birthdays as well as mother's day. Then we went home and I got to take almost an hour long nap!

After naps we went over to see my mom and give her her gift. Then we went to Marble slab and had ice cream with our life group.

All in all it was a great day.

Unkel Look-alike Meter

2008-04-28T14:26:00.005-04:00

I stole this from Mel's blog because I thought it was really neat :)

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family pictures - Free genealogy websites

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Ancestors - Black and white photographs

Hmmm. I always thought Gavin looked more like his daddy!

What's that Stink?

2008-04-27T22:21:00.002-04:00

As Dylan would say.

Well, that stink would be the smell of freshly applied paint! It was finally time to refresh our plain 'ol white walls and add a little something more to them than fingerprints, crayons, dents, and dirt.

I convinced Chris to go to Lowes with me last Friday and get the paint in the colors that I had picked out, and I started painting on Saturday.

I Chose a Sage greenish color for the living room, around the from door and the window on the stairs. And the rest of the walls are a creamy white color.

I know I'm probably insane for trying to do it by myself, but I also know that Chris really doesn't like to paint, plus he really has no time to even try to do it and I really don't mind doing it. In fact I actually find it relaxing at times. So I thought "hey, it won't be that bad"! Famous last words.... It wasn't horrible, but by the middle of the week came we were all tired of the house being a total wreck and eating easy meals such as Ramen, Mac-N-Cheese and frozen pizza. And we were just ready for it to be over and done with!

So this Saturday Chris had a golf tournament with the church, so he took the boys to his mom's house so I could have the whole day to get it all finished up. (I think he knew if he had gone golfing without arranging for the kids to be watched he would not have lived to go golfing. And my next post here would have been, I now understand why black widows kill their male companions! lol)

I didn't do it all without help though. My dad came over and helped paint the stairway, (because that required ladders, and well, me and ladders just don't get along.) my mom came over and helped for a bit, and my sister came over with lunch and helped too. I couldn't have done it without them! So a huge (in the words of Ellen) HOLLA to them and Grandma Alana (Chris' mom) for keeping the boys so it could get done!

It took about 5 days longer than it should have, but it's finally done, and I think it looks nice! I finally have some color and warmth to my walls that wasn't put there by a 2 and 4 year old!

Front door and Stairway:

The wall around the window still need a little touch up, hence the blue tape around the window!

The living room, and dining room:

Kitchen:

Dining Room:

Living room:

I also did the boys' bathroom, but didn't take a picture because it was in use at the time I was taking them. I thought I'd spare you from that scene!

So there it is, all new and shiny, at least for the moment.

My Brother the Marine!

2008-04-16T17:23:00.002-04:00

One Crazy Trip!

2008-04-16T16:28:00.003-04:00

Okie dokie, I finally have some time to sit and let y'all know about our trip! It was such a great trip and I am so glad that Anita and I decided to go. I think I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn't gone. Although we almost didn't make it to San Diego!

Our flight was supposed to leave at 1:20, but it was delayed until 2:30 due to snow in CO, and tornadoes in OK. Okay, fine, whatever. But the plane didn't even get in until close to 4, and then it had a mechanical failure! The landing gear light didn't come on when they landed so they had to come inspect the landing gear, and after almost an hour realized that the only problem was that a light bulb had burnt out.

So they come in and tell us what had happened, and that we have probably already missed our connecting flight going out of Denver, and if that was the case they couldn't guarantee us a flight out of Denver until Monday.

Anita and I just looked at each other clueless, and didn't know whether to go, stay or just sit and cry. So what did we do? We called MOM!! When Anita told her what was going on, she didn't know what to tell us, then they called for boarding, and mom said "Just get on the plane!", so we did! And we figured if worse came to worse we'd at least get to Colorado! :lol:

So we ended up getting out of Wichita at 5-something and to Denver around 6. Of course our connecting flight had already left, so we headed for Customer service. And it was there that we became extremely grateful that we'd had a burnt out light bulb on our plane. Because if that had not happened, all of our delays would've been due to weather, and they can't change flights, or anything for free if it's caused by weather. But because it was a mechanical failure we got food vouchers, a $100.00 flight voucher good for a year and our flight switched all for free! We were all thanking Jesus for that one!

We ended up having to fly into Orange County instead f San Diego because all the flights to San Diego were full. But the flight didn't leave Denver until 9:30. So we got something to eat and hung out at the airport. We ended up arriving in OC about 12 and had to go to baggage claim to see if our luggage made it. It didn't! But the good news was that it had made it to San Diego's Airport! We then rented a car and car seats and ended up driving 1-1/2 hours to the San Diego airport.

My parents were there to pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel. All in all it was quite an adventure, but we made it, and we got to see my baby brother graduate into a Marine!! The babies were so great, and they didn't ever get extremely cranky. God really looked out for us.

Chase Rolling and Talking

2008-04-07T14:29:00.001-04:00

I finally got the video up! It wouldn't load on any of the sites last week.

Final Four Baby!!

2008-04-05T16:44:00.002-04:00

Rock Chalk Jay Hawk Go KU!!!

I now know why....

2008-04-01T18:38:00.000-04:00

Some animals eat their young....

I just got through cleaning up a flooded bathroom! Dylan had decided that rather than color like the other kids. Playing in the toilet after using it (no poop thank GOD!) sounded like a much more fun activity to engage himself in. He dumped every towel I had in the hall closet, about 5, and the bathroom rug into the toilet pulled it out, and duped the towels onto the bathroom floor. Then he flushed it and did it again! THEN, he took them and piled them onto the laundry room floor so that was all wet too, as was the carpet between the two rooms.

So after washing the carpet with hot soapy water and using the REST of my towels in the entire house to dry it up, and bleaching the entire bathroom, and adding the 3 loads of laundry I now have to do on top of the normal loads. I have come to the conclusion that right now with a little salt and pepper, he might just taste okay!

The greatest Blog ever!

2008-03-29T13:45:00.002-04:00

I must have to warn you though. Don't read unless you've already been though pregnancy, labor, and delivery or you may just think it's plain 'ol gross, and never attempt to ever have any children!

But for those of us who have been there, done that. It's absolutely hysterical.

http://itsababynotbrainsurgery.blogspot.com/

Easter

2008-03-26T23:25:00.000-04:00

This year we had easter on Saturday evening at my parent's house, and then we celebrated it on Sunday with Chris' side of the family.
It was really nice not to have to fit it all in one day.

Here are the pictures from both days.

This is my new "crush"

2008-02-27T10:13:00.004-05:00

It's a Nikon D300. And by the pictures I've seen taken with it, its' amazing!

