Sunday, December 1, 2013

A heartfelt gift from a 9 year old

As many of you readers know, my father in law passed away last December.  He fought a long hard battle with a horrible disease, Parkinson's. 



Back in October I was raking my brain to come up with something for Dad and the kids to help celebrate Papa.  I had decided to let J in my little secret and have him help me out.  We walked around Wal-mart for a little while and came up with a great idea.  For those of you who didn't know Papa, he was pretty much obsessed with John Deere products.  So that was the theme we went with.





First, below the tree is a John Deere Tractor and two Christmas figures that Papa bought for Dad years ago.  You can't see well in this picture, but we took some of the boys John Deere tractors and made them into ornaments to hang from the tree.  Then there are pictures made into ornaments of Dad and Papa.  J made those ornaments all by himself.  When we finished we wrapped it up in a bed sheet so it would be a complete surprise for Dad.  Needless to say, Dad was very surprised.  A very teary-eyed moment.  And a very heart-felt gift from a 9  year old to his Dad!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving Day

I am such a sucker when it comes to Holidays, the traditions that go with them and the decorating!  We just celebrate with our little family, but I have made it a point to make them a huge celebration, with understanding what exactly each holiday means to us.



I always knew what Thanksgiving was and what it stood for, but until about 8 years ago I never realized the significance it holds to our family.  I got into really researching our family history about 10 years ago.  Let me tell you, if you are starting from scratch it is a long road!  Thankfully my paternal Grandma had wrote down everything she remembered and gave it to me before she passed away in 2004.  In my research I found someone who had the time to go even more in depth then I did!  I learned that my paternal grandmothers family were some of the Pilgrims that came to America on the Mayflower.  William Bradford and James Howland were two important people, to the Pilgrims and our family.  

I am very proud of this fact and want my children to realize how important this Holiday is to them.
We will always celebrate where we came from, it helps know where we want to go!

Halloween 2013


I thought this was a really neat pictures!  If I would have thought before hand, I would have also had a picture of each person by their pumpkin, but oh well.  They are K, Mama, C, J, D and Daddy.

After thinking for a while Dad finally came up with a fun idea for his pumpkin!  I think it is hilarious!
Look at the concentration on every one's faces!! :)  Pumpkin carving is always fun and interesting in our house.


My sister in law and I have been trying to theme out the kids Halloween costumes for the past few years.  This year was not hard to get all of the kids to agree on.  Duck Dynasty, they love this show!  I love their morals, so it was a great compromise!  E(nephew) was Willie, D was Phil, C was Ms. Kay, K was uncle Si, A(niece) was a duck, and J was Jase.  A stayed home with the Dads because it was just way to cold.

This is our neighbors house, but I just love how the kids are running up to it.  Of course it is not to hard to get them to run some place if there is candy involved!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

What to expect when you have boys....

Ah life with boys! You just never know from minute to minute when they will walk in the door and look like this! J had a nice little run-in with the wall during gym class! I just have to laugh and shake my head!  This picture was taken 2 days ago, so the swelling is gone and his eye is a few different shades of purple.

Monday, November 18, 2013

A very common image in our house


Is the kids curled up around Dad.  This one is possibly the most common of all.  All four of our kids have a great love of music and singing.  Dad is always looking up music videos(or the kids are asking him too) and then they will sit and sing them together.  This image warms my heart beyond what words can say.

School pictures

 C Age 8
2nd grade
Loves: reading, napping, drawing and singing

 D Age 4
Pre K
Loves: joking, wrestling his brothers, reading stories, giving hugs

 J age 9
4th grade
Loves: hunting, playing wii, hunting, wrestling, hunting(did I mention hunting?!)

K Age 6
Kindergarten
Loves: telling jokes, wrestling, giving hugs, being downright goofy, chasing Roxie

Wow, we have been busy!

I finally have time to get over hear and update everything! Wow, we have been so busy!  I am amazed that it is almost Thanksgiving already!!  So what we have been up to since my last post is:

First days of school!

