boys and football

what do you think is keeping the boys so entertained?  yep...football.

my oldest turns 6

j's birthday is a whopping 3 days after her birthday.  i always feel bad for her because i'm afraid the day will get overshadowed by christmas.  and every year her birthday drags out for weeks because we make such a big deal over it :)  i think i am finally learning that it may be odd timing but she is just fine :)  one thing that is wonderful about her birthday is that russ is usually able to take off work, letting us do something as a family...this year we took the big girls to crown candy for lunch.  j has such a sweet tooth we thought she would really enjoy going for a milk shake...oh, and a hot dog and chips :)  our plan was to take j, e and c with us and leave the baby with grandma but c was sure she wanted to play with grandma so we ended up letting her stay and play and take w with us instead.  great decision - we had to wait over an hour (mostly outside) and i know she would have been bored out of her mind!  overall a great day, but really could have planned crown candy a little better...

that evening grandma and poppy took j to pick out a new bike helmet and elbow/knee pads. then we all met up with the barrett's, grandma and poppy and uncle johnny (who just happened to be in town visiting) at one of her favorite places ---- red robin's!!  she loves that place for the simple fact that you get an ice cream sundae :)

we weren't really planning on having a big party for her this year but she was determined to celebrate with friends so we compromised on a pretend slumber party :)  we invited 5 little friends over for a couple of hours on a saturday evening, played, ate pizza and cupcakes and then got out sleeping bags/air mattress turned on a movie and popped popcorn.  all the girls had so much fun and it was great to see her playing with her new school friends.  best part?  parents came at 7:30 for pick-up and everyone still got a good night's sleep :)

i love you my amazing 6 year old...but guess what, it's the middle of january. i'm officially declaring your birthday celebration over. 

christmas 2011

we had a great christmas eve and day...we started at church christmas eve....i'll say overall it went well.  middle of nap time, all 6 of us plus my parents in church, an hour and 15 minutes, we did it.  my parents and grandpa came over for christmas eve dinner, we opened presents from grandma and grandpa and got ready for santa's visit :)

christmas morning arrived before we knew it.  russ and i got to bed at a "reasonable" time and w slept through until about 5:30ish and fell right back to sleep.  my parents came over around 7:00 and believe it or not all the girls were still asleep.  j and e woke up around 7:30 so we compromised and told them they could come downstairs to open stockings but that were going to wait to open presents until c was awake.  they were so cute trying not to look at the christmas tree as they came down the stairs.  even walked through the dining room and kitchen to the family room so they didn't have to turn towards the tree.  more restraint than i would have had at 6 and 4!!!

we finally woke c up around 8:00.  she was one tired little girl but once she saw what was going on she came alive :)

we spent the morning opening presents, my parents headed off to church, we finished up, had our traditional egg casserole, mimosa breakfast complete with monkey bread and a little happy birthday jesus.  for the afternoon we headed down to russ' parents to spend the afternoon/evening with his whole family. 

christmas eve

c turning into a cow girl...hee haw.

e and her twins.  she's named them lollipop and michael?!?!

j and her kanani doll.  she has wanted this "doll of the year" since she visited the AG store in Chicago last january.  she just had to have her before she was gone forever!!!

christmas morning...santa came!!!!

big girls trying not to peek and see what santa brought...love it!

we finally woke up little bit...she was exhausted.

didn't take long for her to see it was worth it :)

e's favorite gift...a booster seat.  i guess she took it as a sign that she is truly getting "big"

j loved her itouch.  it was so fun for santa to bring something she didn't even know she wanted...she was absolutely thrilled!! 

