our summer vacation...

Home to Omaha Zoo: 399 miles

huge and fabulous zoo, beautiful gardens, elephants!, miles of walking (so glad we brought our double stroller), fantastic lemur exhibit, desert dome (felt good as the weather was VERY humid outside) , yummy frozen lemonade, very tired and happy family at the end of the day

Omaha Zoo to M&A's house: 72 miles

playing on the baseball field, golfing for the big boys, shopping for the big girls, painting toenails, Rook, splashing and sprinklers in the sun, worshiping together on Sunday, family pictures, 4 fun days

M&A's house to Boppa's farm: 269 miles

beautiful weather, Memorial Day pancake breakfast, cottonwood trees were snowing, nest in Boppa's tractor, rides on Aahma's new lawn mower, playing with pedal tractor and red wagon on the yard and in Boppa's shed, learning how to drink out of the hose, Aahma and Boppa baby-sat, double date for S&C and L&J, bakery treats, great time on the farm

Boppa's farm to home: 221 miles

kids who travel very well, many meals at Panera, time with family, fun extra stops...

...great vacation

oh, the gardens...

See M & A's garden?

Lovely.

See Mom and Dad's garden?

Very nice.

See S & C's garden?

ummm...we have some work to do.

So the monthly update and vacation blog posts will have to wait a little bit until we get this project done.

In the meantime...head on over to our simple life to read a little bit about the NE portion of our trip! Thanks for a great time, M & A - we love you!

a blessed May...

family photo 1 at M&A's house

family photo 2 at Boppa's farm

I remember thinking in April that we were ahead of the game for the spring and that May was going to be a pretty easy month. So easy in fact that we decided to plan a vacation for the end of the month! Little did we know that May ended up being crazy hectic. Here's what was going on:

• cleaning church (Our church assigns 2-3 families per month to clean the church every week. We grumbled at first because in April there were 3 big families assigned with children who could care for themselves or even help and we were assigned with a single and a couple who only the husband could help clean due to the wife's health problems. Plus there was an extra Sunday! But it ended up being a good month as we worked out a system and got to know 2 members of our church that we hadn't talked with much before a lot better. Imagine that - God knows what he is doing!)
  
• dentist appts for S and I
• Mother's Day trip to Willmar
  
• visit from good friend Merlin (thanks for coming over!! =)
• last few nature center classes for G
  
• an audit at work for S
• kindergarten testing and round-up for G
• dog-sat 3 days (thanks for coming to play, Pippin!)
• removed, relocated and replanted 2 dogwood bushes and a maple tree (not large, but big enough!)
  
• wedding shower that I helped plan, attended, and provided food
• Sunday School finished up at church with program and potluck
• And finally, our vacation to NE and MN (separate post on this!) from the 25th through the end of the month

Phew! May really flew by - we were happy to do everything listed, but the big plans we had for our yard, lawn and garden that in April we were thinking we had all the time in the world to complete did not get done at all. That's ok though...with 3 small ones our life ends up being a lot of started and unfinished projects. And we are alright with that for now!

Mayended up being cold and rainy most of the month. Our "normal" weather for April and May seemed to switch this year as April was warm and sunny! (Hey, I am from MN and feel the need to report on the weather!)


G notes:

• Crazy, but this girl aged a year in a month it felt like. She started doing a lot more things for herself and for S & I and her brothers unprompted. She normally is a big help, but this month she outdid herself many times. She also looks a year older as her bangs are growing out nicely. Yeah, she still has fits and issues, but I think I may have to conceed to the fact that she will be grown up enough to go to school in the fall!
• There were days where it felt like she had grown up too much and was going through puberty as she would cry at the drop of a hat and be devastated over her hair or clothes choices. Jr. High could be interesting if she acts like this already!
• Since May was cold and rainy, she did a lot of reading - to herself, to us, and to her brothers. It is so fun to hear her read stories that she knows to the boys as she really tells the story with the same expressions and inflections that we use to tell it to her.