But with a Price tag of $2,539.99. I sadly don't think this dream will ever be realized. Heck, by the time I can save up that much money, and convince myself to actually blow it on something like this, it will already be out of date!

Frankly though, and Digital SLR camera would be better than my Kodak Easy share. lol. But the cheapest is about 600.00, so it's still a pretty penny.

A girls gotta have dreams though, right?

Do you ever wonder

2008-02-23T17:24:00.004-05:00

So this is what happens around here when Chris is gone, the boys are in bed, mom's board and the only other thing to do is fold laundry, and who wants to do that when you could do this

Hehehe... actually, I just opened up a flickr account, and I've been getting some ideas to challenge my eye in photography. Now, I know it doesn't look like much, but it's pretty stinking hard to time it just right, and not bang your head on the ceiling!
Here's the link to my Flickr account if ya wanna see some more pictures

http://flickr.com/photos/crazy4dazies/

Sick and Tired

2008-02-18T16:34:00.004-05:00

OF BEING SICK AND TIRED!!!

I am sooooo ready for spring to come so we can open up the windows and air out his house. Fly away little germies, fly away!!

Oh, if only it were that easy. But it's not. Getting these germies to "fly away" usually entails me spending two days bleaching everything in sight, and then some. Not to mention washing every thing that can fit in the washer...again!

I swear by the time I finally finish cleaning from the last time someone was sick some one else starts coming down with something. Ugh!

So in case you couldn't tell from my rant above, we were all, yes all, sick with the flue. Gavin woke up Sunday morning with a temperature of 103 point something, (I forget the exact temp, because gosh darnit, I've taken so many temperatures in the last 8 days that the numbers kind of all run together. So parden the estimating.) so I give him some Ib Profin and water and get him settled in bed between Chris and I. We wake up an hour or so later and it's still at 102. This went on all day. His fever never went below 102 until it broke late Monday morning. He ran a low fever on Monday but it wasn't anything like Sunday's fever.

Then Dylan wakes up on Tuesday with a fever. I kinda expected that one ;) His did the same thing Gavin's did, except early Wednesday morning he woke up (thankfully he was sleeping in the bed with me) and said his tummy hurt. So we go to the bathroom and he proceeds to puke. I think it was because of his temperature being so high, because he only did it once.

While I'm taking care of Dylan, Chris wakes up and tell me to feel his forhead because he thinks he's runnning a fever. Sure enough, he was burning up too.

Needless to say he spent Wednesday and Thursday feeling like death had warmed over. Poor guy, really, I did feel aweful for him. He never gets sick, ever. I mean this is only the second time in 6 years I've seen him this sick. The only thing I have to complain about wiht him is that he would NOT stay in one place! Talk about spreading germs... yeah, I know we were all sick or going to get sick, but for heaven's sake man, don't make me have to clean everything in every room!

I started feeling blah on Thursday, but never got a fever, thank God! I had a horrid headache, and a cough that felt like I was coughing up a lung, but if that's all I had to deal with, I was going to take it.

And Saturday Chase started running a low fever. He's just got a stuffy nose and a little cough now. His fever has been gone since this morning. He is however not a very happy camper. In fact, as I'm writing this he's screaming at me... yes I am holding him, and typing with one hand, but he's not happy with my attempt at multi-tasking.

After all this, I am definitely sure about one thing... no matter how old I am, or how many kids I have of my own, I will still always need my mommy. If it weren't for her we would not have survived. She ran and got us soup when we realized we didn't have any in the house, she got some more tylenol and Ib Profin for the boys, picked up Gavin from school on Thursday and took Gavin and Dylan all day on Friday so Chris and I could rest.

And I can't forget to thank my Brother in law, Brian. He took Gavin to school on Thursday for me. I wasn't going to let him go, even though he felt just fine, because I wasn't sure I could drive to get him there! So Thanks Brian!!

So that's how our weeks was lst week. I sure hope everyone elses was much better :)

Got my Hair Did, and I'm ready for my close up (he, he, he)

2008-02-01T23:40:00.000-05:00

I went this evening (Friday) to go get my hair done. I wasn't going to get a lot cut off, because Chris want's me to grow it back out, but I was just so tired of messing with it! Yeah, I let her cut it all off again, but it's really cute, I love it! I also got to get it colored. It's pretty stinking close to my natural color, just a hair (no pun intended) darker, and I got some blonde highlights put in. All in all I'm really happy with it. I think having my hair a bit darker makes my blue eyes stand out more.

Gavin and Dylan in the Spotlight

2008-01-31T17:08:00.000-05:00

I've had a bunch of pictures and videos of Chase, so I thought you might want to see a little more of the other two boys.

Dylan just loves to sing, so here is a video of what I hear everyday, several times a day!

He's singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then he goes into Row Row Row Your Boat.

Here's GavinSinging his ABC's and saying a little diddy he learned in Pre School

Photo Shoot

2008-01-30T17:22:00.000-05:00

Chase and I had a photo shoot today! I moved my bed farther away so I could have more ground to work with. I set the "studio" up in our bedroom because it's the room the has the greatest amount of sunlight during the day. And because I don't have a bunch of fancy lights and stuff, I have to use what I have. I also put my photo editing software to use (I am in love with it!) and added a few little details, and even my name on the bottom of the picture. :)

This one is my favorite.

My second Favorite
And I love his smile in this one, but he looks a bit smooshed

I hope to get some of Gavin maybe Friday depending on where his attitude is. I haven't taken him to get his 4 year pictures yet (I know, it's horrible!), but I'm thinking maybe I can just take them and order a 8x10 and see how it turns out. If I like it than I'll just order the sizes I need for the other family members.
And Yes, I will be sending some of these pictures of Chase out as soon as I find a good photo printing code, and get them in the mail.

Chase Talking

2008-01-30T00:46:00.000-05:00

On most nights Chris will come home from work and after dinner go relax downstairs, watch a little TV and keep the boys occupied for a bit and give me some time. Most of the time Chase will just sit in his lap and coo and goo at him.It's amazing how much he loves talking to his daddy, and so cute! I decided to capture it on video tonight for all our family who live out of town.

This is the first attempt to capture it on video, and ummm... well let's just say he had a little surprise for daddy :)

Sorry they're a bit dark. It was in our basement at night. But yo can still hear him blabbering away!

Love is in the air

2008-01-28T18:26:00.000-05:00

Justin and Sarah had their little baby girl early Friday morning! And we're all in agreement that an arranged marriage is in the works for her and chase! :lol:

Her name is Margaret Ann, she weighed 7 lbs 12 oz

and was 20-1/2 inches long.

