One Mom, Five Boys and a Bundle of Joy

2012-01-30T21:10:00.002-06:00

Yikes, today was stressful and long. I am too tired to even type about it. I will post an update on my foot and all the other craziness that happened today, tomorrow. Until then...

This will be a better week.

2012-01-30T06:42:00.004-06:00

It's the start of a new week. I can't believe it is almost February. January went very fast and we had many, many unexpected expenses and frankly it has been a stressful month. I just want it to be over with!!

Last week was a bummer. Jake broke his hand on Tuesday, our van broke down on Thursday and cost us $1430 to repair draining any money we had saved from our 31 days of nothing challenge. Over the weekend Brodie was sick and on Sunday was diagnosed with strep. Sigh....this week has to be better right?

I see my new Podiatrist today. I am anxious to hear what he has to say. My bunionectomy was on October 4, and almost 4 months later I am still have lots of problems and pain in that foot. I was upset with my previous Doctor who did the surgery and kept blowing me off so I transferred my care to this Doctor. Hoping for some positive results.

Well I better get the older kids off and get myself cleaned up. I have a good feeling this will be a better week.

A Little Taste of Spring

2012-01-28T08:36:00.000-06:00

The weather has turned back cold but before that we have had some awesome weather this season. We have been able to spend almost everyday outside. The hens as well have been able to spend lots of time outside the chicken house and coop. I found an egg in a pretty unusual spot the other day. Can you see it?Tucked in an empty flower bed.
I am down to just one of the White Brahma chickens. I found the other one in the woods behind our house. Something had killed her. That was pretty sad. They are great layers.

Here is Drew showing off his climbing skills. He is trying to catch up to Tony who has always been a tree climber.
This is a crazy picture. The reason being that it is the middle of January, we are on the deck grilling, and no one has a coat on. Like I said, it has been unseasonable warm!
I like this picture too. Emily discovered the pine cones in the front yard and Brodie is dashing to grab the pine cone out of her mouth. Good thing she has so many brothers watching out for her.

Making Our Own Snowman

2012-01-20T13:00:00.002-06:00

We haven't gotten a good snow yet this Winter. We have snow on the ground now, but not much. The other day the weather people said we were going to get around 4 inches. We got ourselves pumped up to spend the day watching the snow fall outside. I love the snow, as long as I don't have to go anywhere. Anyway, over the course of 24 hours that changed from 4 inches to 1/2 inch. We ended up getting just a dusting.

So since we didn't get a chance to watch it snow outside we decided to make it snow inside. Drew and I spent the morning making a winter scene on our living room wall. We spent lots of time cutting out snowflakes. And to make our winter scene complete, we built a giant snowman.

Emmy and the Chickens

2012-01-16T07:39:00.001-06:00

The cold weather finally hit. I can't complain I guess. It has been a beautiful winter so far. Usually by now I am starting to get a little stir crazy from being stuck inside with the kids because of the weather. We have been lucky and the kids have been able to spend almost everyday with some outside time.

Here are some pictures I snapped of Emily just a couple days ago on our afternoon walk. She is totally fascinated by the chickens. She definitely doesn't have any fear of them. She will walk right up to the run and poke her chubby fingers through the fence. One even pecked her finger and she just looked at me like "did you see that?" and then she put her hand back in. I held one of the birds so that she could pet it. She really liked her beak. The bird was very tolerant and let Emmy just pet and poke at her. When I finally let the bird down Emily decided she wasn't finished playing and continued to follow the bird around the yard for a bit.Finally the play set caught her eye and she left the birds alone to climb on the slide. Her new thing is climbing and she is really good at it.After climbing we walked a bit and ended up swinging for awhile until Daddy came home and we went inside.

My Drewbug

2012-01-11T21:37:00.002-06:00

This was taken this morning. Drew, Emily and I got all the play food and kitchen equipment out and played "restaurant". Drew has the best imagination. I made him pause from cooking for a moment just to snap a picture of us. These are the moments I want to remember for a lifetime.

Update

2012-01-10T14:22:00.002-06:00

Things are going better around home again. Knock on wood, I think everyone is over their illnesses. We went through gastro bugs and then head colds, the baby went to the ER, I was put on steroids and antibiotic, the list goes on and on. We have had our fair share for the winter.

We survived Christmas break. It was boring for the kids, or maybe not. Someone if not multiple someones was sick the entire break so we didn't do a whole lot. There was lots of game time which always makes the boys happy and content. We did spend a couple days in Colo with Will's parents so that was nice to get away.

New Years was good and we spent it with some friends of ours. We had a good night playing games on the Wii. I always love the start of a new year.

I am trying to get back in the swing of things and get some sort of routine around here. Right now I have been obsessed with cleaning, decluttering and purging. I feel sorta ADD about it and seem to bounce from one thing to another. I really need to focus on cutting back and just trying to take one thing at a time. If I could be content with just doing one or two things each day instead of trying to tackle an entire project and then getting stressed about it would be a good start. I can write it, I just need to do it. Things are always easier said than done.

All the kids are doing great. I need to do an updated photo and post on all of them. They are changing so much it's amazing. This is my last year home with Drew. He starts kindergarten in the fall and that breaks my heart. Then it will be just me and Emily. Ok, stopping here before I get emotional.

Lost Tooth

2012-01-08T13:40:00.001-06:00

Brodie lost his first tooth a week ago. It had been loose for quite some. After being tucked into bed one night he came out and said his tooth was just hanging there. Sure enough, it really was just hanging there. Dad offered to pull it for him, but he wanted to do it all by himself.

With a quick tug it was out. It was pretty exciting. Now his tooth next to it is loose. I am sure it won't be long before that one is out too.

Exhausted

2012-01-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

Yes, I love sleeping pictures. This picture was taken of Emily late Christmas morning. Poor girl was so exhausted. She played really hard with her new spoon!

Christmas Morning 2011

2012-01-06T10:08:00.002-06:00

The kids did really well letting us sleep in Christmas morning. We told them they couldn't wake us up before 6 am. So when 6 am rolled around Will and I both woke up on our own. Thinking the boys would be in any moment, we stayed awake. It was almost 7 before Jake and Tony finally entered our room.

After they woke us up, they went and woke up Brodie and Drew. All the boys then went in and got Emily. Santa had come. There was gifts under the tree and the stockings were full.Besides all our presents, here was our other proof Santa was here.
We opened stockings first. Drew was excited to get a Christmas story plate in his stocking. That is his favorite movie not only at Christmastime but all the time. Tony is really into puzzles. This 3D puzzle will really prove his skills.
This picture was suppose to be focusing on Brodie and his new Detroit Lions football. However, as you can see it also captured Drew opening his Joker action figure. He was slightly excited!
Daddy helped Emily with her stocking. Inside she found a spoon and fork. She was completely happy with that and didn't need any other gifts after that. She walked around all day with that spoon. She had no interest in any of her gifts so mom and dad ended up opening them for her.

Here is Jake opening his magazine subscription to Men's Fitness. He is really into working out and taking care of his body right now so this should be good for him.
Everyone was very happy with all their gifts. We cut back on gift giving this year and tried to really focus on what the kids interests were. I think it worked out well and everyone was grateful.

I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and after the kids all played for couple hours we headed next door to my mothers house and celebrated with my siblings and their families. Unfortunatly Will was sick so he stayed home and I ended up joining him later because I had a terrible migraine. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening either in the chair or sleeping. Thankfully the boys were all well and they spent time at my mother's house playing with their cousins. It didn't work out the way we had planned but we don't always have control. It was still Christmas and we were all able to be together.

Gingerbread Houses

2012-01-01T21:35:00.006-06:00

Since I am a little behind on updating we are going to back track a little. Here are the pictures of our gingerbread house making on Christmas Eve. We have made this a tradition every year. The kids love making creations and then snacking on them later. It's always fun to see what everyone creates. Here is Drew's. Not sure how he managed to get all that licorice on the top without it caving in but he did.
Jake went for the camping look. Here is Dad's. He is always the last one at the table whenever it comes to family projects. I must admit, his does look really nice.
Here is Tony's. I thought the gummy bears sitting around the camp fire on the left side were really clever.
This was mine. I was most proud of the snowman and the Christmas tree.
And here is Brodie's.
Emily didn't make a gingerbread house but she had just as much fun sitting with us at the table munching on graham crackers.
Hard to believe they are all mine. I love them all so much and I love that we can spend time like this bonding as a family.

2012 New Years Goals

2012-01-01T08:57:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year! I love the new year. A fresh start, a new beginning, time to pause and reflect on the previous year and think about whats yet to come. I have spent a lot of time thinking about my goals for 2012. Things I would like to work on or improve.

It's kinda cliche but here are my 2012 New Years goals, resolutions, inspirations, what ever you want to call them.

Personal
*Drink more water.
*Exercise 3 times per week. It may be nothing too exciting, just a walk around a park would be nice.
*Cut back on coffee. This isn't something I necessarily want to do but I figured if I drink more water maybe my coffee intake will become less. Right now, I drink way.too.much.coffee.
*Read more. I have some awesome magazines and books begging to be read but finding "me time" is difficult.
*Continue to have a large garden and put up enough produce to feed my family for the non-gardening months.
*Keep growing my blogs. I truly enjoy blogging and it is a hobby I want to continue.

Financial
*Successfully complete our 31 Days of Nothing Challenge. Would love to have a chunk of money saved up to go towards our medical bills that we accumulated in 2011.
*To go along with the above...pay off all our medical bills. Right now we owe almost $2000. And unfortunately, since it is the new year, our deductibles will start over.
*Start tracking coupon savings each month. I have always been curious how much money I am saving with coupons. I may do this for a few months just to get an idea.
*Stay on track with our budget and go back to using the envelope system. This system really works for me and I don't spend near as much money when I am using cash instead of swiping my debit card.
*Increase our savings account by $5000. This may be difficult, but if we work really hard I think we can do it.

Family
*Read more books together. All my kids love to read and this would be a good thing to do
as a family.
*Spend more one on one time with my husband. With the business of life, sometimes we don't get a chance to really connect just the two of us.
*Establish a good morning routine with the two youngest children. Once the 3 older kids are off to school sometimes I feel lost with what to do with my little ones that are still at home. I want to get some sort of schedule in place.
*In general just spend more time with my kids and husband. I am always so busy and feel like there is so much to get done in the day that I need to just sit back and truly enjoy life.

Greener, Healthier Living
While my family has made huge leaps this last couple years in being more earth friendly there is always room for improvement. I want to step up a few things this year.
*Step up the composting and actually move it around so that is composts!
*Continue to recycle. I need to get a larger recycle bin for our kitchen.
*Completely switch over all cleaning products to homemade. Right now about 80% is made by myself.
*Buy less packaged and processed foods. Cook more from scratch.
*Continue to garden, shop local, attend produce auctions and support our local farmers.