W notes:

• Last full month of W being 2! We can do without a little of the 2 temperament swings, but are going to miss this sweet little-boy stage too.
  
• He is such a character. He loves to tell jokes and is really getting the concept of silly lately. He likes to tell us what we need to say to respond to his jokes or play, but lately he has been expanding that to regular life too. "Can I have a snack, momma? You say yes." He can be very cute when he does this, but we will have to nip it in the bud soon so we don't have problems down the road.
• W has been throwing things a lot. Mostly the football and baseball outside, but he has taken to tossing and throwing things inside too which leads to problems. He has such a great arm though! So we have let him "toss" not "throw" the soft balls we have from Auntie M downstairs as a compromise. It is fun to watch his coordination develop.
• He also likes to jump. He jumps on the ground, he jumps off the couch and steps, he jumps of beds, he jumps into our arms, always jumping, jumping, jumping. Told him we will have to give him a new nickname of kangaroo!
• Showing more of an interest in coloring which is fun, and also is starting to read books out loud to himself and anyone in range, retelling the stories that we have read to him.

C notes:

• C's world right now is copy-cat central. He loves to copy-cat everything that we do, but especially his big brother and sister. Including words and actions. I love this stage - it is so fun, and you can really see another dimension of their personality come out.
• C loves to give us kisses and hugs - so sweet to see him give them to G and W too!
  
• He is now starting to "talk" a lot more. You can't understand all of it, but you can tell he is trying to "talk" in sentences and phrases now. This along with signing really helps him communicate to us what he wants and is thinking
  
• new words (I did a bad job of keeping track this month so I may come back and add more as I think of them): giraffe, elephant, duck, bunny, "love you", names for W, G, and his cousins K & G, Boppa, help...
• C also started getting in all the rest of his teeth at once - 5 in all, and is still teething them. That has made for some very sad days and nights and also a drop in eating as it hurts to chew I am sure.

little C's first haircut...

Does this look like the face of a boy who needs a haircut?

Our little C is still as bald as a cueball. This does not bother me in the least bit. It is a family thing (many people in my family, including me, did not have much hair the first couple years of life), and I love bald babies - they keep that baby look for so much longer when they have no hair! C has been getting a little more hair in lately, but in the form of that ever so lovely baby mullet. Not near enough to warrant shaving off yet. BUT, when I was cutting W's hair outside last Saturday, little C kept bringing me attachments from the clipper box accompanied by emphatic grunts. I must not have gotten the meaning, because he finally patted my leg, grabbed his hair, held up the attachment to his hair, and grunted uber emphatically. You see, this boy lives for doing exactly what his brother and sister are doing. I wasn't going to discourage him at all (especially with all the fussing W still does for haircuts!), so I picked him up, plopped him in the chair and buzzed the little tufts on the back of his head off. He didn't cry one bit (quite different from W haircuts), and gave me a big grin when he was done!

Being that it was not planned though, I didn't get a great before picture. But here is a pretty good looks at the little duck tail he was sporting in the back.

And the after shot! Yay for C's first haircut!

just in case you were wondering, I have not kept the kids' baby hair, although I have fond memories of being fascinated with my baby hair in my baby book - I lost g's first tuft, hung on to w's for a long time, and then just decided not to worry about it.

Now this...this is the face of a boy who needs a haircut!

W fusses horribly at haircuts, always has. He has gotten better, and I have gotten a little better in how fast I can cut his hair and also coming up with better distractions. But it is not a fun time, so he still goes quite a bit between haircuts. This time he was rivaling S's semi-annual haircut phase...I think it had been since January! I actually was liking his long hair though - it had some wave to it and W looked super cute with it. But we finally have had a stretch of super warm weather, and the poor boy head was constantly dripping with sweat. So it needed to be cut, especially since we were leaving on vacation. For distraction this time, we went outside (it was super windy) - I gave him a water bottle to squirt at things while I clippered, and the big tufts of hair I let him throw to the birds. We got it done.

Yay for 2 boys with short hair! Bring on summer heat, baby!