Now introducing the future couple!

Curious?

2008-01-24T19:13:00.000-05:00

Want to know what a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich and some Oreo cookies look after they've been in the stomach of a 2 year old for a couple hours? No? Well, neither did I, but I didn't have a choice!

Wednesday afternoon Dylan woke up from his nap and proceeded to throw up everything (or so I thought) he had eaten earlier that day.

Poor guy ended up throwing up 4 or 5 times that evening. Thankfully he made it all through the night last night, and he has kept everything down that he's eaten today.

We (Dylan and I) did have a camp out in the living room last night, just in case. He slept good, me, not so much.

Hopefully no one else will get sick. I had it over the weekend last week, and it was awful.

I did go over everything with bleach so hopefully that will help in the assassination of this stinking bug.

On the bright side of things, Chase is now 3 months old! I was planning on setting the stuff up and getting some pictures of him, but those plans didn't quite work out. Hopefully within the next week or so I will be able to get some taken. He's grown so much, it's unbelievable! He's so smiley and will usually smile for just about anyone now. He loves to coo and goo at the boys, that is until they think they need to be right up in his grill, and then he gets pretty annoyed.

He's a pretty good baby, he's pretty spoiled though. He's not to keen on being left unattended. He thinks he needs someone to look at him all the time, or he gets cranky. It's really funny when I take a shower I usually lay him on the bathroom floor right outside the shower on a blanket. He's just fine until I close the curtain and then he starts to fuss. I'll open the curtain up and he'll quit, just like that, and smile. I close it back up and he'll start fussing again.

He did roll over the other day! From his tummy to his back, so I hope he'll keep on doing it, and it wasn't just a fluke thing.

Well, that's the news for now at the Unkel house.

Lazy Night

2008-01-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

Chris is at the KU game tonight, and the boys are sleeping so I took this opportunity to mess around with a new photo editing software that got a few weeks ago. I made a collage of my pregnancy with Chase. Now, it doesn't look that special, but it took me a while to do, just because everything is so new.

Thank goodness this program came with an instruction booklet (it's seriousely a little over and inch thick!), or I'd be completely lost. It's really cool though, and it can do a billion things. I just need to get a printer that will print 12x12 pages, and then I can make a picture into a background page for scrapbooking! That will be awesome!

But for now it's baby steps, and little things like this.

Chase's New Toy

2008-01-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

So if you gave the little guy money or a gift card for Christmas, and are wondering what it went towards. Here ya go...

I had given my Johnny Jump Up away before we found out that we were expecting again, and Chase loves to jump, so I went to Wal*Mart and got this cute little (well, it's really not that little!) thing.

He really likes it though, and it's so cute to watch him. He really gets his legs going! I have a video, but it's sideways, because I forgot that when I hold my camera lengthwise to film, it doesn't automatically adjust and flip the image. Once I figure out how to rotate it, I'll put it up.

Oh a bit of his money is being put back so we can start a savings account for him too. We didn't blow it all!

A BIG thanks to everyone who helped with this purchase! My arms thank you too!!

New Years resolution...

2008-01-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

Working out of course. But not for me...

YAY FOR TUMMY TIME!!!

He's starting to get really good at holding his head up longer. His new favorite thing is jumping. Unfortunately I got rid of the Johnny Jump up before I knew I was pregnant again. I do however have a few gift cards left from Christmas for Chase. So I'm going to o this week and see if I can find one of those free standing ones.

For now at least it's a good work out for mommies arms!

Blog trouble

2008-01-07T00:03:00.000-05:00

Whew! I thought I was going to have to start a new blog!

I have no idea what happened, but I couldn't get anything to work right, and things were showing up in the wrong places. I deleted a couple of my old posts and things started working again. So hopefuly it stays that way!

Christy, thanks for your comment on the christmas blog, It got deleted when I was trying to figure everything out. I just wanted to let you know I did see it, and I appreciated it!

2008-01-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

Christmas was really great this year. The boys had a ton of fun, and got a bunch of new, cool toys! Each year just gets better and better. I think it's because the boys are finally getting old enough to get excited really excited about Christmas and all it means. Not just the Santa part (which is really fun to do), but the magic of Christmas, the giving, seeing other people excited, and the miracle of Jesus' birth.

This year we had a few changes in the schedule from the previous years. But we still felt like we were running and going the entire holiday.

First, We had Christmas with Chris Grandma Unkel and the whole Unkel side of the family 1 week before Christmas. That's always fun because we get to see people we normally don't get to see during the year. It's absolute craziness though. That side of the family is sooo huge! It's fun for the kids though, because there's never a dull moment, and there a bazillion other kids running around.

Then we had Christmas with Chris' mom and his brother's and their families the Sunday before Christmas. They all came over here to our house, which was nice, because we didn't have to get everyone loaded up and get out! We had a table full of snacks, and we ordered pizza too. While we waited for the pizza to come, we decided to open presents. Gavin got a really awesome bike from Chris mom, and Dylan got a Hot wheels track and some cars. She also gave them a Spider Man lamp for their room, which they think is the coolest thing ever! They both got more than that, but those were the "big" gifts. Oh and Dylan got some Lightening McQueen crocks for Aunt Shara, which he absolutely LOVES! The kid wore them the entire night, slept with them and put them right back on when he woke up! I wish I got a picture of him, but I didn't... he was wearing nothing but his underwear and his crocks... it was hilarious.

Christmas Eve we spent the morning and afternoon at home, then it was off to Chris' brother Kevin's house for Christmas with the Greiving (Chris' mom's) side of the family. We were there until about 10 or a little after, then we came home and got Santa's cookies ready for him, and left some carrots out for the reindeer.

After the boys went to sleep it was time for Santa's elfs to get to work on setting up the presents! And while this elf was busy with that, here's what the other elf was up to... The boys woke up about 8:30 Christmas morning and look what they saw! Santa Came!!! He left a little note to let them know he enjoyed the cookies and chocolate milk, and appreciated the boys leaving carrots for the reindeer. He also let them know that their stocking were downstairs (because they normally hand on the fireplace upstairs), so they wouldn't think he took them!
After reading the note Santa left, we headed down to see what he had left behind for them.

At about 9:30 that morning my parents, brother, and grandparents (from AZ) came over and we opened presents from them.

After everyone left, we sat downstairs and played for a while, well, Chris cleaned up (I swear he has OCD!). then we all fell asleep, and took about a 3 hour nap! It was great!! When we woke up we got ready to go over to my parent's house and eat dinner and exchange presents with my sister and her girlies.