***so i'm posting about christmas on jan. 13th and just noticed two things***
1) i don't have a single picture of w on his first christmas.  he slept through the morning opening of presents and i guess it just never clicked
2) apparently we didn't take a camera down to grandma and poppy's because there isn't a single picture of the second half of christmas.

so disappointing.  i'm blaming it on the fact that *we have a lot of little people in this family* and *haven't had a solid night's sleep in months (literally)*...all that being said, i guess we are lucky we just forgot the camera and not one of the little persons in our lives!!! (although my parents stopped by the house late afternoon to let the dog out and the lights were on, the back door was unlocked, the breakfast casserole was still sitting on the stove....)

love you

december 2011

christmas this year was great...we got the house decorated thanksgiving weekend.  lights on the outside of the house and everything.  we celebrated december 1st with the arrival of both Cheeky the elf and the good deed jar.  cheeky arrived with krispy kreme donuts (thoughtful little guy :)) and the good deed jar went over well again.  over the month we did something every day - simple things like give your sisters and brother a hug, draw a picture for a friend, etc. to more "exciting" things like drop off flowers at a nursing home, take donuts to the fire station, donate something to an animal shelter, even surprise daddy with lunch.  it was great fun :)

one of our christmas highlights every year is the kids christmas party at russ' work.  the girls get along great with all the other kids and probably the highlight of the evening is a visit, complete with presents, from santa.  our little 2 year old could hardly contain herself when santa started passing out presents!  check out that smile :)

the big girls did great also....didn't need to sit on his lap, but we've come a LONG way from the years of tears and anguish over santa

and baby w...well, he did great too.  check out how he spent his evening.

can not believe that baby slept through the screaming and running and wii playing and pizza eating and laughing and all that good stuff

we finished off our month of christmas parties and prep with an evening at some old family friends.  we had a great time and were out much later than anticipated.  all the kids did great....i probably wouldn't have mentioned in my post except we started snapping pictures before we left the house and ended up with some good christmas card pics...here are a couple of my favorites.  each of them reminds me how blessed we are to have this amazing family...

my big girls - 6 (almost) and 4 years old...you are so precious to me...you both have welcomed another distraction into your daily life with such grace, love, and patience.  thank you for being AMAZING daughters and big sisters.   

my little 2 year old...who doesn't want to look at the camera....you are an amazing little firecracker

what can I say....I just love this pic.  E loves her baby bro even she sometimes reminds me she really wanted another sister (is she crazy or what?!?!)

the men in my life...

still not looking at the camera, but you are sure sweet.  

bell ringing

i took the girls to help grandma and grandpa "ring the bells" for the 2nd year in the row.  so nice to give a gentle reminder that the christmas season is supposed to be about giving.  they all did great and it was fun for russ to spend some time one on one with our little guy....

E's first field trip

E had her first field trip this fall to krispy kreme.  i was able to work it that grandma kept the little's and j was in school and it was just the two of us (and her whole class :)).  it was so much fun to spend some alone time with her.  she is such a sweet, lovely little lady.  here she is with her best buddy.

big sisters

this picture was taken by my mom the day will was born.   just saw on my phone and makes me smile every time...love these girls!

great grandpa turns 90

we were able to have an all family birthday party for my grandpa's 90th the first weekend in november...the schwabs were able to make a quick trip in and we had an awesome day at the cabin...

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa!!  We Love You!!

happy halloween

ready....set....catch up!!

so life has been a little hectic since the little guy entered our world but since it's the first day of 2012 thought i would catch up on what's been going on around here....

we played soccer....

J went to cheer camp and got to perform at a high school football game....

and C turned 2!!!!

we had a fun, busy October!!

the new love of my life...

16 days ago I thought I was prepared for the arrival of my little guy.  the day got off to an early start - the hospital calling at 5:15 to let us know they were ready for us to come in and start the induction.  hours later I was just kinda hanging out - waiting for the pitocin to kick in and decided to flip through a magazine.  my horoscope read...."get ready for a serious love affair like you've never experienced before - an epic, mind-blowing romance is headed your way."  YEP.  i'm head over heels in love with the newest man in my life.  Welcome to the world William John. 

and the stats...William John (named after my dad and russ' dad), born 10/5/11 at 3:31pm.  weighing in at 9 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long!  he's such a handsome little guy :)

and the countdown begins...