Aren't they adorable?

I am not biased at all...

fun with Pippin...

K & G, we were going to email you a postcard from Pippin while you were gone, but we got busy and before we knew it, you were home! I thought you might have fun looking at the pictures we took for you, though. Love you! Auntie C

my busy...

I know everyone has busy days and everyone's busy is a little different, but I thought I would write about one of our days so I remember the busy that we had at this stage...

Last Thursday, May 13 (I don't remember exact times so I am just going to bullet list everything) - we have had better days, and we have had far worse days, but a lot of it was pretty typical...

• Alarm went off at 7:30am - very groggily got up as little C was up 3 times the night before and I didn't sleep well (surprisingly no one else got up with me - usually when S or I stir the kids are up within minutes!)
• finished last night's chores - cleared the table of dishes and swept the kitchen floor in anticipation of our special guest
• turned computer on and checked email
• G&W both woke up a little before 8:00am
• Pippin arrived shortly after they woke up! Chatted with J on specifics of taking care of Pippin for the day (Pippin is J & C's dog - a sweet big fluffy golden doodle)
• S&C woke up right after J left...couldn't have been the big kids loudly shrieking with delight at Pippin...naw, our kids aren't noisy
• S & I sat on front couch for a while and watched all the kids play and get used to Pippin
  
• S wasn't going into work until noon, but G and I were leaving at 9:30 so he went to shower and get ready
• sent G to the potty
• breakfast time! Both G&W slept through the night, so they got to have Life cereal for breakfast (otherwise it is boring O's or Rice Chex) and they also requested strawberries. Got them started, handed out vitamins and got little C in his high chair, then made his breakfast - right now he has been tolerating oatmeal with berry applesauce (it has been really hard to find a breakfast that he likes besides the jarred breakfast baby food that we have been feeding him forever)
• after cleaning up spills and taking the dry O's off of C's high chair so he doesn't keep throwing them to Pippin, and managing mild breakfast chaos, we cleared our dishes and wiped faces and hands
• Changed 2 dirty diapers and got kids dressed
• S was finished getting ready, so he took over kids and dog and I hurried and got myself ready
• packed my bag with the forms and things I needed for the morning
• loaded G into the car and we drove to Calvin Christian School for Kindergarten Round-Up. G was a little nervous in the car, but also very excited and asked me a lot of questions about school
• dropped G off at the Kindergarten room and headed to the library with the rest of the parents.
• had parent meeting about what to expect for our little ones in Kindergarten. Very nice people, good information, still can't believe she's big enough to go to school!
• picked up G, met Mrs. B and heard all about their fun morning - she had such a great time! Mrs. B runs it like a little mini-kindergarten day: G got to color, glue, sing, play games, read a story, and have free time in all the fun play areas in the room.
  
• quickly filled out the rest of the bajillion forms I needed to turn into the school office
• running 30 minutes behind schedule - rushed home quickly so that S could get into work
• S quickly gave G hugs and got a mini-version of her morning then left for work.
• Here is where things got interesting...I faced 3 hungry kids that I promised mac'n'cheese, a hungry dog that hadn't gone out to "do business" yet being that it was raining, 2 tired boys that needed naps now...hmmmm (minus the dog, I face this on most days)
• So here we go. Put Pippin on leash and tried to get him to "go do business" out front in the pouring rain. No go. C is wailing that I am outside so I dragged Pippin back in and wiped his feet.
• Picked up C, started water for mac'n'noodle, had G help me feed Pippin (J & C - G remembered the whole routine from when we have seen you feed him at your house! Pretty cute...)
• Got Pippin water after he snarfed his food
• Picked up crying W (not sure why he is crying) and haul both boys to couch to read book
• Put both boys in their seats at the table with yogurt raisins (the best treat in the world according to them!)
• Tried Pippin out in the backyard, still no dice, raining harder so got him back in and wiped him all down
  