After dinner, and opening presents we broke out the good 'ol twister game.

Luckily none of us old geezers broke anything while playing. And to think I used to think this game was a breeze! I guess that's one of the joys of getting older. lol

On the way home from my parents house Christmas night, we stopped by the video store and bought a few movies. We camped out in the basement that night and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! It was really fun, and the boys got to use their new sleeping bags. :)

Well, that's about how our Christmas week went. Sorry it took me so long to get it all posted. I will get better at keeping it updated... sometime...I hope y'all had a great Christmas too!

A day in the life of a mom

2007-11-09T15:48:00.000-05:00

My friend Jess had this on her page, and I just had to add it to mine. It's just too good to not share.

Just some pictures

2007-11-06T20:21:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to taking some pictures of Chase on Monday, so here they are.

He's now 18 days old, and probably weighs close to 9 lbs. Things are going really well, and we're back to life as usual. Sometimes I wish things would stop just long enough for me to catch my breath, and take it all in, but that would make life way to easy :)

The boys love Chase to death and are always begging to hold him. If I put him down for a second they think they can go get right in his face. Dylan is the worst about not giving the kid any personal space. I guess he thinks if he's not right in his face he can't hear him! Gavin is a really good big brother, and loves to help calm him down if he starts to cry, and he does a really great job at it. Dylan also loves to "help" and will follow me around bringing me anything and everything I leave behind in a room, for example a blanket, paci, diaper, etc...

Here is a pic I took this evening of all 3 boys. I'm planning on doing some with the black background, but it took me a while to get them together for this one, so we'll have to wait and see.

(And I added the "bad" pictures too, just because I thought they were funny)

"Everyone look at the camera!! Gavin Smile... no give me a real smile!"

"123... smile... Oh Dylan! Look at the camera!! Gavin... SMILE and look at me... come on boys!!"

"Finally!!"

Introducing Chase Parker

2007-10-21T20:50:00.000-04:00

He was born Friday at 2:28 am
He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20-1/4 inches long.

Labor and delivery went well and only lasted about 5-1/2 hours. Chase had a bit of trouble breathing and had to have oxygen and his mouth and nose had to be deep suctioned out. My midwife thinks he may have swallowed a bit of fluid on his way out and that's what caused the breathing problems. He did start getting better that morning, and he was nursing really well, so she wasn't too worried after she got him to pink up and his sucking reflex going.
We went back to see her on Saturday, and she checked him over really well, and he's perfectly fine now. He is a bit Jaundiced from being 2 weeks early, but it's nothing a couple of sun baths a day, for a week or so won't fix.
He loves to eat, and he loves to sleep during the day, but not at night quite yet. However Saturday night was a lot better than Friday night. We'll have to work on getting his day's and night straightened out, but if that's the least I have to worry about with him than I am happy. :)

Gavin and Dylan love him, and want to hold him all the time. They are great helpers, and love to run and get me things for him. They didn't want to go to bed on Friday night, because they wanted to stay up and hold him. I had to convince them that he was still going to be here in the morning! I'm just glad that they are taking to him so well, and not fighting for my attention... yet that is. I have a feeling Dylan isn't going to like him being here so much after daddy goes back to work, and he doesn't have one of us paying attention to him all day. We shall see, I sure hope that won't be the case.

I am doing well, my uterus prolapsed, but nothing extremely serious. I do have to take it really easy, and I'm not allowed to vacuum, or mop for a month, and I cannot pick up Gavin and Dylan for at least 6 weeks. I have to lay on my stomach 3-6 times a day for at least 30 minutes and do kegle exercises for the next six weeks or longer to strengthen the muscles and keep my uterus where it's supposed to be. So basically I can't do a whole lot, and will probably go crazy over the next month and a half!

Here are a few pics of the boys with the new baby, and a link to some pictures my mom took on Friday.

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid18105448&pathID=1858113

Suprise, suprise, suprise!

2007-10-16T00:04:00.000-04:00

My parents got us a new computer!!!!!!!!

Although it was a huge suprise to get it this soon, I knew that they were probably planning on getting us one for Christmas because my mom was quizzing me on "if" we were to get a computer would we want a desktop, or a laptop. She's too funny, not very sneaky though :)

But I am finally back in business, and now have no excuses (well, that is until the baby comes.... which should be by the weekend!!) for not updating my stuff, and replying to every one's emails.

So you have my parents to thank for getting me up and going again!

THANKS MOM AND DAD, YOU'RE THE BEST!!!!!

Finally it's updated!

2007-10-09T22:43:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry that it's been forever since I last updated my blog. My computer is still out of commission, so I'm still using my mom's. It's not as easy to get over here and update things as often as I would like to, but it's going to be this way for a while.

I am going to try and be better at doing a few shorter updates here and there, that way I don't have to sit here for 2 hours trying to get everything done! And then my mom and dad don't have to entertain my boys all night :)

I have a prenatal appointment on Tuesday and if I am dilated to at least a 2 my midwife can strip my membranes, and hopefully we'll have a new baby a few days after that. I will hopefully be able to get back on after that appointment and let y'all know what the news is.

Some Pictures I've taken

2007-10-09T22:08:00.000-04:00

My sister wanted me to take some pictures of Addison so she came over last week, and these are a few of the pictures that I took that turned out. We are going to have to try again on the pictures of all three girls. They just weren't in the mood to have their pictures taken :)

After we got done with their pictures, and they headed home I took some of the boys and my big 'ol belly.

Gavin's First Day of School

2007-10-09T21:33:00.000-04:00

Gavin started preschool in September, and he loves it! I wasn't sure how he would react to being left in a room full of kids, and with a teacher he didn't know. But he eased all my fears when as we were walking up to the door of the school he asked "Mom? You and Dylan are leaving aren't you?"! He had absolutely no problem at all.

The only problem we encountered on that day was getting Dylan to leave the classroom! Leaving his brother wasn't the problem, it was leaving all the really cool toys behind. Once we got over that hurdle, the day went really well.

Dylan loves being home with just mommy for a couple hours, and well, I have to admit, it's kinda nice just being able to spend some time with Dylan and see him play so nicely by himself, and not have to break up a fight every two minutes.

Here are some of the pictures from his first day.

Gavin and Isabelle (our neighbor) who was also going to school for the first time.

Gavin and his teacher Mrs. Daigle

I'm an Aunt (again)!!

2007-10-09T21:19:00.001-04:00

Addison Grace was born September 10th, and weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs, 11 oz. And she was 2 weeks early! My sister's baby's are usually about 6.5 to 7 pounds, so this was quite a different birth for her.