Things Don't Always go as Planned

2011-12-29T19:38:00.004-06:00

As I write this I am sitting at my in-laws house. It's Thursday and our original plan was to be here on Sunday. Our holiday didn't go as planned. Christmas Eve Will came down with a gastro bug that the 3 younger children had passed around the previous weeks. He spent the majority of the day in bed resting. Christmas morning came and he was able to drag himself out of bed long enough to share in the excitement that Santa had visited over night.

Christmas Eve I completely over did it and therefore spent Christmas day in bed myself with a massive migraine. Thankfully my brother and sisters families were next door at my mothers so the 4 older kids spent most of the day over there. It's good to have family so close.

Will's stomach issues passed and now he is just sick with a sinus infection. My headache passed but I was left with a bad chest cold requiring steroids and antibiotics. I think I am finally starting to feel a little better today. So instead of coming up to Will's parents on Sunday night to celebrate Christmas, we came up last night. Better late then not at all.

So in short the holiday hasn't really gone as planned. Poor Will hasn't got to spend his vacation the way he had in mind and all the plans I had for decluttering and cleaning the house have got pushed to the back burner. Things are looking up though and we are finally feeling better and having some fun.

All of my pictures from Christmas morning are on my camera at home. Once we get home and get unpacked I will make it a priority to get those up on the blog.

Holiday Baking

2011-12-19T06:54:00.003-06:00

I spent a day last week doing some holiday baking. While I had a mess on the counters, Emily had a mess on the floor. She had fun emptying drawers and playing with utensils.
She entertained herself quite well and I got alot accomplished. We made chocolate chip, sugar, and gingersnap cookies. I also made my first batch of kringla and it was wonderful. The goal was to send most of the cookies to work with Will. The only problem was I forgot he was off on Friday so the goodies sat around the house all weekend begging to be eaten.

Needless to say, Will only took 1 tin of cookies to work with him today instead of 2. Maybe I will do a better job on the banana breads.

Random Thoughts

2011-12-17T23:20:00.005-06:00

I think I have had too much coffee. Another thing to add to the list of things to do...stop drinking so much coffee. My brain feels full tonight, there is alot on my mind. Figured maybe I would write about some of it and then maybe I can sleep...maybe.

This has been a crazy couple weeks. The gastro bug had hit our house and hit it hard. The 3 younger children have all taken turns being sick. Drew bug and Emily are still suffering. Thankfully Brodie seems to be better although still complains once in a while of tummy pain. Hoping the older 4 in the house don't come down with it (knocking on wood). I feel I am safe because I had something similar to what the children are experiencing a few weeks ago. I fear for my husband and older sons though. It will pass but it is never fun while it's around.

I feel prepared for Christmas. I am excited for the holiday. I look forward to the kids and husband having time off and being home together. I see lots of movies and games in our near future. Hoping to spend a few days away from home staying with the in-laws. It won't be all fun and games though. I have big plans for the time off. I want to go through every room and de-clutter and purge. There is way too many of us, with way too much stuff for this house. Having less will mean more to me. De-cluttering, organizing and cleaning are on my list of things to do during winter break. I think I am the only one excited about this.

I am excited for a new year. I always feel good about a new year. Like a fresh start. I have many goals for 2012. Hoping I can stick to them better than I stuck with my 2011 goals. I have alot I want to do and accomplish but I also have to remind myself that I am only human and I can only do so much.

Speaking of 2012, I am excited to be attending a blogging conference with my sister in April. I started my frugal blog mainly to help others out and journal my experiences. It got a lot bigger than I had ever planned and now I just want to keep it growing. It has given me motivation and become a fun hobby for me. I have about 350 email subscribers and almost 600 Facebook fans.

I am planning another 31 days of nothing challenge for my family in January and I am going to be hosting a link up each week. Anyone who wants to join is welcome and can keep us updated with their progress each week via a link to their blog. Keeping myself accountable on my blog always helps me out and keeps me honest. The Frugal Tuesday Tip is another fun link up I do each week. I am hoping to see that grow in 2012 as well.

Ok, I feel a little better getting some of my ideas written down. Kids will be up before I know it so I better get some shut eye.

Decorating the Tree

2011-12-16T07:07:00.007-06:00

Decorating the Christmas tree is always a tradition I look forward to each year. Dad and Jake are in charge of hanging the lights. Next, comes the ornaments. I have started a box of ornaments for each of the kids. I can remember my mom doing the same for me. When it comes time to decorate everyone has their own box of treasures to hang on the tree.

I will be starting a box for Emily this year. Last year she was barely a month old and she slept through the tree decorating. This year she is a very busy toddler who doesn't want to miss out on anything. She was fascinated with everyone's ornaments. As they put them on the tree, she would take them off and inspect them.
After all the ornaments have been placed on the tree, it is time for the star. Jake was in charge this year of putting the star on top of the tree. We soon realized that the star was just too tiny for this tree.
I decided we would make a new one. So that was a project the younger boys and I did the following day. We cut a star out of cardboard, painted it, added glitter, and hot glued a tp roll to the back. We placed it on top of the tree. Perfect.

Christmas Tree Hunting

2011-12-14T07:28:00.002-06:00

It's been an entire week since I last posted and I realized that I didn't even have pictures of our Christmas tree up yet. Spare time is hard to come by these days. My laptop is broken as well so blogging means I have to seclude myself in the bedroom away from everyone. That doesn't happen very often. I know, excuses, excuses. Anyway on with the tree.

We headed out the weekend after Thanksgiving to go look for our Christmas tree. We like to visit Kidman's Tree Farm. This year we found a tree out on the grounds and for the first time ever, cut it down ourselves! The kids had a ball with this. They each took turns using the saw. Here is Drew. Brodie.Tony. And Jake finished the job.Whoo Hoo!It was windy and cold but we were having a good time. Except for Emily. She wasn't very happy being cold and having to sit in her stroller.
Once we found our tree we took it back up to the house and the nice Kidman folks loaded it on the van for us while we got some more hot chocolate and headed back out for a wagon ride. Tony was brave enough to get up and lead the horses for a bit.Finally it was time to head home and the kids were super excited to put the tree up in the living room. And here she is.We chose a new spot to put it this year. The following night we decorated. Those pictures will come soon.

What's Been Going On

2011-12-07T20:50:00.002-06:00

It has been a busy couple weeks around the Figgins household. When isn't it busy really, but it seems busier than usual lately. I can't even really tell you everything that has gone on.

Most recently, on Tuesday Emily had surgery on her ears. She had tubes put in after fighting a recurrent ear infection for over 2 months. Now the fluid will drain out as opposed to being stuck in her ear, causing pain and discomfort and eventually infection. She did really well during and after her surgery. The procedure itself took about 5 minutes. We barely sat down in the waiting room when they came out and said she was all done.

When they brought her to me she was crying and dazed but after awhile she calmed down. We got to leave about 20 minutes later. We came home ate breakfast, she played a bit and then she took a 3 hour nap. When she woke up she acted like nothing had ever happened. Amazing.

She was a little fussy today but she did ok. She has been really tired lately so she took another long nap.

Brodie started running a fever yesterday at school. I ended up picking him up and bringing him home. He complained of a headache and ran a fever the rest of the night. This morning he started vomiting. It was a single episode though, thank goodness. He continued to complain of a headache, tummy ache and ran a fever most of the day. It looks like he will be home with me again tomorrow. I am just crossing my fingers that no one else in the house gets it.

Jake's First Basketball Scrimmage

2011-12-01T09:02:00.000-06:00

Jake decided to join the basketball team this year. He hasn't played basketball since he was little. I am glad he is playing. It keeps him busy and active, two important things for a teenage boy.

I am very proud of him. He has really matured this year. He has been able to stay active in school sports and keep good grades. He even made honor roll first semester. He keeps busy days. Between school, lifting, practice, homework I don't see him much. I guess that is all part of growing up.

Here are some pictures of his first scrimmage the other morning.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T15:54:00.007-06:00

We had a wonderful holiday weekend. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday with both Will's parents and my mother, siblings and their families. We headed up to Colo in the morning and spent a few hours with Will's family. The food there is always good and there is plenty of it. The weather was beautiful and the guys played football outside for a bit.
In the afternoon we headed back home and spent the evening at my mothers house. My siblings and their families showed up and we ate yet again! We celebrated the November birthdays that evening as well. The cousins all had a good time playing and hanging out.

It was a great day filled with wonderful food, warm homes and loving families. I am truly thankful for my life.

Drew's Birthday Cake

2011-11-23T07:18:00.008-06:00

Drew sat with me at the computer a couple weeks before his birthday and we googled images of super hero cakes. He found one he really liked so I had an idea to go off of. The weekend of his birthday party I spent a couple hours one evening coloring and making the fondant decorations for his cake.
Batman, Spiderman and Captain America were the heros that he wanted on his cake.

The morning of his party I finished up the decorating. Here is how the cake turned out. He was so excited when he saw it. He said "ahhh mom, that is AWESOME!" He must have thanked me half a dozen times. This was definitely one of my favorite cakes I have made.

Happy Birthday Drew!

2011-11-17T11:12:00.008-06:00

We celebrated Mr. Drewbugs birthday yesterday. He turned 5 years old! I love this kid so much. He is one of the moodiest kids of all the children but he is also one of the most lovable. He is always giving me random hugs and kisses on the forehead when I am sitting in my chair. He is just such a good boy and I can't believe he is FIVE!!! Ahh my baby boy.

He loves all things super hero. Remember the costume post? Well he still loves to dress as a super hero and play super hero. So of course all he really wanted for his birthday was super hero stuff. So here he is opening his Captain America shield.
And here he is opening his Batman house.
So excited! He wanted me to wait and make his cake for his birthday with his grandparents, which turned out to be a really good thing since I was sick and wouldn't of been able to have the cake ready for his actual birth date.

He got to choose dinner which consisted of bacon wrapped sirloins, popcorn shrimp, blueberry muffins and strawberries. Definitely my son. Those are all my favorites too! We spent the evening eating popcorn and watching a movie in the basement for a change.

Goodbye beard, you won't be missed.

2011-11-13T18:34:00.007-06:00

Well, he did it. The grizzly, Neanderthal, homeless looking husband that I had is now this well groomed, clean kept man! Amazing what shaving can do for a person.It started out as a no-shave contest at work. The only problem was, Will was the only one left particiapating. He has done it before a few years ago. It's kinda fun to watch and see just how long and curly it will get. The top picture was just a little over 3 1/2 months of not shaving. The goal was January first and then he would buzz it all off. Once he started double taking because he thought he kept seeing people sneak up on him, only to realize it was just his own beard, then he realized it was time to shave. (sorry hon, had to share that!)