• Finished the mac'n'noodle and got everything on the table
• Was planning on setting up G&W with food and then putting little C down, but C wanted noodles too!
• Caught my breath for 5 seconds while everyone was quiet chewing...=)
• Pippin looked antsy and the rain had let up so I took him out into the front yard again and this time we were successful. And no kids were crying when I went out since they all were chowing down on noodles.
• W is looking sleepy so after everyone is finished eating, I decided to try him down first.
• Changed both boys' diapers
• While rocking W, C got upset. When I set W down to pick up C, W got upset. Both boys are crying. So I choose to keep putting W down. I set C up with toys and G beside him...it didn't work, but he only had to fuss for 5 minutes before W was down.
• After W was asleep, I tried to put C down for a nap, but he decided that he was fine now and wanted to get down to play.
• Read book to G, sent her to the potty and then to her room for quiet time
• Got C down for a nap too.
• Talked with S on the phone over his late lunch break
• Paid 2 bills
• W woke up
• G got up
• Threw both of them in front of a video
• Had 20 minutes of peace where I checked email, facebook and blogs
• Started to play game with G&W, but then C woke up and we had to put everything away.
• Snuggled with C and read G&W book
• Kids played with Pippin and ran around the house with him for a while - this required supervision of C, who is a little clutzy anyway!
• Made grocery list
• With kids and dog help, I started making cookie dough using my new mixer (something I had been promising the kids since Monday, and it was Thursday already!)
  
• J came to pick up Pippin, chatted with him a little bit about his and our days
• Finished cookie dough and baked the cookie bars
• Changed diapers and got ready to go to...
• Panera for supper! Wanted to do something special like this for G for kindergarten round-up day - was hoping it would be with the whole family, but S is getting ready for an audit at work so is putting in extra hours.
• Ordered supper
• While it is being made, scouted out best place to sit and hauled a high chair over to the table (holding C too and making sure G&W are following me everywhere) across a very crowded restaurant
  
• After W started to throw a fit because he wanted to sit in the high chair, decided to haul another high chair over (pick your battles!)
  
• The kids' smoothies are ready so we all go to pick them up
• When we got back, an employee had put away both high chairs. Luckily I caught his eye and asked him to bring them back, please!
• settled kids into seats with smoothies (water for C, sorry baby!)
• Went and picked up rest of food (chose the table right next to the pick-up window so I wouldn't have to hold 3 kids and try to haul food too)
• Eating supper went fairly smoothly for everyone, and the kids were well-behaved
• Packed up sandwich and soup we ordered for S and head to the car
• Went to Costco!
• Said hi to Dadda in the Pharmacy
• Picked up groceries and other things we needed there
• Picked up Dadda
• Drove home
• S ate supper while I found pj's and kids looked for Pippin (did they not remember uncle J picking him up? =)
  
• Kids are all crazy so we turned on Dancing with the stars to watch while they ate yogurt
• Changed everyone into jams
• Bedtime routine: brushed teeth, said prayers, read Bible story, hugs and kisses, read long book, read short book, sang snuggle song
• Both S and I fell asleep with the kids, I woke up a little before midnight and then woke S up
• Turned off all the lights
• Got ready for bed
• We both were not sleepy (after sleeping with the kids for a couple of hours!), so we read our books for a little bit until we fell asleep.

a happy mother's day...

includes paper tulips and a trip to visit S's mom with the rest of the B siblings...

includes special time for me the night before with fantastic handmade gifts and cards...

includes a completely thoughtful, extravagant, not expected gift from my wonderful husband...

but mostly, includes the only thing I really wanted for Mother's Day:
time with my husband and the 3 beautiful blessings that I get to be a mom to everyday.