She was a real trooper through the entire labor and birth. She had her at home, and things went pretty well. There was a time where she stalled out, and wasn't progressing, but thanks to a very experienced midwife, and her well trained brain she got things moving along again, and once she did Addy was here in just a few minutes. To which Anita was very thankful for :)

32 Weeks!

2007-10-09T20:56:00.000-04:00

32 weeks and continuing to "blossom" as most of the older women who comment on my looks put it when the see me. Which is really sweet, but you know they're really thinking "Holy moley, she looks like she's going to explode!"

So far so good though, I'm starting to have some crampiness (not a word.. I know) when I'm active, but I've been told that's a good thing, and it's my body trying to get things moving (yay!!).

My prenatal appointments have been going really great, and I am now taking borage oil to help soften up my cervix. I have gained a total of 23 pounds, but I feel like I've gained about 50.

We are all getting really excited as the 16th of October closes in and we will (hopefully) be able to see this little guy soon after that date :)

Crash

2007-09-03T17:26:00.000-04:00

That's the lovely sound my computer made this week! It's been heading this way for about 2 weeks, but was still use able, thanks to my technologically wise mother, but now we're pretty sure it's going to take more money to try and fix it than it would take to get a new one. However, money is tight so that probably won't be happening for quite some time. In the meantime I'll be able to use my mom's computer (which is where I'm typing from now), and keep things pretty up-to-date. So that's the wonderful news around here, at least I'll get more house cleaning done since I won't be on my mommy's discussion boards all day!

If you need to know you're not alone...

2007-08-26T14:16:00.001-04:00

Check out this ladies blog! I found it after an E-Bay auction of hers was posted on one of the mommy sites I belong to, and it was waaaay to true, yet quite funny, and so nice to know most of us mom's (except the perfeect ones that is) all go through the same things.

http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/

Here is her e-bay auction as well. It's long, but take the time to read it... you'll enjoy it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%25

The new theme song for my life

2007-08-16T11:00:00.000-04:00

28 weeks!

2007-08-14T15:46:00.000-04:00

28 weeks and I feel huge!! I think this little guy has gone through a major growth spurt, because I feel about ready to pop!

So far things are going a lot better than they were a few weeks ago. I've been taking 3 iron pills a day instead of just one, and that made a huge difference! I have a lot more energy now, and I'm not feeling light-headed any more.

For those of you who are asking I think we have decided on a name. But Chris is still dragging his feet on letting me know if he likes it for sure or not. But for now his name is Caiden Parker. The boys are also already calling him Caiden, so I think Chris' mind is made up whether he likes the name or not!

Oh, and yes. I do dress my children! And then 10 minutes later I see them and find myself asking, "where are your clothes?"!!

I guess I shouldn't be complaining, it cuts down on the laundry. :)

Bunk Beds

2007-08-06T17:07:00.000-04:00

We finally did it. We broke down, splurged (is it a splurge if you actually need it?! Anyhow..) and finally got the boys some bunk beds.

We checked out Big Lots because my dad said that they had some on sale for 200.00. They did, but being the indecisive shopper I am, decided I wanted to look a few other places before making a final decision. So we drove to a discount store called Crazy Jay's. I liked the selection that they had there a lot better, and it seemed like it was a better deal to get the frame and mattresses there than it would have been to get them at Big Lots. So we ended up buying them a set of wooden bunk beds. I like the way the wood ones look much better than the metal ones. Plus in the future they can be split into two twin beds, and don't have to be stacked like the metal ones do. So that I'm sure will come in handy one of these days!

The boys were super excited. We had to drive home so Chris and Gavin could get the truck and pick up the boxes at the store. (Duh! I don't know why we didn't drive the truck to the store... like we thought we could fit it all in our Saturn!) While they were doing that Dylan and I stayed home and took down Gavin's toddler bed and cleared the room out a bit.

It's a very crowded room now, and we still have to fit a dresser in there somewhere! We will be able to fit one in there, it just doesn't look like it from the angle I took the pictures at. I guess all I have to say is thank goodness we're having another boy, because they're going to be sharing the space for quite some time!

The first night with the beds was interesting. Gavin did really well, but Dylan wanted to sleep with Gavin on the top. There was no way I was going to let that happen, because I know how both of them sleep and one of them would have ended up getting kicked over the side for sure! So I layed with Dylan for a while in his bed, and he did okay. Of course he is used to being in a crib thathe couldn't fall out of, so about 3 am I heard a thud, and he started crying. Poor guy fell right off. But he was tired enough that I put him back in, and rubed his head a little and he fell right back to sleep. Thank goodness that was the only mishap of the night.

Nap time on Sunday was a whole different story though! Chris let me take a nap, and he said he'd watch out for the boys durring nap time. I guess they decided that it would be more fun to jump off the top bunk (with the fan going I might add!) than it would be to take naps. That however didn't go over so well with daddy, and they finally settled down and took maybe a 30 minute nap. Which isn't long, but hey! Chris was watching them... I still got to sleep :D

So here's the pics of the new space for the boys. Not completely organized yet, but close enough.

Oh Baby!!

2007-07-30T10:52:00.000-04:00

I had my 6 month Pre-Natal visit on Thursday, and it seems like this baby hit a big growth spurt! I was measuring 28 weeks, and I was actually only 25 weeks. So another big baby for me... whoo hooo!

I also lost a pound, so I've only gained 16 pounds so far. Which is I guess pretty decent for being 25 weeks.

Kathy said that as big as this little guy is already, we should start trying to get labor going about October 15th. So that's a big jump from November 6th. Chris asked her why we couldn't let my go until my body is ready, and wait until the due date. She said that if we did that she's pretty sure I wold have to have a c-section. With my bone structure I'd only be able to birth at max a 10 to 10-1/2 pound baby. Anything over that is when things get complicated, and the baby is more likely to get stuck.

So I think I'd rather go early than have all that stuff happen!!

However if I am to get things going that early, Kathy said it was going to take a lot of work. Tons of walking, and squatting, and sex. Yes sex, and a lot of it. Like twice a day! Boy you should have seen the look on Chris' face when she said that (guys! *roll eyes*).

She is going to do a glucose test on me next month. I had one done with Dylan and it was negative. But she wants to do one this time just to cover the bases. Good new is though that for lunch that afternoon I get to eat McDonald's!! I get to have fries, pop, the whole meal!! I can't wait for that. I usually can't stand McDonald's, but when I'm pregnant I constantly crave it. That and any other fast food place. I don't' know if it's the grease, or fat and calories or what. But my cravings go crazy. At least I don't allow them to consume me or I'd have gained waaaay more than 16 pounds!