And since Dad always uses the clippers to cut the boys hair, it was only fair that they get to cut his hair. Brodie wasn't at all interested, but Drew loved every minute of it. He was very serious and would periodically stop and look at Will and say "you look so weird".

Yes, this all came from his head.The house was pretty split about the decision to shave. Jake and Tony liked the beard and were a bit bummed to see its demise. Brodie and Drew liked it cut. I, of course liked the new look. Emily on the other hand, not so much. I had a feeling she would be a bit reserved if he looked different. We even had her watch so she could see the transformation. She giggled and totted around the kitchen while Drew cut. Once Will was done and actually looked at her, she shreaked in fear. I couldn't believe how terrified she was of him. I didn't know who to feel more sorry for Emily or Will.

She got over it eventually but was still a little unsure of it the next day. Everything is all good now and she is back to being a daddy's girl.

Emily's First Bithday Party

2011-11-07T07:13:00.006-06:00

We held Emily's first birthday this past weekend. We had lots of friends and family show up to help us celebrate. I thought she might be a little shy since there was so many people in our house but she did great.

Here are some pictures of her opening her gifts. She got lots of good stuff. I am realizing now that when you have a girl, her birthday gifts are kinda like your own. I loved seeing all the new clothes and fun girlie things she got. She immediatly had to love on her babies when she opened them. Funny how girls just do that. Its like boys automatically play guns and making car noises.
Here was the birthday cake I made for her. I made Emily her own special cake. She poked at it a few times and then just leaned forward to take a bite.
She thought she was pretty funny. And she was. Before the party we took a couple pictures of Emmy and her mommy and daddy. Awww, she loves her daddy.
It's still hard for me to believe that we finally have a girl. We all love her so much.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T07:02:00.001-05:00

Here are my boys all dressed up for Trick 0r Treating. Begger's night was chilly and windy but at least there was no rain or snow like there has been in previous years. The kids went out with Will, our good friend and his little boy and my step sister and her son. The girls stayed back at the house and helped hand out candy and listen to funny jokes all night.

Here are the 4 younger kids all ready to head out and fill their buckets. They stayed out for about an hour and that was long enough to get a good variety of candy.

Emily's First Birthday

2011-11-02T21:05:00.008-05:00

I can not hardly believe our little Emily is 1 year old today. Boy does the time go fast. I am still fascinated that we have a girl! I think I might have found my feminine side again after living so long with only males in the household.

Unfortunately she has been sick all week with an ear infection so she wasn't her perkiest today. We decorated the dining room like we always do when it is someones birthday. Daddy decorated her chair. The balloons provided lots of entertainment and she was quite content for awhile just sitting there playing.Once daddy got home from work and all her brothers came home from school it was present time! We had the radio on and she loves music. So instead of tearing open her presents she just sat there and danced. And danced. And danced. The boys were starting to get really impatient so they started to open her presents for her. Finally Dad turned off the radio so she could concentrate on ripping paper!She got a new pair of black pants and had fun playing peek-a-boo with them. She giggles so much when you play that with her.
Where's Emmy?There she is!

And I had to share this picture of her playing with Drew. Notice her hair is starting to get thicker? And dark too. Some day we will be able to do bows and pony tails.
This little girl has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives. We love you Emily Joy!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-01T06:33:00.005-05:00

This year was a little different than most years. We typically always go to the same pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. They have a hay bale maze, a corn pile to play in, animals to pet and other games to play. However since I had my foot surgery a couple weeks ago I am still not very mobile and we waited till the last minute to get our pumpkins. On top of that we found out our favorite pumpkin patch wasn't open this year. What to do??

After doing some research I found a couple other pumpkin patches in our area but unfortunately they charged big bucks to get in. I couldn't justify spending that kind of money so we decided to just pick some pumpkins from a stand I found at the side of the road. It worked out fine and the kids still had fun trying to find that perfect pumpkin.All the boys had fun helping Emily pick out one that was just her size.She really liked her pumpkin. She held onto it the entire time we were there. Even while Daddy tried to find his pumpkin.She even fell asleep holding it on the way home.When we got home it was carving time! Tony had a friend over so we got him a small pumpkin and he joined in too. As you can see, Drew of course picked out the biggest pumpkin. He does that every year.

Here is how they look on the deck after we were done carving.
Brodie's is on the top right, below that is Dad's, then Jakes. On the left side there is Tony's, then Drew's and then Tony's friend Alex.

While we carved Emily had fun walking around picking up pumpkin seeds off the floor. When she wasn't picking up seeds she was on the floor giggling and playing with her little pumpkin.

Celebrating my Birthday

2011-10-31T20:11:00.000-05:00

I celebrated my birthday on the 17th of October. My husband and kids got me an awesome fleece Iowa State blanket. I snuggle up with it each night when I am in my recliner. I also got a paraffin wax warmer for my hands. This will come in really handy this winter when my skin is so dry.

We went up to Will's parents house the following weekend. We had a great time catching up and playing games. I am really looking forward to the week of Christmas. They all have the week off and so does Will and the kids. We are planning on spending a few days up there just hanging out and playing games. We are so lucky to be close to our parents and siblings.

And here is our adorable Emily. I just had to share it because she is so dang cute! Grandpa is helping her rock on the rocking horse. Isn't she getting big?

Flag Football

2011-10-26T21:04:00.000-05:00

Brodie and Drew participated in a mini flag football session. Every Saturday for 4 weeks they met up at the high school field and practiced. Will helped coach. He loves practicing with the kids although he has never helped with this young of a team. Teaching 5 and 6 year olds can be a bit challenging as well as entertaining. It was usually a bit of a cluster but the boys seemed to have a pretty good time, especially Brodie. He is really into football.

On the last day of practice they had a short scrimmage. Drew was on the green team and was #6 and Brodie was on the yellow team and was #3. No one really knew what they were doing but it was still fun to watch.Drew is number 6. The coach is giving him some directions.
It's a little difficult to see but Brodie is the one with his hand on the ball. He actually did a pretty good job. He loves to play in the back yard with Jake so he at least knew what was going on most of the time.
I had to snap this picture of Jake and Tony. Jake is holding Emily. It isn't very often that these two spend time together just hanging out and talking.

2011-10-26T20:46:00.001-05:00

This is Brodie. He's sound asleep in his bed. The pink and purple blanket he has wrapped around him is actually my robe. He loves to snuggle with it. He says it's soft and smells like me. He loves me.

Sometimes I get wrapped up thinking about what all needs to be done. Yard work, house work, baking, cleaning, organizing. Sometimes I forget that I have 5 children who all love me. They all need my attention. They all want me to sit and listen to them tell me about their day. Sometimes I forget to listen. Sometimes I tune them out. Sometimes all I want is a little peace and quiet.

But these children won't be children very long. Jake is already 15. In less than 4 years he might be out of the house. Tony wants attention. He needs attention. He just wants someone to listen and hug him. Brodie is in school already. He is realizing there is more out there than just mom and Dad and his siblings. He wants to play with his friends but he still wants his parents close. It won't always be like that. Drew just wants me to do something with him, anything, he doesn't care. He just likes to spend time with me. And then there is the baby. I am her whole world for now, but that won't last either.

I asked my husband the other day if he thought we were being the best parents we could be. We certainly try. Some days more than others. There is always room for improvement. I just need to learn to slow down. Enjoy the moment. Feel good about my role and be the best mom I can be.

I hope my children always remember how much I love them. I want them to know that I did my best and I would do anything, anything to protect them and keep them safe.

There will always be chores. The house will always need tiding and the laundry folded. My kids won't always be kids. They won't always chose me first when it comes to playing, or give me play dough hot dogs and fries for lunches. They won't always want to sleep in my robe just because it's comfy and smells like me.

Random Thoughts

2011-10-20T16:35:00.004-05:00

I just got back from my podiatrist apt. It has been 2 weeks since my surgery. The doctor took x-rays and thought everything looked good. The screw is well placed and my toe looks pretty straight on the film. She took my bandage and steri strips off and that felt so much better. It is still pretty painful. It looks strange to see my big bump gone. It is bruised and swollen right now so it is hard to say exactly how it will look when it is completely healed.

I also heard back from my family doctor this week. I had my thyroid levels checked again and they were dramatically better. 6 weeks ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I was feeling horrible, extreme fatigue, weight gain, and my stomach hated me every time I ate anything. Blood tests showed that my thyroid wasn't functioning like it should so I was started on medication. My levels are much better but are still not considered normal so we are increasing my dose.

I actually feel a lot better. Within this last week or so I have finally started to get some energy back. My stomach is feeling a lot better as well.

Now if I could speed up the healing process on my foot all would be right again. On the bright side at least I don't have to wrap my foot in a baggie anymore before taking a shower. And I should be able to start driving again here soon.

Emily Joy 11 Months - 2 Weeks Away From Turning 1!

2011-10-19T14:05:00.004-05:00

In 2 weeks this little girl will turn 1!! This year has gone by way too fast. She is the happiest little girl. We have been very lucky to have such a wonderful baby.
Here are her stats. At her last doctor apt, which was 10 days ago (poor girl had another ear infection) she weighed 19 lbs 14 oz. She has hit a serious growth spurt this last couple months. She was eating as much food as the boys for a couple weeks straight. She has finally slowed down a bit and isn't packing away the food as much. She currently has 8 teeth. See them below? She likes to show them off.
We stopped nursing about a month ago. She was weaning herself plus I had to go on some medication for my thyroid so it was a good time to stop.
She is walking now. She started standing up when she was 8 months old. I thought for sure she would walk by 9 months but she didn't. When she stands up her feet are pretty far apart so those first couple steps are a little wobbly. This last couple weeks she has really gotten the hang of it though and is walking pretty good now.
She has been sleeping all night and usually takes 2 naps during the day. They aren't very long but that's ok. She does really well with bedtime. She usually knows when it is time for sleep and will wave bye bye to everyone.
I have been trying to plan her birthday party. I have to rework my brain. I have planned 38 boys birthdays and cakes and now I have to plan my first girl birthday party and cake. I am sure it will include lots of pink!