I love you all!

a blessed April...

family photo:
You would think we would have one from our trip to MI this moth, but no! So we snapped this one after a Saturday night "pizza in our pajamas party." The kids and I were filthy after playing outside in the rain while S was at work so I threw them all through the shower with me and we got dressed in our pajamas before S got home. We always have pizza on Saturday night and G was concerned about eating in her pajamas until I made it into a "pizza in our pajamas party." The kids thought this would be fun, but they got REALLY excited when S came home from work and put his pajamas on too. Apparently seeing dadda in his pajamas is a much rarer occurrence than seeing momma in her pajamas...=)

April was a month full of beautiful weather! So nice to have such an early spring after a long cold winter. We played outside a lot, got all the outside toys and bikes out, and started checking clothes and other things to prepare for summer. I do realize that we live in MN and that summer is a ways off, but we had to get the hats, sunglasses and sunblock all ready! We also took a big family trip to MI to celebrate Grandpa A's 90th birthday.

G notes:

• Still loves her nature center classes...
• Still likes growing her bangs out...is putting her own clippies in now...
• Still wants to do crafts on a constant basis...
  
• Is practically reading now - S and I can't spell things to each other anymore because she is figuring the words out!
• Is SUCH a big helper with little C lately. She will play with him while I put W down for a nap, she can distract him if I need to run to another room for something, is always trying to make him smile, and loves to shower him with hugs and kisses.
  

W notes:

• He is starting to play games! He understands and can play some of our favorite simple games and now frequently asks/orders: "Wanna play a game wif me? Yeah, sure you do! How about....ORCHARD GAME!!!!" This really is fun for all of us because he can play with G now too. I actually have found them playing games together with their own made-up rules.
• His 2-yr old personality is raging yet. At the mere suggestion of "no," "wait," or "stop that" he falls apart. But he is definitely a bi-polar toddler because he can be so happy one minute, and then "So So Saaaaaaad" (W's words) the next minute.
  
• Clingy...he is the middle child and therefore almost always with momma or dadda or siblings. I still attend Sunday School classes with him, and while we have gotten over the hurdle of him actually wanting to go to class, he still clings to me during singing, and has major issues if I leave the room even for a minute during class.
  
• He is growing up so much in other areas - talks crazy good now, starting to want to dress himself, can undress himself, takes care of his own shoes, and helps out when asked (most of the time)
• W also makes us smile and laugh a lot - he talks so much, is getting jokes and being silly, and he doesn't have attitude yet (that somehow seems to come automatically when they turn 3).

C notes:

• Loves to copy his brother and sister! He tries to run the same way they do, sit the same way they do, play with the same things in the same way they do...my favorite is him crawling after G & W barking like a puppy.
  
• It has been a month of bonks and falls for C. He is just at an awkward stage with his walking and moving. It seems like he can trip over nothing, bonk into things he was no where near a second ago, and fall for no apparent reason (among tripping and falling and bonking over stuff too!). I am ready to strap him on my back and not let him do anything...
• ...because one of his bonks or falls (and we really can't recall any specific ones!) knocked out one of his beautiful new crowns. He broke off part of the real tooth too, so there is not enough to attach a new tooth to. We don't have to pull it out, he will just have a tiny nubbin. One more gapped-tooth kid, oi!
• His new tricks are showing us his muscles and roaring at us on command. I will have to video these for you because they really are hilarious.
• New words: car, monkey, cow, baby, water (both to drink and bodies of), shoes, socks, train, please, and thank-you. He said his first phrase too: "Bye Da" at S on his way to work!

S & C notes:

• S had a good time at his managers' meeting in Chicago. They learn a lot of things in thier meetings each day, but they also get out and have some fun and relax together too. This time they played something like bumper car lacrosse one evening, and then went to an amazing Brazilian steak house the other evening.
• I have been distracted by being outside with the kids a lot which means inside chores and projects have been getting ignored...=)
  

(we were) on the road again...