So that's the news for now. Big baby = earlier due date.

24 Weeks

2007-07-17T10:16:00.001-04:00

24 weeks and I'm sick and tired of these stinking hormones! I swear I cried the whole day yesterday and nothing really happened. I just wanted to spend the whole day locked away, and not deal with anything. Of course that can't happen when you have two other children, so I got up and we just hung out in our pj's all morning. After lunch we got dressed, colored and picked up a little. Then when the boys took their nap I went to bed too!

Nothing got done around the house that I wanted. I didn't clean the bathrooms, I didn't dust or vacuum. I felt so bad that nothing got accomplished, and guess what? I cried!! Ugh, I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I'm sad, I cry for no reason at all! I'm so tired of it... and if I'm tired of it, I'm pretty darn sure that Chris has had enough.

Other than being an emotional roller coaster everything else has been going great. I've probably gained too much weight, because I feel huge! But that'll be confirmed when I go to my pre-natal appointment on Thursday.

The baby moves all the time, and loves to play in my ribs. Gavin said that he wanted to put his hand on my tummy the other day, so he did and the baby moved. He jerked his hand away and looked at me with a surprised look. I said "did you feel that?" he said "yeah" I said "that was your brother moving!" He was so excited that he got to feel him move, it was so cute!

I think (key word think) that Chris and I have decided on a first name for the baby. However when I tell anyone the name Chris looks at me like "why are you telling them we've decided on that", so it's subject to change. But for now we're calling him Caiden. And since we haven't decided 100% on Caiden a middle name is yet to come. But the options if we go with Caiden are Parker or Isaac. I personally like how Caiden Parker sounds, but we'll just have to wait and see!

I'll be back with an update on Thursday after my appointment, so check back!

McConnel Air Show

2007-07-17T09:43:00.000-04:00

We finally were able to make it to an air show! My family used to go almost every year, but I don't think I've been since right before Chris and I got married. So we decided that it would be a fun way to spend a Saturday, and hopefully the boys would enjoy seeing all the planes.

Besides the fact that security was high, and we weren't really sure what we could bring, (how big of a bag to put stuff in, stroller or wagon, chairs... etc..) it was stinking hot, and I forgot to bring the sunscreen with us to re-apply, we had fun! We didn't know how far we were going to have to park either, and we thought we might have to take a bus to get us to the gates, so we only ended up bringing the umbrella stroller instead of the wagon. However, next year... we're definitely bringing the wagon!! We didn't have to park that far away, so we just walked to the gates. Poor little Gavin was a trooper though, he tried so hard to not whine about walking, and he got to ride when Dylan wanted to walk, not to mention the countless piggy-back rides he got from daddy and our friend Andy throughout the day.

We ended up getting there when the gates opened about 10:30 and left about 4:15. So it was a long hot day. I brought some water, but they were also handing out free bottles, so we made sure to drink a lot. My dad treated us to some frozen lemonade after a while, which helped beat the heat. We spent a little time under the wing of a plane to eat that, and then we went to find a good spot to watch the Blue Angels fly.

Man, they are amazing! Very, very skilled and talented people maneuvering those planes. What a show! That by far is my favorite part of the air show.

Here's a slide show of the pictures from Saturday.

He's getting so big!

2007-07-13T10:44:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was a bittersweet day. I went to register Gavin in preschool! He's going to be going to the Lutheran Preschool not to far from our house. He's very excited about it too! We went in and met the principal, and he seems to be a very nice man. He got a box of Vegi Tale toys out for the boys to play with while I filled out the paperwork. Then when all that was finished we got to check out his room. I think that's when he got the most excited. We'll have a Meet and greet just for the parents coming up in a few weeks, and then there will be a day for the kids to come by and meet the teacher to hopefully take away any hesitation on the kids' part.

I think it will be really great for him. He's already been telling me all the stuff he wants to learn.

My little boy is growing up!

Pictures from the Fourth

2007-07-10T14:26:00.001-04:00

It was a crazy week, and I didn't get a ton of pictures from the fourth. But I made sure I got enough for at least one scrapbook page!

Wednesday morning we went to the parade and got lots of candy!

After the parade we went to mom and dad's to eat lunch. Because we were having people over to our house later that night, we weren't going to be able to spend that evening with them.

I got this picture while driving to mom's house.... don't worry, I was stopped at a stop light :)

Here's one I got of Gavin while we were waiting for mom to get back from the parade.

After lunch we headed back home to set up for all the people we were having over. I don't know how many people we actually invited, but it was pretty much whoever we saw within a few weeks of the fourth we told them about it! We ended up having probably about 25-30 people plus their kids. I'll bet there were over 15 kids over here, including mine. It was crazy, but it was really fun, and no one got hurt! We cooked out hamburgers, hot dogs, and brauts. There was a ton of food that people brought, and we supplied, so I'm pretty sure no one went hungry.

About 8:30-ish it started to rain, and then poured for about an hour to an hour and a half. It let up just a little bit so Chris and some teens from our church got to set off the big fireworks. It was a pretty good show if I do say so myself... of course I might be a little biased in my opinion. There were a few parts that made me worry a bit, because the tubes were a little wet, and didn't shoot the fireworks up as high as they should have gone, but thankfully no one was hurt, and we didn't burn anything down!

Chris ended up burning 3 of his fingers because he was trying to light two fuses at once, and one lit, and he didn't want to stop trying to light the other one... so it was his own fault :) But that was the only injury the whole night, not to shabby.

Everyone ended up leaving about 11:00 except the teens that were here, they ended up staying all night playing their video games on the big screen. I went to bed about 1, and Chris didn't come to bed until 3 or so. Needless to say we slept in (well, as much as you can with little ones)the next morning. Then it was out to pick up all the debris from the fireworks... it was everywhere! I thought for sure it was going to take an eternity to clean it all up. Thankfully those boys were still here, because we put them to work! It wasn't the big stuff that made the mess, but the little black cats, and kid stuff that had been set off since 5:30 the night before! We picked up the big stuff, then Chris got the leaf blower, and blew what he could into the middle of the street, and we set it on fire. Then all we had to do was sweep up the ashes when they cooled.

Here's the clean up pictures. We put the little guys to work too! However, they didn't last to long!

After cleaning up we went swimming and then took some much needed naps. The boys slept until 6:00 and would've slept longer, but we woke them up. Then we went to eat at Aunt Melinda and Franks house. It was a really great couple of days.