11 Months Old

2011-10-19T11:17:00.001-05:00

Brodie Michael FigginsDrew Henry Figgins
Emily Joy Figgins

Homecoming 2011

2011-10-17T07:07:00.001-05:00

Homecoming week was September 26-30th. We had quite a few events during the week. Thursday evening we went to the parade. Jake's football team was in the parade and threw out candy. You can't really see Jake in these pictures because he is on the opposite side. The parade wasn't very long but the kids got lots of candy. It helps having older brothers in school so everyone knows who you are.
I was impressed with Emily. She loved the parade and just sat and watched everyone go by. Even the loud sirens and horns didn't seem to bother her.
Friday was the Homecoming football game. The middle school band joined the High school marching band during halftime. Tony is the one in the middle with the snare drum. He does really well. The only problem is he is so small the drum is hard for him to carry.
He really looks forward to joining the marching band next year.
Saturday night was the Homecoming dance. Jake isn't currently dating anyone so he went with a friend. He met up with another couple and they all went out to dinner before the dance. Of course I didn't get much details but he said they all had a good time.

Bath Time

2011-10-15T14:10:00.000-05:00

These pictures were just too cute not to share!

Random Thoughts

2011-10-14T07:16:00.003-05:00

As a way for me to organize my blog better I am going to title my blog posts "random thoughts" every time I feel like just writing something. Just thought I would explain that.

I am feeling extremely anxious this morning. It is gloomy, cold and a great day to stay inside and bake something. My foot is pretty sore this morning so I know I should just sit here and keep it up, but that really doesn't sound like fun.

I went to the doctor yesterday for my first post op apt. The Dr thought everything looked good. I was happy to have my dressing taken off, even it was for only 2 minutes. When the nurse pulled the dressing off she also pulled off my steri-strips on my big toe. As she ripped them off I could actually feel and see my incision opening back up. I couldn't believe she actually pulled them off. The doctor stood there and watched and said "well, we will put new strips back on there and we will see you in another week" so he was obviously ok with what she was doing.

I thought I would kick her in the face. It hurt so bad. I have no idea why she took them off. Sigh..anyway I was sore the rest of the night...and now this morning. I have a new dressing on that needs to stay on for another week. I also have to continue to wear my lovely boot for at least another week. I shouldn't be so whiny. I know it will be nice to have this done and actually be able to wear shoes and not have pain. I just hate the recovery part.

Jake has his last home football game tonight. I really want to go. I think I will try and make it to the first half. Then I can take all the kids home and Will can stay and watch the rest. But then there is the hole ride thing since I can't drive. Ugh guess I need to think about that. Ok, better get Brodie ready for school.

Mulberry Picking

2011-10-12T10:44:00.002-05:00

Over the summer we spent a few different afternoons out picking mulberries. As a kid I can remember always picking mulberries from the tree in Grandma Fleischackers back yard. That tree is still there and was the source for some of our pickings this year.

We spent one afternoon with my sister and her kids traveling around to some of her hot spots that she forages. All the kids helped pick and did a really good job. No one complained and I think the kids all had a really good time hanging out together.Drew helped pick too, but most, ok all of his berries were eaten before we got them home. We would frequently find him just sitting on the grass eating all the berries he had just put in his bucket.

We thought he looked a lot like the Joker.
Jake, Julie and Sara

With all the mulberries we picked this season I made 18 half pints of jelly. We were also able to freeze some to add into our smoothies.

Random Thoughts

2011-10-11T20:46:00.005-05:00

Today was a better day. I am sad to see my husband go back to work tomorrow. He has been amazing (thanks babe). My pain is a lot better although I am a little sore this evening. I might have overdone it a bit this afternoon. I finally got out of the house. Will took his girls to lunch (that sounds funny huh?) and then we rode with him to pick up Drew from pre-school.

This evening he and the boys played football and hide n seek in the backyard. I sat outside and watched. It was nice to just be out in the fresh air. I know, I know, I am whiny. It's only been 4 days. But I hate not being able to run and jump about like I want.

Emily and Drew are better today. Yesterday Will had to take them into the doctor after being up with Emily all night the night before. Poor thing. She was inconsolable. She has a terrible cold and ear infection. Drew has croup but seems to be less barky tonight. Looking forward to tomorrow and hoping everyone is feeling even better.

Random Thoughts

2011-10-10T10:30:00.005-05:00

Venting...

Today is starting off sucky. I am day 3 post op for my foot surgery (bunions and straightening of my great toe). I am feeling extremely nauseated and hot. I think alot of it has to do with my pain pills which I am trying to wean myself off of and it isn't working too well.

We had a terrible night. Drew was up coughing most of the night. He has had a cough for a few weeks and now it has turned into croup. Emily was up almost the entire night crying for some unknown reason. She is now completely plugged up and miserable. Will has both children at the doctor as I type. I am so grateful he took today and tomorrow off to stay home and help me recuperate. Who knew it would turn into such an event.

The 2 youngest kids are miserable, I feel sick and my poor husband is living off of no sleep. I am really hating that I can't hop up and help out. I feel like I am ignoring everyone.

Thankfully the 3 middle boys are away at school and it makes it a little quieter around here. Hoping everyone can get some rest this afternoon.

Update

2011-10-09T08:25:00.006-05:00

I am extremely behind on blogging for this site. I have been so busy lately that this blog kind of got shoved to the back burner. I am hoping to use this more frequently for updating friends and family with what has been going on.

This blog use to be a place where I shared events and crafts I did with the kids. It will now be more focused as a journal for me to keep track of things that our family has been doing. There are so many things the kids say and do that I want to record. I don't always have time to stop and dig out their baby books and add in these little details but I don't want to forget them either.

My goal is to try and update this blog a couple times a week. I want to keep track of what is going on in our lives and record any special moments that happened throughout the week.

For now I will be posting some pictures and events that happened with in the last few months. I have lots of pictures I want to share so I will be backtracking a little bit.

I used to journal a lot as a child and I really enjoyed it. I am hoping to start that hobby again and record it here. If you want to follow along with me, feel free. Please keep in mind that this will probably be a bit more personal and a way for me to share my feeling and memories.

Brodie's 6th Birthday

2011-10-03T14:14:00.004-05:00

We celebrated Brodie's 6th birthday this past weekend. I find it hard to believe he is 6 years old.

Friday was his actual birthday and we all woke up early so he could open his presents and have cinnamon rolls before everyone had to go to school. Daddy took the day off so that was nice having him there for breakfast. The theme this year was Star Wars. He is big into Star Wars and football.We got him 3 sets of Legos for his birthday. The first one he opened and was like "really mom?". Apparently he already had that set. The second set he opened he just kinda looked at it. Will said "didn't you want that one?" and Brodie responded "well, not really." I think he was trying not to hurt our feelings and show that he wasn't disappointed although it wasn't working. You could tell that he was a little bummed.

Finally the third Lego set was a hit and he was way excited. After breakfast Daddy helped him get his Lego set started and finally it was time to go to school.

Sunday we celebrated his birthday at Grandma Mary's and Grandpa Joel's. Grandma and Grandpa Campbell and Grandpa Dave and Grandma Anita all drove up to join the party. The house was full of grandparents.
I decorated Brodie's cake as Janga Fett from Star Wars. This was his request and I wasn't sure I could pull it off. It by all means wasn't perfect but he was happy with it and that's all that matters.

2011-09-22T06:40:00.001-05:00

Everyone always asks how the baby is sleeping. Well here she is...sleeping...in her own bed!

We have finally, successfully moved her to her own crib after months of sleeping with her in the chair and then her sleeping in her chair in our room. She fussed for a few nights but really it didn't last long. She adapted really well to her bed.

Now she is doing awesome. We put her to bed awake, turn on her singing frog and she puts herself to sleep. And the best part? She has been sleeping all night. Finally. I deserve this after having the two younger boys not sleep through the night till they were almost 3. Drew still struggles to sleep through the night.

And yes, she likes to sleep on her belly with her tush up in the air. In the above picture she was so tired this night that she pretty much just sat in bed. Then she just fell over asleep.

This doesn't make me happy.

2011-09-16T22:54:00.002-05:00

I found this guy hanging around on one of my green pepper plants the other day. YUCK! These things seriously give me the creeps. I have never had much of an issue with bugs in the garden. However this year the beetles were horrible and now I have these! Tomato horn worms.
This does not make me happy. However it makes my chickens very happy to have a tasty treat!

The Littliest Egg

2011-09-15T20:33:00.004-05:00

Tony found a "little" surprise in the nest boxes last night. He came running in carrying this tiny egg saying "you have to blog this and you have to tell them that I found it". So here is the egg that Tony found next to a regular size egg. This is by far the littlest egg we have ever gotten from our hens. Even the pullet eggs have never been this small. I have no idea which bird left us this little treasure.

It is hard to tell from the pictures but it is really about the size of a robin's egg. I am debating on keeping it just because it is so fun or cracking it open to see what the insides look like.

Drew and his first weeks at pre-school.

2011-09-13T22:04:00.000-05:00

Drew has been in pre-school for about 2 weeks now. Today he came home and said "I made my first friend today." As he said it he went and hid. He is the shyest kid. Funny because he talks so much at home but you really have to get to know him and he has to feel very comfortable with you for him to talk to you.

Here he is on his first day.
He spent the morning before school crying and hugging me, telling me he didn't want to go to school. I felt so bad. I ended up crying and calling Will to see if we were making the right decision sending him to pre-school. I also called his teacher and informed her that he was having severe anxiety about coming and that it might not be a good situation. She assured me everything would be ok and they would take good care of him even if that meant someone just sitting with him till he calmed down.

About an hour before we had to leave he completely changed his mind and decided he would go. We talked alot about how he wasn't going to miss anything at home. Emily and I would probably just take a nap while he was gone anyway. He asked if Emily and I could sit in the van and wait for him to get out of school. He really wanted to make sure we were going to be there when school got out. I told him we would wait there for him. He seemed a lot calmer after that.

I was dreading dropping him off. I even called Will and asked him to take a late lunch and come and meet me. Once we got to school he bravely walked up the sidewalk. Here he is in front of the school.
When the teacher opened the door he was a little hesitant. He was the last one to go in. He gave Dad a hug and then another to me and walked in all by himself. I couldn't believe it. I was expecting kicking and screaming but he was so brave.

Every day I ask him if he met anyone new or if he talked to anyone and he usually says "nope". I believe him, at least the part about not talking to anyone. He went the entire baseball season without saying a word to his coach. So it will take some time for him to get comfortable enough to talk to people at school. I was pretty excited for him today when he told me he made a friend.