Surgery for Mama

C's big #8 birthday

D's big #4 birthday

Dad leaving for training

Seasons changing

Labor day

zoo

smore's

31 promotion

Lawn mowing/new business

School struggles

Cleaning/cooking

Cold weather

First snow

November rains/storms

parades

school pictures

Dr. appointments

Chiropractor appointments

Shopping trips

that is just the stuff off of the top of my head!




Sunday, August 18, 2013

K is getting so big :(

I know, I am so happy to watch them all grow up!  I really do love it!  Being able to hold conversations with them and do things with them you just can't do as newborns.  But at the same time I miss being able to hold their little bodies in my arms!


So all in one week K is getting his stuff to start Kindergarten, learned to tie his shoes and now has a loose tooth!

New family evening fun/learning

I have a few blogs that I read pretty religiously(seriously only 3 but hey!).  One of them had posted about a FHE(Family Home Evening) that they do once a month that I decided we would try!  Once a month you pick a new destination in the world, you learn about it and then you have a whole meal dedicated to their authentic food!  Dad and I decided to really focus around our areas of family origin, but last night(our first night) was Asia, because well because I was craving it! :)


So we picked Asia to start out our monthly meals!  These meals all have to be homemade by us, which actually went way smoother then what I thought it would!  We made rice, beef and broccoli stir fry and sweet and sour chicken.  It all turned out so amazing!  I couldn't stop eating the beef and broccoli!  K and D were not to fond of our meal and only ate the chicken(seriously not even the rice!).

They did however LOVE the Pocky sticks!   They were super great.  These are small bread sticks dipped in dark chocolate.  I probably should have bought them each their own box!

Then to end our evening we watched Mulan.  Now I know this is a cartoon and a lot probably is not that spot on; however, having little kids I doubted we could get them to watch Anna and the King or something like that!



So if anyone has any great authentic recipes from Germany, Denmark, Scotland, England shoot them too me!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Blooming and growing!

We are getting even closer to my favorite time of year...FALL!  I love the season so much!  Our gardens are telling us that we are getting even closer!  We are being over taken by squash!  Which, if you were wondering, we are totally OK with!  I have so many recipes running through my head every time I go out to the garden!  Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, acorn squash baked with brown sugar and walnuts, sweet squash pie....mmm my mouth is watering!


K's Pre-K teacher gave them each pumpkin seeds last fall, well we saved them(I am becoming a master seed saver!) and planted them this year.  K is so proud of his pumpkin!  It has only produced one, but one is enough for K.  We made a deal with him that when we carved this one we would save the seeds every year.  That way we will always have a K pumpkin!  I hate to say, I think we have to break the news to him that this pumpkin will be ripe way before Halloween! 

Our beets are also doing pretty amazing!  We have learned(this is our 2nd year doing a garden by ourselves) that we need to plant way more rows of beets for our family!  We make pickled beets, I would be the first one to tell you that I never would have guessed that I would like them let alone my kids!  However, they are amazing!  And my kiddos are obsessed with them!

It is not just our veggies that are growing like crazy, our flowers are also!  These are all outside of our living room window.  So on days like today, when the windows are wide open with a breeze, we smell them!  I don't want to leave our living room!  The hydrangeas are amazingly fragrant, but I need to work on the coloring of them!


Friday Phone Dump

Where has the week gone!  This is our week according to my phone!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

School Supplies

OK I have been strong all summer, saying I was OK with D going to school this year.  He is ready, he is old enough, he will be fine, but....I DON'T WANT MY BABY TO GO!  ;)  I am just kidding, of course I want him to go and have an amazing time like his brothers and sister, but it is definitely harder this time around.  He is my baby!


So the other day he was SO EXCITED because he got to go school shopping with his siblings!  That made my day, to see the look on his face when I told him.  To watch his excitement as he ran from aisle to aisle picking up his supplies.  I think with the folders, he changed his mind 50 times because he wanted to have the same ones as K!

Their excitement gives me excitement.  J is getting to the age, where school is not as fun and more work.  So he was a little harder to convince to be excited to go shopping, but I think secretly inside he is!