A little pampering for mommy :)

2007-06-30T21:55:00.001-04:00

I went on Wednesday to get my hair cut! I love it, but Chris isn't so sure about it being so short. I thought I had told him I was getting it cut again, but either I didn't, or he forgot that I told him. Who knows. I probably forgot to tell him, I've been forgetting a lot of things lately.... I think it's called pregnancy brain! (or at least that's what I'm blaming this one on!!)

Any whoo.... Here are the pics of my new do :)

Gavin's Pages

2007-06-26T11:23:00.001-04:00

What I've been doing in my "spare" time...

2007-06-25T23:30:00.001-04:00

I finally started scrapbooking again for the last few months. I had quit after I had Dylan because there was just no time. But now that the boys are older, can some what entertain themselves, and they still take decent naps, I decided there was no better time to try and get caught up.

HA HA... Caught up... now that's funny! I have Dyan's 0-1 year book to do, and I haven't done anything for Gavin since I finished his 0-1 year book. That's a lot of catching up to do!

Any way, I said all that to say, here's some of the pages that I've gotten done in the last few months. Not in any particular order :)

Dylan's Pages:

I'll post some of Gavin's that I've done tomorrow. Right now it's Bed time!! Good night ya'll :)

Roughing it

2007-06-24T16:31:00.000-04:00

We went camping this weekend with our church's youth group. It was kind of a last minute thing, not the camp out it's self, but us remembering that it was actually this weekend! But it was fun non the less. We left the church about 11-ish on Saturday afternoon, and got back today around 11-ish.

The boys had a BLAST! I didn't really know how they would handle it, because my boys aren't the typical, "let's get dirty, and find every bug we can" type boys. Sure they like bugs, if they don't have to pick them up, and they like dirt, just not on them! But they both did really well, no one freaked out about being dirty, and they got a few baths with diaper wipes because they were getting so dirty (Yay! they were actually being boys!).

Dylan "Fished" for the first time. Although it was actually more like, daddy casts it and I walk backwards and pull the line back in - because I can't figure out how to reel it in - and in the process loose the bait and hook! But it was cute, that's for sure :)

Gavin has fished once before, so he knew what he was doing. He only needed help with the casting part, but that was probably better for every one else's safety. lol

After we ate lunch, Chris tried to take them swimming in the lake, but that didn't work so well. He took Gavin in first, but had to set him down so he could get Dylan in. Well, Gavin freaked out the minute his feet hit the muddy bottom, (he hates for his feet to be in grass, mud, you name it) so that made Dylan freak out, and then they both were done after two seconds. Gavin ended up getting back in with Chris a little while later, and realized it wasn't so bad after all.

While they were swimming Chris saw some huge fish in the reeds. He's not sure if the were really big Carp, or if they were catfish, or what, but he was dead set on catching one after seeing them. He tried with the fishing poles, but that didn't work (I think fish have gotten smarter or something, because no one was having any luck). So he decided he was going to do it the old fashion, cave-man way.

(Nice farmer's tan Eh?!)
He tool one of the double pronged skewers that are used for roasting marshmallows, and hot dogs over the fire and said he'd be back in a little while with a fish... and we waited, and waited... and waited. I swear he was gone for an hour maybe more. He didn't get his fish but he caught a really ticked off snapping turtle!

He said it made him feel like the crocodile hunter :)

Not much exciting happened after that. We ate dinner, and roasted marshmallows...mmm... my favorite :) hung out by the campfire for a little bit, some of the kids and the leaders went Snipe hunting, then it was time for bed.

This morning we just hung out, ate breakfast, Chris and most of the kids went swimming again. Then we packed up and headed for home.

The boys got a good scrub down, ate lunch, and took a good loooong nap. I however didn't take a nap, but chose instead to get started on all of our laundry!

Here's some random pictures from the weekend.

Dylan Blowing Out His Candles

2007-06-22T17:02:00.001-04:00

Dylan's Birthday Pictures

2007-06-22T16:07:00.000-04:00

Yeah I know they're almost a week late! Give the pregnant woman a break would ya!

We kinda did a late notice birthday party, because I was really unprepared and frankly if we didn't do it last Saturday it wasn't going to happen until the middle of July! So no invitations were sent out, just a phone call at the beginning of the week. Hopefully next time I'll be more prepared. (ha ha)

Okay, now on to the pictures...

20 Weeks

2007-06-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

Half way there!!!

And as you can see I still can't wear any of the maternity clothes that I have. It's VERY frustrating.

I have bought a few shirts that I can wear, but I can't fit into any of my pants, and I just get more annoyed the more I try to find some that fit, and look halfway normal and not baggy in the crotch.

So for now I'm stuck wearing some of my jeans that are really quite big and baggy and make my butt look 10x's bigger than it really is... happy, happy, joy, joy!

As you can see Dylan wanted his picture taken too, so he jumped right in.... looks kinda like a mug shot if you ask me. Goofy kid!

Gavin and Dylan are both extremely excited about their baby brother. They love to give him hugs and kisses. Gavin keeps asking me when he's going to come out. I told him that we have to wait until he gets a little bit bigger, because he's too small right now. That seems to satisfy him for a few hours then he asks "is he bigger yet?"

Today he was looking at my belly after giving the baby kisses and he asked me why my tummy looked "like that" meaning the stretch marks. I told him that it was from my tummy getting big when he and Dylan were in there. And he said "So it's going to get big again with my brother and you're going to get more stripes?" "yep... mommy's going to get more stripes." I think he thinks I'm like a zebra now. :ha ha:

I sat down Sunday and started making a list of names. I have about 8 first names that I can't choose between and the one I really love, Chris doesn't like... so.... we're going to have to do some compromising!! Then after we decide on the first name, we'll battle it out for the middle name.

Here's the list of names that I like:

Aiden

Ashton

Caiden

Ethan

Evan (my fav!!)

Ian

Logan

So we'll see what we decide on.

Is it a BOY.... or is it a GIRL???

2007-06-15T16:19:00.001-04:00

Well..... it's pretty obvious...(Okay, maybe not to some of you) it's a BOY!!!

My mom rode up to the building with me and the boys, because Chris was just going to meet us there. And she was having a conversation with Gavin while we were waiting for Chris' mom and Chris.

Mom: Are we going to find out what mommies having?

Gavin: Yep

Mom: What do you think mommies having?

Gavin: A boy or a girl

Mom: What if it's just a boy, would that be okay?

Gavin: Yeah

Mom: What if it's a girl, would that be okay too?

Gavin: No, it's a boy. No girls.

Mom: Well you know it could be a girl.

Gavin: It's not a girl!

So the kid was right. It's not a girl.... definitely not a girl!