Emily 10 Months

2011-09-11T20:35:00.005-05:00

Where does the time go? Can't believe this little girl is over 10 months old now. She is very busy. She has been standing up on her own for 2 months now but has still not taken that first step. Why should she? She is the fastest 3 legged crawler I have ever seen. And if she is on cement where it might hurt her to drag that second knee she just walks like an ape. She gets around just fine.
We are finally starting to get a little hair. Not enough for a pony tail yet but she does have one long curl in the back. And by long I mean about an inch or so. She also just got her 7th tooth.
With those 7 teeth she eats just about everything you put in front of her. She really likes to eat tomatoes. We found her sneaking some out of a box we brought home from Grandma's house the other day. She was having a great time.She is eating so much big people food that she has decided she doesn't really have the time to sit and nurse anymore. She is pretty much weaning herself. She thinks it's fun to do push-ups and head stands and twist clear around all while trying to nurse. It really doesn't work very well. It's kinda sad but just another sign that she is growing up. Way.to.fast.

School Update

2011-08-26T21:40:00.002-05:00

The boys all survived the first week of school. Jake was happy to get back to seeing his buddies every day. He is excited that he is no longer a freshman. Things improve when you are a Sophomore, like in Football you get your locker decorated by the cheerleaders.

Tonight was his first football game. Unfortunately I opted to stay home with all the younger kids while Will went. The game was 1 1/2 hours away and he was playing both the Freshman and Varsity game so it was going to be a very long night. I am excited for them to get home so I can hear how it went.

Tony had a good week too. They didn't really get too involved in any class time. They had Positive Behavior Classes all week. Learning the rules and expectations blah blah blah. Yesteday was the greatest day of his life though because they handed out the laptops. All the 7th and 8th graders get laptops this year. We have been living and breathing laptop conversations since he came home yesterday! He is beyond excited.

Brodie had a great first day at Kindergarten. They spit the classes up and half started Tuesday and the other half started Wednesday. Then all the kids came together on Thursday. Unfortunately he was running a really high fever Wednesday night so he missed Thursday. There was lots of tears when I told him he had to stay home. He was better today and went back. Of course when I quizzed him about what all he did he said "I can't really remember".

Drew is finally excited to start pre-school next week or pretty school as he sometimes calls it. His 2 teachers came to the house for a home visit and he did really well talking with them. I love that they do this and I think it really helped out. He has the same teacher that Brodie had last year and we love her. I think he is going to have a good time once we get him there and he gets adjusted to spending time with out mom.

2011-08-25T21:51:00.003-05:00

This last couple weeks have been busy ones for gardening. My garden is doing great this year and producing an abundance of fruits and veggies. I am picking something every day. Here was our pickings today. I was shocked to see how many green beans I had. I picked an entire basket full. Looks like I will be doing some more canning this weekend! So far I have been able to put up 10 pints of beans.

The zucchini went crazy too. I haven't gotten much so far this year so I didn't check for a few days. Wrong move because I found some huge ones hiding. I will be shredding and freezing those for use in bread and brownies later.

Our cantaloupe is doing great. So far we have picked 7. I still have a few out on the vines waiting to ripen. They are wonderful! Sweet and juicy.I still have a few tomatoes coming on. The major crop is over and I was able to put up quite a few quarts of tomatoes as well as salsa. Here was a picture I snapped a couple weeks ago before my canning session. These are all from my garden.I fell into some really cheap sweet corn and was able to put up 17 quart size bags into the freezer. After posting about canning sweet corn I read lots of replies about freezing it so thought I would give it a whirl. I don't have a lot of freezer space to spare but the corn did stack nicely and didn't seem to take up much room.Along with everything that is being produced in my garden I fell onto some free apples from a tree in my neighborhood. I have already picked one batch and plan to make another trip here soon. Applesauce, frozen apple pie and turnover packets, dehydrated apples, as well as fruit leather is on the list of things to make with those.

I also was given permission to pick a few grapes from my neighbors vines. Looking forward to possibly making some jelly with those if we don't eat them all first!

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-24T22:06:00.005-05:00

Brodie had his first day of Kindergarten yesterday. To say he was excited is an understatement. He was SO pumped. The night before he said to me "now mom, you have to wake me up extra early cause I am going to have to brush my teeth and comb my hair before I leave for school." I was surprised when he actually settled down at a descent hour and went to bed.

It was a good thing too cause he woke up the next morning bright and early at 6:15 with his older brothers. He came running out of his room with a half sleepy face saying "is it time for me to brush my teeth and comb my hair?" When I told him he had an hour and a half to wait he shrunk his shoulders and said "but I wanna go now."

He ended up getting all ready by himself and was happy to see that Daddy had stayed home from work long enough to see him on the bus and buy donuts for breakfast! The bus was due to arrive at 7:47 am. At 7:05 am this is where he was.Waiting on the front stair looking at the road. I tried to tell him he still had 30 minutes before we could walk down to the end of the driveway so he should come inside but he said "no I just wanna wait out here." And so he did.It was a little crazy because Jake and Tony actually missed their bus so it was a good thing Will was home and he ran them both up to their schools. He made it back just in time to walk Brodie down to the bus stop.Drew was pretty excited to watch his brother leave, probably because he knew he was getting mom and sister all to himself.The boys passed the time by keeping Emily entertained until the bus finally arrived. And then, it came. Brodie bravely walked up and didn't even turn around until the bus driver said "turn around and smile at your dad" which he did.And then he was gone. I only cried a little.

It was a huge day for all of us. Almost 6 years of having him home with me other than the handful of hours he went to preschool last year. This will be a big change for him. A big change for both of us.

First Day of School

2011-08-24T21:54:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of school. I can't believe summer break has been here and gone. I wasn't one of the moms who were marking off days on the calendar waiting for the kids to go back. They help me out so much and I am going to miss them dearly. The house will be much quieter that is for sure!

Jake is a sophomore this year. That is hard to type let alone say. He is growing up so fast and is such a responsible kid. He passed Driver's Ed this summer and is eagerly saving his money to buy a car.Tony is in 8th grade. I am excited for him to get back into a routine and have some structure to his day. He is a little reluctant to return to school but came home in a great mood yesterday and seemed very excited. Let's hope it lasts.My lil' Bro man started kindergarten. I am sad to see him gone all day. I will miss him so much. We have spent almost every day together for almost 6 years. He was thrilled to start school though and I know he will love it. (Special post about his first day coming soon.)

Blueberry Picking

2011-08-22T21:21:00.002-05:00

The kids and I spent a morning at the berry patch a few weeks ago. We picked about 10 lbs of blueberries. The kids love blueberries. I am not a huge fan of store bought blueberries but these berries are wonderful! You can definitely tell the difference when you buy them fresh and local.The boys of course ate way more than they picked. In fact I think Drew's bucket was completely empty the entire time. Anything he did pick went straight to his mouth. Tony and Brodie did a little better and did contribute some.
When we got home I bagged some up for the freezer to add to smoothies and muffins later on. I also made Emily a large batch of baby food with them.

An evening at the park

2011-08-11T06:29:00.006-05:00

The weather has been beautiful in the evenings the last week or so. We spent one evening at the park with all the kids. It was great. The little boys rode their bikes, Jake ran and walked with us, Tony roller bladed and Emily was completely happy being pushed around in her stroller.

She is just so sweet!
We ventured away from the park and decided to take a stroll around the block. Drew was super excited when he found a night crawler on the sidewalk. He even rode around with it for awhile before finally "setting it free". I'm pretty sure the night crawler was glad to be released.I will be happy when Fall weather gets here. We love being out doors but my family is fair weathered people. If it's too warm then no one has fun and everyone is crabby. Evenings like this are wonderful. Perfect, relaxing and just plain make ya feel good.

Emily Joy 9 Months Old

2011-08-08T07:03:00.005-05:00

Hard to believe our baby girl is almost walking! She is 9 months old now. She has been pulling herself up to furniture for almost a month now. She also just stands up on her own in the middle of the room. I am sure it won't be long before she takes those first wobbly steps.
She has been teething. Her third tooth just broke through over the weekend. She is trying to get all 4 teeth on top at once. She has been pretty miserable with this.
When we went in for her 9 month check up last week she was 17lbs 12 oz (20th % for her age) and 26 inches long (13th % for her age). She also was diagnosed with her first ear infection and "really red throat". She is alot smaller than her brothers were. She is just a dainty little girl!

Pool Parties

2011-08-08T06:59:00.001-05:00

We have awesome neighbors. A few years ago they put in an above ground pool. They are kind enough to call and invite us over when they aren't using it. It has been an awesome treat for us this year since we have had such a hot summer. Plus, you can't beat the price! It is so expensive to take our family to a public pool so I appreciate the fact that all this has cost me is some produce from my garden! (Given because I wanted too, not because they asked.)The boys love the water. The water is 4 feet deep so they wear their life jackets and can just bounce around without us having to hold onto them.
Emily has been getting used to the water too. It is very relaxing for her. On more than one occasion this is how she ends up.

First Camping Trip of the Year

2011-08-02T21:32:00.001-05:00

A couple weekends ago we went on our first camping trip of the year. We had wanted to do alot of camping this summer, but the summer is quickly getting away from us. The weather has been so dreadfully hot. We finally had a decent weekend and nothing on the calender so we took advantage of it.

We headed to Spring Lake in Jefferson Iowa. I had never been there before but Will had camped there as a child. He remembered it for the 1920's skating rink that is right by the lake. Unfortunately it is only open on Friday and Saturday nights and we camped on Sunday so we will have to make a trip back to be able to see it open.

We had an awesome camp site right next to the water. It was perfect.We got there around noon on Sunday and after setting up camp we headed out to find firewood. Once the wood was found we headed to the beach. The had a nice clean beach and an ice cream store where we each enjoyed a cone.

Brodie helped Dad get the fire started for dinner.We made one of my favorite camping meals, hobo meals. Stew meat, potatoes, onions and green peppers. Mmmm.Of course we had to have s'mores right after dinner. The best part of camping.We stayed up late that night and fished from the shore. We didn't catch any fish but I caught a metal fishing pole holder. I guess it's something. During the night we had a visitor. I thought we did pretty good getting all the food packed up.
If you click on the picture you can see footprints across our tablecloth. I guess coons like night crawlers. Who knew? They ate the whole container. This was our view Monday morning. Peaceful.
Breakfast consisted of eggs and little smokies. Even more wonderful when cooked on an open fire. Tony found a piece of wood to write down all our information on. His grandparents did this when they used to camp. We will pack the wood with us and take it on our next camping trip and use it to help start the fire.
The 3 younger boys. Jake didn't go with us cause he stayed at a friends house. And Emily, well I am holding her as I take the picture.
We had a great time and I hope that we can fit in a few more camping trips yet this year.