S's Grandpa A turned 90 on April 7. He is doing so good and living in his own home yet too! We are blessed to be in his family and decided to make the trek to MI for his 90th birthday party the Saturday following his birthday. After making this decision, S gets an email from work informing him of a manager's meeting in Chicago that he needs to attend Tuesday night through Thursday that same week. At first we thought it would mean we couldn't make the trip to MI, bu then we realized that with Mom and Dad B's help, we could make it work quite well. So S flew to Chicago Tuesday, and Mom and Dad B drove to our place. Then Wednesday Dad and Mom B, the kids and I drove to Chicago. We stayed in the same hotel S was in (us with S obviously =), and during S's meetings on Thursday, the rest of us went to the Brookfield zoo, not far from our hotel. After S's meetings were finished on Thursday, we picked him up and continued on to MI where we met up with S's sister M and her husband C and enjoyed the rest of the weekend altogether. On with the pictures!

It was 40 degrees F, windy, and drizzly for our trip to the zoo, but we had fun anyway!

S and little C crashing at our hotel in MI

Friday we spent most of the day with S's Grandma B. She is 92 and still lives on her own! It is always great to see her and she loves watching the kids. Her apartment was pretty cozy with all of us visiting, so for supper we went down to the community room where C & M made us pasta for supper. S's Uncle S and Aunt B joined as well. The kids did just great - they were happy with room to run around and dance!

You can always count on Grandma B for a bowl of ice cream!

Grandma with our family

Grandma and Grace

Saturday morning we swam in the hotel pool. The kids loved it, of course!

Saturday afternoon was Grandpa A's 90th birthday party (the whole reason for the trip!). It was held at Grandpa's church, open house style. And there was a fabulous spread of appetizers and treats made by S's Aunt Sally and cousin Brett, who is a professional chef.

All his kids (pictured are Aunt J, Uncle D, and Mom B with Grandpa) and spouses were there, and most of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well. Then he had siblings and cousins and some nieces and nephews come too! Grandpa is not used to having people fuss over him, but turning 90 is a good reason for people to fuss and he really enjoyed visiting with everyone. It was nice to see a smile on his face all afternoon.

Great-grands singing Happy Birthday to Grandpa A

Grandpa with our family

It was a lot of fun for us to catch up with S's cousins, too. All our kids are very similar in ages! We had 7 of them under age 6 there that afternoon! Being that there were so many little ones who needed some entertaining, S's cousin K (who has no kids! but is in college now studying to be a pharmacist so S had a lot of fun talking with him and reassuring him he would make it through classes like Organic Chem) and K's girlfriend B put together an Easter egg hunt. The kids all had so much fun searching for the many eggs. Thanks so much you guys!

The littles! Best shot we got... =)

We visited Grandma B and Grandpa A one more time on Sunday and then started the trek home, staying in Rockford that night (bad motel, don't get me started). This picture was from an emergency potty stop at a really dirty gas station - G did her best to spruce the place up!

Splitting up the 11 hour trip between 2 days meant pretty easy travel days. We caravanned with M & C and the adults rotated cars depending on who G wanted sitting in the back of the van with her. Here she was knitting with Auntie M, who was crocheting. G thought that was pretty cool. =)

Dad B's birthday was the following day, so when we stopped for ice cream Monday afternoon, we decided to get an ice cream cake to celebrate! We all sang happy birthday and made quite a rukus. It was a great little birthday party, and the nice people at DQ even cut the cake into slices for us. Happy birthday Papa!

"No honey, this horse is just for sitting on. No, I do not have any money for the horse. No, I do not know if it does anything else. I think it is just for sitting on and taking pictures. How about that?! Say cheese! =)"

For the next week, if you asked W what his favorite part of the trip was, he would tell you "Watching the scooper trucks dig dirt!" This was the scene across the parking lot of DQ. And we had to put W in the van fussing and crying for the last leg home.

And it was so good to be home! But oh, the laundry...
What a great trip full of time spent with family - we are truly blessed.

giveaway at not only mom...

My wonderful and crafty sister-in-law, C, is having a giveaway at her blog, not only mom. She interviewed Stacey Trock, the author of Cuddly Crochet, a very neat crochet book, and she is giving one away! All you have to do is post a comment (you don't have to have an account to post a comment, just post as anonymous and leave your name in the comment), and the chances for winning are pretty good, too. =) Contest ends tomorrow morning, so go check it out! Thanks for the giveaway, C!