Next step is getting school clothes and shoes, and then it will be time.  We will see how much I cry that day! :/

Let's go Fly a kite!

The other day we had a fun surprise planned for the kids, we were going to take them to the zoo for a fun day!  Hang out with friends and family, but......D ended up with his own surprise, he started throwing up at 3am!  :(  He really had us worried, for such a little body, how was he able to keep getting sick like that?!  So needless to say, we stayed home and he slept ALL DAY!









So Dad came up with a good idea, he had me run up to the store and pick up some kites for the other 3 kids(we got one for D in case he felt better, but never did go outside).  So J, C and K spent the afternoon outside with Dad(and me long enough to take pictures and hear their excitement!) flying kites!

C and K were learning the simple steps to keep a kite flying.  J was trying some amazing maneuvers with his kite!  I love how something simple like kites kept them so entertained!




Wednesday, July 24, 2013

What we have been up to and the end of swim lessons


I was so proud of D!  After two weeks of watching the other kids do their swim lessons he decided he was going to try out the big pool!  Now to those of you who do not know, D has always been terrified of water!  I mean TERRIFIED!!!!  If Dad or I didn't hold him, he would escape screaming from any sort of water.  The bath tub, pools, a water park, the hose!!!!  It was exhausting!  So K and C's swim teacher was actually their babysitter and she convinced him to go in with her.  He walked right in(top right picture) and had a blast.  He didn't want to get out!


We have been playing at the park.  And watching some amazing sunsets!  These pictures do them no justice what-so-ever!   They were the most amazing thing to watch!  God's creations endlessly astound me!

K had a Dr. appointment to check his iron levels, white cell counts and a glucose test.  He was so brave having his blood drawn!  He didn't even cry!  Praise God his iron is in the normal range now!  It has taken us 6 years, but we finally got it there!!!  His glucose test came back in the normal range too!  White cell count was still low, but I can handle this!                                                                                                                                                                                                         Like everyone else we have been waiting for the birth announcement of the royal baby!  I am not ashamed to say I love this stuff!

My flowers are finally starting to bloom!  I love walking outside and seeing all of the amazing colors!

J got to ride along with Dad in the semi truck.  Don't ask me what he is standing by in this picture because I can not remember for the life of me!  But he had a blast to say the least!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Fun weekend!


J and K got to spend the night with Aunt A and cousin E(lots of letters!).  Aunt A took them down to the county fair for the tractor pulls and animal barns.  They had a blast as you can see from the pictures!

I got to keep C and D and we had cousin A spend the night!  Seriously one of the most content babies around!  She only "cried" when she was hungry!!!  Loved it!

Dad worked a night shift so we got to have a pizza/movie party.  I don't have any pictures of this, but on Sunday Aunt A had a cook out at their house so we went over there for that.  It was a nice relaxing weekend!

Annual water party

Every year we do a small water party for the kids.  They have a blast and it is something they look forward to(so do I!).  I love planning the party for them.  I didn't get pictures of everything we did, but they included this amazing slip and slide, water guns, water ball throwing contest(winners got a bucket of water dumped on their heads!), grilling out, dance party.... needless to say everyone was ready for quiet time!

These pictures are just some of the highlights of the day!



Tuesday, July 9, 2013

That's it, I'm Done!!!!

I know, whoa what is going on, right!!!  Trust me, everything is ok.  After talking with Dad and my sister in law, I have finally put the ball in motion! 

I am done complaining about my weight, I am done body bashing (especially in front of my very impressionable daughter), I am done not being able to keep up with my kids, I am done looking in the mirror and wanting to cringe!



First step is I have accepted my body the way it is, with the knowledge that I have to change it.  For my health and for my well being!  Second step is getting a plan set up!  Third and final step, get my butt up and moving!


I adore that I have people in my life who are there for me to help me out!  Dad, of course, is there every step of the way.  Willing to help me out with anything!  I love him!  Along with my dear sister in law, she is always there to listen and give her suggestions!  They both push me and I love it!

We will see if I am ever brave enough to admit my weight, or what I have lost.  But I am making the first steps and I am excited!