4H

2011-08-01T07:08:00.001-05:00

Tony joined 4H in the Spring. He joined his cousins group, which is a newer group just getting started. He had some big plans for projects he wanted to enter in the county fair. First he was going to do rabbits, but that just wasn't going to work. I love animals but adding another animal at this time just isn't reasonable.

He really wanted to restore a piece of furniture but we just didn't get started in time. So, he has always liked photography so we taught him a few things about our camera and turned him loose. He ended up snapping some pictures of our chickens and picked a silhouette picture of one of the birds to submit to the Polk county fair.

He was a little nervous to have his picture judged, but the judge gave him some good pointers and he felt really good afterwards.

He ended up winning a red ribbon for his photo. From what I can tell blue ribbons are awarded to participants whose photos meet all the standards; quality of photo, centered, lighting, focus, etc. Red ribbons are awarded to those who meet some of the standards but could use a little more work.

Tony was extremely proud and excited as he should be.

Summer Fun

2011-07-29T06:54:00.000-05:00

Needless to say I am behind on blogging. I have so many pictures and stories to share it just takes time to sit down and record them all. Seems like time is limited these days.

I have spent lots of time outside tending to our garden and yard. This is a busy time of the year with produce needing harvested daily. I am not complaining though. I am happy to be having a decent year in the garden.

The kids are enjoying summer vacation. These pictures were taken of the younger 2 boys and their cousins that live next door. We had gotten a lot of rain in a short amount of time causing the ditch to flood. It made a great pond!

I laughed when I saw the kids playing in it because since this is the house I grew up in, it brought back alot of fun memories. I can remember playing in that same ditch when it would get filled with water. I wasn't as creative as they are though. They are using our toy box lid for a boat and sticks for oars. Pretty smart kids.

Bath Time

2011-07-20T22:28:00.000-05:00

Emily has upgraded from the baby bath to the sink. I love giving sink baths! She loves splashing in the water.
Alot of people comment on how much Emily looks like Brodie when he was a baby. I found a few pictures of Brodie taken at about the same age as Emily is here.
You can tell he was into eating orange foods at this age. Look at his orange nose.

Giant Moth

2011-07-14T07:23:00.000-05:00

The other evening I went out to pick up my towels that had blown off the clothesline. When I went to pick up this yellow towel I was shocked to see this on it. I quickly ran inside to get Will and the kids and of course, my camera. We had never seen a moth so big. I had the kids go next door to get their cousins cause I figured they would love to see something like this as well. My brother came over with them and was intrigued so he went home to get his identification book. After looking through the book we discovered it was an Imperial Moth. It stayed all evening on the towel. The next morning it was gone. Fascinating!

Baby Blue Eyes

2011-07-09T12:42:00.000-05:00

Photos taken by big brother Tony.

End of T-Ball

2011-07-06T08:09:00.001-05:00

We wrapped up the T-ball season a few weeks ago. Here are some shots of Brodie and Drews last game.

Both boys had a really good time and they had awesome coaches.
I was very impressed with both kids. They did a great job paying attention and seem to really have a good time. Sometimes Drew would get a little bored towards the end of the games.Brodie was very serious when he played. He played pitcher and first base most of the time since he seemed to be one of the only ones that knew what was going on.

Now that baseball is over we have a little break before flag football starts in the fall.

Fouth of July Weekend

2011-07-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

Emily is 8 months old today!We had an awesome, long weekend. I hate that it has come to an end. We got a few things done around the house, spent time with friends and celebrated with family.We spent Sunday and Monday up in Colo with Will's family. Sunday the guys all helped Grandpa move a huge pile of dirt which pretty much consumed the entire evening. Once all the work was done we roasted hotdogs and smore's by the fire. We did sparklers once it got dark and Will let off some of the small fireworks we had leftover from Minnesota.

We stayed over night and Monday we spent the day on the deck enjoying the day. We grilled, made homemade ice cream, looked at old pictures and just enjoyed being together. I found some mulberry trees and spent some time picking. Everyone got a kick out of my hands.It's a good thing I have no where important to be for the next few days.

Binky

2011-06-30T21:17:00.001-05:00

I think I remember someone else who loved their binkies! She has yet to try and put 2 in her mouth at once like her brother Brodie did.

Fishing

2011-06-27T21:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight we took the kids fishing and had a picnic dinner. It was an absolute gorgeous night to be outside. It has been awhile since we loaded everyone up and gone somewhere for the evening. It felt really nice.

The boys were happy to catch a few fish. Brodie caught the first fish of the night.
Tony was really into fishing tonight. Usually he gives up, but he was the only one who fished the whole night. He ended up catching about a dozen blue gill. This was the largest.
Jake fished for a bit and ended up catching a few.
Drew fished for a short while. A very short while. He had more fun playing with his buddy Canon, throwing rocks into the water and poking a dead carp carcass with a stick.Little Miss was such a good girl. She sat most of the evening in her stroller soaking it all in.

Super Heros

2011-06-24T06:41:00.001-05:00

Drew's newest passion is super heros. For awhile he wore the spiderman costume we had from last Halloween. A few weeks ago I found this batman costume at a garage sale. Every morning when he wakes up before coming out to the living room he gets dressed in his costume. When he wears the costume he doesn't like you to refer to him as Drew, his name is Batman.

Brodie likes to dress up as well, for now he wears his Iron Man shirt and sweatpants. I am on the lookout for more super hero costumes. If you find any let me know!

2011-06-22T22:09:00.001-05:00

Emily got some new jammies from a garage sale. She looked so adorable before going to bed the other evening.
I really love this picture of her. Her eyes are so blue! Of course her brothers had to try and be in the picture with her too.

Minnesota Vacation Part 5

2011-06-20T07:28:00.001-05:00

The last few days were a bit cooler and a few of the days the lake was a little rough. That didn't stop Will, grandpa and Jake but the rest of us opted to stay off the boat.

We spent some time up at the bridge fishing. We didn't have a lot of luck up there this year.Drew got some web blasting practice in.
Emily was content mostly just sitting in her stroller watching everyone.
Friday night was our last night and we enjoyed a meal up at the steakhouse. The weather was rainy so no one went out fishing. Tony was able to finish the puzzle that grandma had brought that we all had worked on throughout the week. The guys got the boats out of the water while mom and I finished packing. We finished the night with a fire in the fireplace.

Saturday morning we got up early to pack the boats and get on the road. All week we kept a poster on the fridge documenting what fish were caught each day. The person who caught the most bass for the week would be the champion. After doing some math and averaging out (since grandpa missed some days) the winner of this years Ten Mile Lake Tournament of Champions was...Will. He won the belt buckle. And yes, that is a trout, not a bass. Details, details. As usual we took family photos before we left.This was the view of the lake from the front of our cabin the morning we left. This will be our last year up there for a while. It is bittersweet. I have come up here every year since I was a child. We decided that since our kids are getting older it is time to travel a bit and see some new sites. So, next year we are planning to take a vacation elsewhere. While I will miss not coming up here, it will be fun to go some place new.

Minnesota Vacation Part 4

2011-06-18T23:15:00.000-05:00

After spending 3 days together with just the 7 of us, we were excited to hear that grandma and grandpa were on the road and would be joining us late Tuesday evening. The boys were very excited and waited outside for them on the deck.
It was good to have them up there. Joel, Will and Jake went fishing every morning. The Northerns were really biting this year. Each day they caught a stringer full. This picture was taken Tuesday morning when Will went out by himself.
These pictures were taken over the next couple days. This was a good haul!
This particular batch of fish has a story with it. Can you pick out the injured fish? The third fish from the left has a bite missing. Here it is a little closer.The guys had their fish tied up to the dock one night. We decided to have a fire and spend some time with the kids before Will and Joel headed down to the fish house to clean them. Tony decided to walk out onto the dock and started yelling that there was giant turtle eating the fish. Everyone ran out on the dock and we saw the biggest.turtle.ever. It truly was the largest turtle I have ever seen that wasn't in a zoo.

It's head was as big as a softball and it's feet were bigger than my own hands. It had clamped down on one of the Northerns. Grandpa tried to shake it off without any luck. The turtle finally bit threw the fish and left. We quickly pulled the fish out of the water. Thankfully we caught it early and it only damaged one fish.

We decided to let that one fish go and see if the turtle would come back and eat it. Will tossed it into the water and within minutes the turtle emerged and snagged the fish. It is hard to see but the fish is in his mouth. His tail was as long as the fish!The picture really doesn't do it justice because it was so huge.

After the turtle incident we decided to light up some small fireworks and let the kids do some sparklers. I found some race cars that had little shooting sparklers on them. We had a competition between the boys to see who's car would win. Winning consisted of having the least amount of damage. Tony's car ended up the winner.
Even though the kids were a little freaked out about the turtle, it ended up being a really good night.

Minnesota Vacation Part 3

2011-06-14T21:15:00.001-05:00

Emily did so good on vacation. She spent lots of time outside so that made her sleep really well each night. She only struggled 2 nights. That might be my fault though because I drank a little more coffee on those days! She was happy and babbling most days.
Last year we put together a really cute chicken puzzle while we were staying at the cabin. This year Wills mom picked up one to bring but since they didn't join us we decided to pick one up at Wal-mart. The older boys, Will and I all worked on it. It was 500 pieces and took all of one morning to put together. The next day we realized that the game room at the lodge carried puzzles so we picked up another one. It too was 500 pieces and took us another day to put it together.
The boys had fun playing at the park that is on the camp grounds. We visited that each day we were there. Will taught Brodie how to swing and he spent most of his time doing just that.

They had so much fun on the teeter totter. I don't know if they have ever been on one (except up here last year). They laughed and laughed. Sometimes I would have to help them because they weigh the same and they would balance out and get stuck.

The first couple days we had really warm weather. It was in the 80's and 90's. The kids were able to do a little swimming and play on the beach.While I love using my wrap to carry Emily around it was starting to really make my back ache. So when I ran into town I ended up buying a small stroller. The boys loved pushing her around in it. She enjoyed it as well and it gave me a nice break.

Minnesota Vacation Part 2

2011-06-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

After spending the previous day in the van traveling, we were so happy to wake up and be able to do whatever we wanted. We were bummed Mom and Joel weren't there to share in the fun. They were going to stay with Jenny and see how she did and maybe try and come up later in the week if she was feeling better.

The boys did lots of fishing. Will was able to take them out on the boat a few times the first couple days.
The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed spending lots of time outside.
We also fished from the dock right in front of our cabin and had some luck catching some small sunnies and bass.

Minnesota Vacation Part 1

2011-06-12T09:12:00.000-05:00

We just got back from our yearly trip to Ten Mile Lake in Minnesota. We had a wonderful time. I have many pictures to share so I am going to break it up into a couple different posts.