had my last dr. appt today and we are scheduled to induce this little guy on wed. oct. 5!!!!  a week from today we will become a family of 6.  i am SO EXCITED!!!!

getting our last bit of fun in before baby boy arrives :)

we are on official countdown before this little baby arrives and with the two big girls in school mon-thurs afternoon i've tried to do something fun on friday morning for the past couple of weeks.  last friday we headed to the magic house for special "member only" play.  it was awesome - we were practically the only kids in the children's village.  no field trips, no crazy weekend crowds.  my kids could run around and i could be relatively confident that i wouldn't lose anyone :)

today we headed to the zoo.  we invited grandma with us because 1) she's fun to do things with :) and 2) i admit to being a wee bit nervous about heading to the zoo 38 weeks pregnant with a 5, 4, and almost 2 year old.  thanks for coming grandma!!

it was the first day baby asian elephant "kenzi" was out in the river's edge for everyone to see.  she was the cutest little thing ever.  all my girls were crazy over her :) 

after watching the elephant's we headed over to stingray cove for the first time ever.  petting stingrays must have been a topic of conversation a couple of weeks ago in kindergarten but j has been very interested in seeing the stingrays for the first time ever.  in the past they were just happy as could be to pass by without looking twice. i have to say it was so cool!  of course j kind of put the brakes on and wasn't so sure and e would have been just fine staying far away, but that little c of mine was the first to get her hand in there to pet the stingrays :)  once grandma, c and I spent some time petting them j decided she was going to be brave and put her hand in the water.  it takes a while, but if you're patient and don't stress she is so willing to try things.  it was such a good reminder for me to try and remain PATIENT and POSITIVE and all will be GOOD in the long run!!!!  the best i could pull off with e is some intent watching and a couple of times her fingers actually hit the water - just not when there were any animals around :) 

to top off the stingray exhibit, we were there during feeding time and even though j was totally interested, there was no way she was going to hold raw fish in her hands and so big chicken that i am stepped up and fed those stingrays.  ugh.  not my thing.  holding raw fish pieces between my fingers so they could slide over slurp up.  gross.  and once i truly thought i was going to lose a finger :)  told the girls after that i was glad i tried it because it's important to try new things but that mommy probably would NOT be doing that again!!

before you knew were were out of time...wound our way out of the zoo and got to the car just as the rain started falling.  drove through mcdonald's and got j to school just as they were lining up.  talk about timing.

what should be do next week?  should be last friday before this little guy arrives!!!!!!

this child of mine...

what are we going to do with her????

here she is pretending to walk like "grandma"....with a cane...where did she ever get this idea?  both grandma's walk with a spring in their step :)

here she is after her sisters got her all dressed for dance class...only she's two years too young.  she is determined to get into someone's class someday.  she doesn't care if it's dance, preschool or kindergarten, she is ready to be a big kid!!

here she is on a pony at the st. lucas ice cream social this afternoon....her sisters thought she should go first...no problem.  in fact, don't even bother holding on dad, i'm ready to take this pony on a ride, or two, or three :)

Watch out world...E turns 4!!!

so my peanut turned four years old in august.  not sure where the time has gone but she is getting big on me :)  she is such a sweet little thing with a hint of stubborness in her!  for breakfast we went to krispy kreme in our pj's.  she thought it was so cool not to have to get dressed and loves watching the donuts being made.

I asked her a couple of weeks before her big day what she wanted to do for her birthday and she suggested we take two of her friends to monkey joes.  and to take them to mcdonalds for lunch and then drive them home in the van...why that was such a big deal i'll never know but one of the best parts of her birthday "party" was having 6 girls in the van (poor russ - as if he's not out-numbered enough).

her actual birthday was on friday so she had her first two days of school and then was off for her actual birthday.  it turned out great.  that evening we had russ' parents, the barrett boys and my parents over for pizza and cookie cake.  grandpa was working at an offsite job so he wasn't able to make it, but we were fortunate to have great nana and just by chance aunt karen in town for a visit.  it was great evening playing and celebrating family style :)