He weighs about 18 ounces, and is in the 75th percentile. They only moved my due date up 3 days, so that put it at October 30th (so Paw-Paw just might have someone to share his birthday with!) but more than likely I will be having him a week or so before that. We shall see!!

Oh boy (ha ha, no pun intended) a house FULL of BOYS! What's a girl to do.... borrow her sister's girls and hit the mall!

Here are a few more sonogram pictures from today.

Profile:

Spine/Back:
Hand by his head:

I also had my prenatal visit with Kathy on Tuesday. Everything is checking out just fine. My weight is a bit off, I've gained 17 lbs so far :eek:! But she said that the only thing I need to do is watch how much sugar I'm eating. Other than that there wasn't anything I was doing to have gained so much. So I'm taking her advice, and watching how much sugar I eat. I am also going to start taking evening walks, and we'll be swimming almost every day here soon, so that should be very helpful!

I needed some iron too, because my energy had been really low, so that means I'm probably anemic again. I always am when I'm pregnant. So with that in me I feel much, much better.

So there's the update on pretty much everything! I'll be posting my 20 week picture probably on Monday or Tuesday.

My baby boy is 2 today

2007-06-10T00:36:00.000-04:00

It's so hard to believe how fast these two years have flown by. I really didn't believe it when people told me how fast time would go by once I had kids, but it's sooo true. It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home, and bundling him all up in his cozy little blankets.

Now I'm chasing after him hoping that he doesn't climb on something that's he's either going to break, or going to hurt him! Or I'm sneaking up on him catching him in the middle of getting into something he knows very well not to. Even with all those mischevious moments he still has a way of melting his mommies heart with that cute little grin, and sparkley eyes.

I also want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom and Granny! I hope you both had a wonderful day (even though mom's day was spent hosting a garage sale... You're the best!!)

We didn't do a whole lot for his birthday today, because we were helping a friend move, and we were supposed to help out with a youth activity, but I didn't find out until Sunday that it was cancelled. So it was too late to plan a party :( But we did go out for ice cream at good 'ol Dairy Queen! We're going to have the real party this coming Saturday... so there'll be a lot of pictures to come :)

HAPPY

2ND

BIRTHDAY

DYLAN!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!

Derby Days

2007-06-08T22:22:00.001-04:00

Or town holds a fair type event over one weekend that we call "Derby Days". It starts out with a parade on Friday night, and they set up tents with fun stuff for kids, and information booths, and such. They also set up the carnival rides, and games, and of course the food court!

We didn't get to go to the parade on Friday night, because we were babysitting 4 other kiddos. Even if we were crazy enough to try and attempt it, we couldn't have because we don't have a vehicle large enough (but that's going to change real soon... more to come on this later).

But we did end up making it to the carnival on Saturday evening. Gavin had a blast, and even rode a ride with Chris that I was surprised he got on. Dylan however FREAKED! He wouldn't ride the first ride that Gavin went on, but after a while he wanted to try one. So we got him in a ride with Gavin thinking it would be better. Well the car that Chris put him in lifted off the ground, and the poor kid lost it. I felt really bad for him, but we didn't know that one flew, and the guy running it didn't tell us either. Poor kid will probably never ride a ride again.

Happy Birthday to Meeeeee

2007-06-01T11:15:00.000-04:00

I had an absolutely wonderful day yesterday! I woke up and found a note from Chris telling me that my mom was going to come and get the boys at 1:30 and then Anita was going to take them from her at 6:00. So I had then entire afternoon all to myself, and then we went out to dinner that evening.

After mom came a picked up the boys I headed off to spend my birthday money at Wal-Mart! Yes, I said Wal-Mart. I went there because they have this

It's an electronic die cutting machine called a Cricut. I've been wanting it for a long time, but it's pretty pricey, so I decided that this is what I would spend my birthday money on, and I did! I stayed up until 11:00 last night messing around with it.... it's sooo awesome!! I feel like a little kid again!

After I got my new toy, I went home and played with it for a bit, took advantage of a quiet house and balanced the checkbook, and then headed out to the mall.

I just went to look, but ya know that never ends up happening! So I bought a pair of maternity shorts, and a top to wear to dinner that night. They were on sale though, so that made it all okay :)

I got home about 6:00 and Chris was already home. I got ready, and we left to have dinner. We tried a new restaurant called "Cheddars". It was really good, and really well priced. It kinda reminded me of an Applebees, but a little nicer, but that could be because it's new.

Then after dinner we went to my mom's house, and had Ice Cream Cake that Chris surprised me with. So all in all it was a really fantastic day, and it couldn't have happened without everyone that helped out. So thank you to mom, and Anita for taking care of my kiddos, and a huge thanks to my wonderful hubby who set it all up and surprised me.

Happy Memorial Day!

2007-05-27T23:36:00.001-04:00

I hope every one has a happy safe weekend!

We Have Babies

2007-05-27T23:26:00.000-04:00

Ducks that is. The mom has been here for about a month and a half, but we didn't know that they had hatched until today. There were about 6 or 7 eggs, and I've only seen 3 ducklings. The mom is still sitting on the eggs so I'm sure pretty soon we'll have a lot of little duckies walking around our back yard.

I was able to get a picture, but it's not real great because she started hissing, and I really didn't want to upset her any more.

16 Weeks!

2007-05-25T11:19:00.000-04:00

Yay! Another month has passed, and I'm finally beginning to feel those little baby flutters.

We had a sonogram scheduled for the 8th of June, but I got a call on Monday saying that the lady who scheduled my appointment was mistaken and they aren't even open on that day! So my appointment is now set for the 15th.

Since I have a midwife instead of an OB, we go to a place called "Baby Waves" for the sonogram. It's a really neat place. You're allowed to bring up to 5 people, and they take you back to a nice sized room, and there is a big screen that the ultra sound shows up on so everyone can see. Every appointment lasts for 30 minutes, and they give a ton of pictures to you. They do have a 4-D ultrasound but you have to be at least 20 weeks, and I really don't want to have to wait that long to find out weather this baby is a boy or girl. I'm going crazy knowing I have to wait an extra week!

We went camping last night!

2007-05-19T13:06:00.000-04:00

Well, kinda. We actually just set up the tent in the backyard. But it was still fun! At least until this morning, when I could hardly move... It's sad when I'm only 25 and I can't move after a night of sleeping outside. Of course it doesn't help that I'm pregnant too!

The boys were really good, and then had a lot of fun looking up at the starts, and watching the bugs fly around the tent.

We're really going camping in June, so I'm glad the test run went well. I'm just going to have to remember to bring along some Tylenol for this old gal!