The last few years we have gone up to the cabin with Will's parents. Will's mom was involved in a severe car accident about a month ago and has been battling a leg infection. Up until the last minute we weren't sure she was going to be able to go with us. Thankfully the doctor gave her the ok and we were so excited that they were going to be able to join us. We decided to head out separately and just keep tabs with each other along the way. Tony went up the night before and was just going to ride with them so that it gave us a little more room in the van.

Will loaded the boat and van the night before. We woke up at 5am and left the house at 6:15am. Everyone was excited to head North! 403 miles to our destination.We pulled over a few times to make a few adjustments to the boat and arrived in Clear Lake about 100 miles North. We stopped at Denny's, our usual breakfast spot and ate. During dinner we got a phone call from Will's step dad that they would be delayed. The had gotten on the road and started out and then they recieved a call that Jenny, Will's sister had fallen in the back yard and was unable to get up. So, mom, Joel and Tony turned around and headed back to the house. It was worse than they thought and ended up having to call an ambulance to come get Jen. After arriving at the hospital and doing some x-rays they realized she has dislocated her hip and was going to need to be transferred to Des Moines for treatment. We weren't sure if Mom and Joel would even be joining us now and since they had Tony we needed to get him with us.

So, we turned around and headed back south to meet them at the hospital.

We got to the hospital and were able to visit with Jen who was ok, but in a lot of pain. They were getting ready to transfer her to Des Moines to put her hip back in place. We stayed for a bit and then gathered Tony and his things and hit the road again. It was now 11:30.

It was a long day. We hit Cabela's in Owatona Minnesota and walked around a bit and the boys each picked out a toy gun. We usually spend more time there but since it was so late we made it a quick trip.

We hit the road again and eventually the van got quiet as 4 of the 5 kids fell asleep.
We finally arrived at the lake about 8:30pm. It was a very looong trip. Our 400 mile journey turned into 600 miles. The kids did really well considered we were on the road for 14 hours. We got unpacked and were even able to have a small fire in the fire pit before heading to bed.

First Foods

2011-05-29T07:37:00.000-05:00

I started Emily on baby food a couple weeks ago. I have been making all my own food which you can read about over at my other blog. So far I have made sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots and applesauce. Here she is getting her first bites of rice cereal.
She wasn't quite sure about those first few bites. Of course she has an audience watching her.
By the end she was eagerly opening her mouth and trying to grab my arm.

She has been doing pretty well although now she is having a little bit of issues going potty. Next up on the list may be prunes!

Behind

2011-05-26T20:11:00.001-05:00

Yes I am behind in blogging. I have a long list of things that I want to cover and pictures I want to share. I am hoping to have a "blog night" one of these nights and get caught up.

School is out for the summer! This school year went really fast. In the fall I will have a sophomore, 8th grader, kindergartner and preschooler. Hard to believe.

I am sure we will have an incredibly busy summer. I am looking forward to having the kids home. I am sure it will bring even more pictures and events to share so I guess I better get busy!

Tony's Band Concert

2011-05-20T14:29:00.000-05:00

We are wrapping up the end of the school year. It's hard to believe it is almost summer break. We have been busy with school events the last couple weeks. Tony had his last band concert for the 10-11 year. He seemed really focused a did and nice job.

He also had his last choir performance which I failed to get pictures of. This was one of the funner concerts to listen to.

Tony was able to go on a choir trip to Kansas City a few weeks ago. Will was one of the chaperons so that was good for Tony to have him along. They left at 5am on Friday morning and returned about 10:30 pm the same night. The first stop was at another school where the 2 choir classes switched teachers. They performed their concert and each of the groups were given pointers by the other instructor.

From there they spent the afternoon at World's of Fun. Unfortunately the weather was a little chilly and rainy but I think both Will and Tony had a really good time. Tony was pretty excited when he got home because he won a basketball playing some game. Will was equally excited because he successfully went on the Mamba, a 200 foot roller coster. Pretty good for a guy who is afraid of heights.

Garden Tour in Pictures

2011-05-14T15:34:00.000-05:00

I finally finished planting my garden. Well, except for a few more tomato and pepper plants. Here is a tour of all that is growing in my yard.

My apple tree is getting big, no fruit this year though. It is only 2 years old. The peaches look so terrible I didn't even take a picture. I have a few blooms but they are scarce. I am afraid these trees may come down this fall and we will have to plant new ones in the Spring.

The cherry tree. Lots of blooms this year!
Here is what is planted.

So far I have 6 tomato plants
6 jalepenos
4 green peppers
2 red peppers
2 zucchini
1 butternut squash
2 cucumbers
4 cantaloupe
onions
carrots
lettuce
spinach
green beans
sugar snap peas
russet potatoes

The back fence is also lined with more green pole beans. Under the hay is my potatoes.
Zucchini just starting to sprout.
Front quarter from left to right is strawberry bed, snap peas on both sides of fence, onions and 4 hills of cantaloupe.
Here is looking at the back quarter of the garden. Starting on the left and making our way right we have carrots, spinach and lettuce, onions, green beans on both sides of the fence and then the strawberry bed.
My strawberries are a little crazy. I didn't thin them out last year and now they are taking over!
They look really really good though. I already have some little berries starting to grow. I am SO excited!
Lots stop and look for eggs.

Yay! 3!
Thanks girls!
My first signs of potatoes. I have about 8 sets of leaves coming up.
I planted 2 Japanese climbing cucumber hills. I made this trellis with some posts and chicken wire I had in the shed.
Here are my raspberry plants. This is my second year with them. I had a few random shoots that started growing so I dug them up and planted them along the back of our shed. Hoping those will grow into healthy bushes as well.
Next to the 3 new raspberry plants I planted my watermelon.Here is my herb garden. Staring behind the stump and going clockwise I have sage, 2 basil plants, an area for garlic in the fall, cilantro, parsley, oregano and dill.

Hi little ladies!

Pot of mint.
Pot of chives.
I was running out of space for everything I wanted to plant. Here is the east side of my house. I have Iris here. I didn't really want to dig them up so I decided to just plant my sugar pumpkins in hills in front of them. We will see how this works.
So there is the tour. Pretty excited about this years season. I had no major expenses (like the fence last year) and I planted alot of things from seed this year so my total amount invested in the garden is around $65 ($30 of it was the cost to rent a tiller). I should be able to feed my family for the summer and have enough to put up for the winter (crossing fingers).

Busy

2011-05-13T13:31:00.000-05:00

This has been an incredibly busy week. All has gone well though so I am not complaining.

Jake is finishing up his track season. He had his last track meet last night. He has been running the 2 mile and the 1 mile with an occasional 800 meter here and there. He has done so good. He is always bummed cause he isn't in the top few but he forgets he is a freshman running with varsity kids. He has nothing but improvement ahead of him. Since he is varsity he will get a letter this year too so that is way cool. We have his banquet tonight. I am excited to attend that.

Last night he ran the mile in 11 minutes 54 seconds, his best time this season.

Last evening went a little like this. Headed to Dallas Center at 3:40 to watch Jake's meet. Left at 5:15 and headed home so Tony could change into band uniform. Head to school to watch Brodie and Drew play Tball at 6, watched the first 25 minutes of the game then headed up to the highschool so Tony could get ready for his concert at 7. Got home around 8pm, kissed little boys goodnight, nursed the baby and went to sleep.

Weekend

2011-05-09T06:24:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! We had a GREAT weekend. We got quite a bit accomplished around the house, spent some time with our families and relaxed a bit. It doesn't get much better than that.

I had a super Mother's Day. Will made breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon and waffles. He and the kids got me 2 new wooden planters for the deck and a year subscription to Mother Earth News. Then I spent most of the day working outside in the garden. I got all my plants in! I still need more peppers and tomatoes, but I would say I am 80% done.

I planted zucchini, cantaloupe, cucumbers, Jalepeno peppers, and some tomatoes. I already had planted peas, green beans, lettuce, spinach, onions and carrots. Once I got my garden done I helped the little boys plant their container gardens. They were so excited. They each have 3 pots of their own to take care of. Brodie just sat and stared at his after we planted and I asked what he was doing and he said "watching it grow".

We have an incredible busy week this week. Doctor apts, T-ball games, track meets and band performances. Looks like it is suppose to be warm so we will spend any extra time outside.

Emily 6 Months Old

2011-05-06T06:58:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe this little girlie is 6 months old already. Time goes so fast.
She can get anywhere she wants to be almost. She just rolls and rolls and rolls. I am sure it won't be long before she figures out how to crawl.
Yes I put her in a silly hair bow. I couldn't resist. She is so darn cute!
We are doing better at sleeping now. I nurse her to sleep and then have been laying her in her little chair. Yes, we are no longer sleeping together in the recliner...at least not as much :) She still struggles with reflux (although it is better) so I feel better letting her sleep in her chair. She really isn't a fan of the crib yet, plus I like having her in our room.
She is a pretty happy little girl. She has a bit of anxiety right now with men. She isn't a real fan of her uncle or grandfathers. It will pass though guys so don't take it to heart!

Big Helper

2011-05-01T18:58:00.001-05:00

Things have been busy around here. I Haven't stayed real up to date on this blog. School is winding down, less than 4 weeks left and then it will be Summer break. Jake has been busy with track and weight lifting up until a recent fractured hand. Now weight lifting is on hold till his cast is off.

Tony has been busy with band, reading and trying to figure out a good 4-H project for the county fair in July.

Brodie and Drew have been having a blast playing T-ball. Emily has learned to roll over, and over and over to get where she wants to be. She also likes to help momma bake!
The next couple weeks will be extremely busy but I will try and be better at posting at least a few pictures here and there!

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

The guys dying eggs Saturday night.

The boys work up around 7am Easter morning to find that the Easter bunny had left eggs in the backyard.

Brodie was the first to find his basket.

The boys getting ready to go fill their bags with Easter eggs.

Emily all bundled up and ready to head outside to watch her brothers.
Here she is later at Grandma and Grandpa's in her Easter dress. Jake and Emily playing. She loves when her brothers play with her.

2011-04-20T21:24:00.001-05:00

Look who got their driving permit?

T-Ball

2011-04-12T06:13:00.000-05:00

Brodie and Drew are both playing T-ball this year. Thankfully they are on the same team. We have played 2 games and so far they really like it. Drew accidentally ran to third base instead of first base one time, but other than that they have done great. They both run for the ball when it is hit.

They play for the Cubs. Drew is #3 and Brodie is #6. Hopefully the weather warms up again before we have our next game.

Almost There

2011-04-12T06:10:00.001-05:00

Emily is doing her best at trying to roll over. She gets clear up on one side.
But then always gets stuck on that darn shoulder.
So then she will try and turn the other way. Maybe it will work then. Nope. Well at least she is having fun trying!

First Phone Call

2011-04-09T23:08:00.000-05:00

Brodie decided to write his phone number down and give it to one of his pre-school friends. I thought it was pretty funny when the little boy actually called (I didn't think he would). This was his first time talking to someone other than a family member. They talked for about 5 minutes, mostly about Yogi Bear the movie!

New Carpet

2011-04-06T07:15:00.001-05:00

Just thought I would throw in a some pictures of our new carpet. We are really enjoying it. If you have been in our house you would remember how awful our old carpet was. It was here when we moved in and after 10 years and 5 children it was in pretty bad shape.

This is a picture of the night before it was installed. We let the kids enjoy dinner on the old carpet. New carpet = new rules. NO food or shoes allowed! Here is the pretty hardwood floor that was underneath. Some day I would love to have just the hardwood, but it isn't very practical for us right now.The squishy blue padding. And behold, fresh, clean carpet!So far we have made it almost 2 weeks without anything spilled. Just a few spots of spit up courtesy of Emily Joy.

First Track Meet

2011-04-01T07:09:00.000-05:00

We kicked off the track season last night. It was a chilly evening for running. Jake ran in the 4x800, his team came in last :( and he also ran the mile. He ended up placing 12th out of 24 runners for the mile. It was hard watching all those kids run in the chilly weather.

This is just the beginning of the season though. We have 10 more meets left. Looking forward to seeing the kids improve.

Not What I Expected...

2011-03-30T06:58:00.000-05:00

This wasn't what I expected when I went to check for eggs yesterday morning. I was sitting at the kitchen table when I heard lots of sqwaking outside. I figured I better go check it out. I realized the gate door and the house door where both left open overnight. When I first opened the house door I saw all the hens on the floor of the house. They were sqwaking and running around. I figured they were just antsy to get outside.

So I shut the door and locked the gate. I decided to check for eggs and that is when I saw this guy. He was all curled up in the nest box. I was shocked to say the least. I opened up the doors of the gate and coop and headed into the house to get my camera and call my husband for advise! (I figured no one would believe me if I didn't have proof).Then I went back out and was able to scare him into the corner of the house where he just sat huddled. In the meantime I tried to push all the hens outside but they wouldn't go because of the snow on the ground. Finally I got them out.I then called my brother who lives next door. He came right over and was able to get him out. We then had to chase the birds around the yard to get them back in the house so they didn't freeze their feet! It was quite the event.

Thankfully no one was injured in the above chaos! All the birds were unharmed. We learned our lesson though. ALWAYS close the door at night.

Baby Chicks

2011-03-24T06:46:00.000-05:00

Here are the new babies. We added 4 new Barred Plymouth Rock chicks to our house. The kids are enjoying having babies again in the garage! These ones were about a week old I am guessing when we got them since some of the fuzziness on the wings have turned into feathers. They are growing fast and are already bigger than what this picture shows. (This was taken a few days ago).They will stay in the garage for the next couple months before we try and move them outside. I have a plan to get them mixed into our existing flock. Remember the chicken tractor my husband made me last year? Well I am going to keep the new hens in there next to the chicken coop for a couple weeks. Then I will eventually add the new birds in. Hoping it works out ok and I don't start any hen fights!

I'll keep you posted on how they do.

Emily 4 Months

2011-03-20T10:41:00.000-05:00

Emily is 4 1/2 months old now. At her 4 month check she weighed in at 13 lbs 12 oz. She is in the 55% for her weight.
She is a really happy baby. She still sleeps with me in the chair at nights. For the most part I don't mind because if she is my last baby, I want to enjoy every moment of her infant-hood. Eventually I will move her into her own bed or at least our bed. She still has a problem with reflux so laying flat really isn't an option right now.
She doesn't spend alot of time on the floor but when she is on the floor she is really close to rolling over. We got her a new jumper and she really loves that.
Our friends let us borrow their Bumbo. It is funny to see her sitting in it. She wants to sit so bad on her own. This allows her to do that.

Drew Bug

2011-03-19T12:09:00.000-05:00

Me: "It's time for bed Drew."
Drew: "Ok mommy, I will sit here and wait for you to come in and sleep with me."
Me: "It might be awhile, I am going to spend some time with Daddy."He did sit and wait for me, but I guess I took too long.

Spring Break

2011-03-18T22:04:00.000-05:00

This last week has been Spring Break for the kids. I feel like we didn't do a whole lot. We hit up the library and spent most of the week just being outside enjoying the warm weather.

Jake spent half of his time at friends houses. Brodie and Drew spent half of their time at their cousins house next door. Tony kept busy sharpening sticks, tending the fire outside and reading. Emily is still very much a momma's girl and wants to be held mostly.

I feel like I am behind on most things. I still haven't finalized my garden plans. I really want and need to "spring" clean the house. I have so many things I want to do but can't find the time to get them done!

Pretty much right now I am just trying to keep afloat with all that is going on.

Spring Cleaning

2011-03-15T09:50:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a great day. I spent most of the afternoon working outside with my husband and kids. We got some raking done, sticks picked up out of the yard, strawberry bed cleaned out as well as the garden. We also had our first fire of 2011. We love burning. Being outside, the sunshine, the smell...

I have a little more work to do in the garden before we are ready to till it up for Spring. I dumped the chickens bedding in there over the winter. It should give it some good fertilizer. I am so excited for this years garden.

My strawberries look pretty good. I was going to thin them out but after raking all the dead vines and leaves out they are looking awesome so I am just going to leave them where they are at this year.

We got all the broken toys and sticks cleaned up out of the yard. Now we just need to rake up the gravel that was brought in by the snow plow. It looks alot nicer. Now all we need is green grass!

Jake's New Hair

2011-03-10T20:04:00.000-06:00

I forgot to take before and after pictures of Jake's hair. He went and cut almost 5 inches of hair off the other night. I think the barber was a little nervous when he said he wanted it all off. This is the best before and after shots that I have.

BeforeAfterIn theory this should make him faster in track. I guess it worked because today he was chosen to be on the varsity track team!

Waiting for Spring

2011-03-09T06:48:00.000-06:00

Just when you are feeling like Spring is around it snows again. Sigh. At least it wasn't alot and it should melt off fast. I am so ready for Spring. Playing outside, trips to the park, hikes and gardening!

I am planning a big garden again this year. This year I am adding green beans and carrots. Something we eat of lot of but have never planted. I am excited to see how my raspberries and strawberries do. I would love to plant blueberries but I heard our soil is not good for them and they are difficult to plant so I am sticking with the local berry patch for these this year.

I am crossing my fingers I get peaches this year. If I don't then I am pretty sure the trees are done for. I don't know much about peaches, but I heard the trees that are planted here only last about 12 years. I haven't gotten peaches in 2 years. I should in theory get them this year.

The apple tree I planted almost 2 years ago is growing well. Not sure if it will produce anything or not. The deer munched on it a bit last year so I will have to watch that closely. If I can find room somewhere I would like to plant a plum or pear tree. I have to do some research, not sure if they have to cross pollinate or not.

Hoping to get the final outlines done on planting this week so I can get my seeds ordered. Then all I will have to do is wait for warmer weather!

Siblings

2011-03-04T07:36:00.000-06:00

Emily Joy at 4 months old.
Brodie Michael at 4 months old.

See any similarities??

Learning

2011-03-04T06:34:00.000-06:00

The kids and I have been in a major funk since bringing home the new baby. I have been slacking on doing our usual table time in the mornings. It's not just me though, the kids haven't been in the mood to craft or do much with writing. So we took a break. A 4 month break.

I have no concerns for either of the boys really. They each have their on way of learning and that is very evident. Brodie loves to write, always has. He is very much interested in sitting down and paying attention when teaching something new. He is very patient. Drew is the exact opposite. He is very impatient, can't sit still and is very much a hands on kid. He could care less about letters, numbers and all that. He does what he wants to do and I am ok with that.

Yesterday however I decided to try our table time again and the kids were all for it. We did a few of the file folder games I made last year. I was completely surprised that Drew could actually name all his colors. Well, he struggled on black but he new all the others! Then you can imagine my shock when he wanted to write his name and he did this....Every time I have asked Drew to practice his letters I get a response like "nah not right now". So to see this I was impressed. I have felt a little guilty because I don't work with him that much because he is so difficult. It just goes to show that even though we aren't doing formal sit down time he is still learning and picking things up on his own. That makes me happy.

2011-03-03T13:39:00.000-06:00

The other day while Drew and I were deep into a project Brodie sat quietly in the living room playing with his Legos. Little did I know he was following step by step in his book and put together a truck. He amazes me how well he does for only 5 years old. He was pretty proud of himself and I was pretty impressed.

Happy Birthday Tony

2011-02-25T07:42:00.000-06:00

Well it's official we have 2 teenagers in the house. Tony celebrated his 13th birthday on the 22nd. I can't believe he is a teenager already. Time goes so fast.

Here he is showing off his Sonic the Hedgehog cake.
He was very excited to receive a Lego set, MP3 player and a new game for his Nintendo DS.

Drew almost ruined things by blowing out the candles. Thankfully he stopped in time for Tony to make a wish and blow out the candles himself!Happy Birthday Tony, life wouldn't be the same without you. We love you so much!

Late Night Visitor

2011-02-22T07:27:00.000-06:00

This last week we have had our compost bin on the deck raided quite a few times. The other night while Will and I watched TV we heard a huge thud. At first we thought it was a child falling out of bed. After finding everyone snug in their beds we tuned the lights on outside and found this on our deck.

The reason behind the late night messes. This huge coon was feasting in our compost bucket. I had even put a brick on top of it and he managed to get it off and knock the bucket over. He wasn't scared of us. Will and I stood and watched him through the window in the door. Even turned the light on and off and it didn't phase him. He just looked at us.

Happy Baby

2011-02-21T10:53:00.000-06:00

Here is our sweet little Emily. She is just over 3 1/2 months old now. She has finally gotten over the colic-y cry that she was doing each evening. She has settled into a pretty good routine. She nurses about every 3 hours and takes 1 long nap in the morning, 1 nap after lunch, a nap with her daddy when he gets home from work and usually a little cat nap in the evening. Ohhh to be a baby!
As you can see from the pictures she is full of smiles.
And giggles. She is very ticklish.
We took her in last week to the doctor because she has been spitting up so much. She has reflux pretty bad just like her brothers did. It doesn't stop her from gaining weight though. She weighed in at 12 lbs 15 oz! We aren't going to do anything to treat her at this time.

Life is so sweet!