cabin trip over memorial day

Ok so this was the walleye fishing tournament weekend. Matthew and Joe entered and did GREAT! Joe came in tenth and in addition to the prizes he won for that he also caught a fish that won him a tackle box. Matthew came in fourteenth and he won the raffle ticket drawing twice. He ended up with prizes that were worth about $115!
The above picture is of there big night! They fished all day for those beauties :)

Ok so enough about fishing...This is the new four wheeler for the kids. It is so cool and they have such a great time riding it. By the end of the week they didn't need dad on the emergency cord any more. They were cautiously whipping around the yard...maybe we should make some trails so that we still have a yard.

Alexis cracked me up on it. She was so into it that she would cry and scream if anyone else wanted to ride. Matthew is such a good papa that he made sure that all girls got equal time.

Hmmm, so do we see the resemblance here :) lol! I took this picture when I realized that poor Matthew had only two pictures with his son...I have one but that is beside the point. After snapping the shot I was shocked to see how much Z looks like him! I thought Z looked more like me...

Alone with kids???

Is that supposed to be a joke? or is it that people really think that you are alone when you have small children? I am never alone. I lock the door to the bathroom and then feel bad so I unlock it thinking that if they need something then they can get to me but what happens is someone comes in to ask where something is that I don't have a clue about and then another little person comes in to tattle tale on another one and then inevitably my shower which is supposed to be a peaceful, relaxing start to a day turns into a stressfilled public display...When I finally do get out of the shower the bathroom normally has a trail of bathroom products that Alexis has gotten out. She smells like raspberry shampoo since she thinks it is to be worn like lotion and the toilet paper may be trailing out of the room...that is on the days that I forget to put everything in the bath tub before I get in the shower. IF I remember then it is a trail of toys ... Ahhh the sweet pleasures of motherhood. I am not complaining really because I know that all too soon the pitter patter of little feet will not be running in to get me. In fact it will be my clomp clomping that will be following them and asking if they need something or trying to be a part of their lives as they get too old for ole mom to get them a drink of water, or read them a story. I cherish these moments really because though stressful sometimes they are fleeting.

First cabin trip of the season

Well the first trip to the cabin for the season was a huge success! We opened it all up, fixed a few things, and enjoyed a peaceful week. Matthew dug out a brochure that we had about the local beaches, waterfalls and lighthouses so we visited six different waterfalls and one beach (wasn't on the list just close by one of the falls). The girls went behind two of them and thought that was "awesome!"

The above picture is of Miners Castle. This is part of the pictured rocks but we were at miners falls and decided to take a peek...I didn't get to go on the longer walk as Alexis had a diaper issue...so yeah I headed back to the van with the two little ones and Matthew and the older girls went exploring. They didn't have the camera but said that it was definately worth the walk to see it up close. Maybe next time I will get to see it.

This is one of the only pictures that Zachary got in on. He was such a lazy baby that he just slept in the van or the stroller the whole time. This is Miners falls BTW. It was by far the most spectacular of the falls we saw that day but all of them were beautiful.

Ok well off to plan the next adventure at the cabin. This week has been very trying on me emotionally as I think I must be experiencing some baby blues and exhaustion. I will post more pictures and stories as we get them.

Dress up!

OK did you know that it is ok for boys to play dress up with a baby as long as the clothes are camo???

I didn't but apparently it is ok and something to smile proudly about.

Even if said subject of the dress up is not thrilled about it...

Ah but we have a cure...camo pacifier of course!

Zachary Alan

Well he is finally here! After nine long months of pregnancy little Zachary made his way into the world on April 27th at 4:21pm. He weighed in at 10 pounds 5 ounces and he was 22 1/2 inches long. He is amazing and a wonderful addition to our family. The girls are thrilled with him and he seems to like the attention that they shower him with. Alexis even likes him! Her favorite thing to do is pet his head and say baby but a close second is to hold the bottle when he eats from one. Matthew and I are thrilled to have the baby here and will be getting on with our summer plans now. We will be heading up to the cabin in a few days and we are excited to spend some quality time away from it all...even if it is supposed to be cold and rain there.

Until next time :)

UGH!

Well, we are sick again! I thought that we were over sickness since the nice weather has been here for a while but most of the month of April has been dealing with on sick kid or another as well as Matthew and I. This time it is a stomach virus that is just nasty. I am glad that the gross part only seems to last about 12 hours. Then it is just fatigue, and soreness. I never thought that I would wish not to have a baby at the end of a pregnancy but I am hoping and praying that his little one is not born to a house full of sick people or the baby and I will have to hole up in the bedroom and stay away from the family :( that would be too sad for words.

OK well off to try to drink more water. I have to stay hydrated or the little one will definately make it's appearance.

Help with this page!

Okay, I know that some of you have been blogging with this site for quite sometime. I don't want followers but rather links to the people that I know and love. I am not sure who riot girl is but I would love to know. Also I was wondering if there was an easier way to upload pictures in the order that you want them in. I can't seem to click and drag them where I want them. Any who just thought I would put that out there so that I could get some good feed back.

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OK on to us. We have had a few very nice days here at our home. Our landscape project is coming along nicely. I say our but Matthew is doing all the work and I am just sort of watching him sweat! :) I will do the planting I guess, especially since it has the new dirt now. I am hoping to not have to buy a ton of plants this year but I know that is probably impossible. As soon as stuff starts to bloom I will take some pictures.

As for me and my actual projects they mostly include getting ready for the baby. The bedroom is still somewhat torn apart as I am weeding through things and moving things into more organized piles and taking things that can be put in the basement down there. It is times like this I wish I had a nice high and dry storage area that I could put things in. Someday Sara, Someday! The project for after May 1st is to convert the television room into a computer/school room/ play/craft area. This is proving to be more difficult to me than I thought it would be. Mostly because I feel as though I am going to loose space even though in reality I am gaining a little. The clutter would be condensed. The problem lies in my selfishness! I seriously just like my stuff and I don't want to sell it, but it is just stuff. The other problem is that we are keeping the television so it is becoming quite a chore to figure out where to put it. I am really having issues over something so silly.
Andrea is almost done with her Kindergarten year of schooling and will be starting on some pre- first grade work soon while she waits for her new books. Matthew and I have to sit down still and figure out what route to take with the schooling this year. Do we do the PC/DVD programs or should we continue in the way that we have been doing things thus far. I lean toward the programs simply because Kayla will be starting and Andrea is a visual learner and would benefit from having more information than what the books are showing but also another "authority" figure. If that makes sense. She still has to do the workbooks and homework stuff so I would still be very hands on. The biggest issue with that is money. It is about two hundred dollars more for those programs. UGH! Not that the regular program is that much less expensive since we still have to buy other things that they don't sell with the kits. So expensive! I wish they would do school vouchers so that we could use the money we already pay in for this to work to our advantage. I am even up for that with regulations like standardized testing each year to show that your kids know what we say they know and that they are at the very least where they should be education wise, possibly even doing a reimbursement check system so that you have to be accountable for the money you spend and that is it truly for education. That is a whole different conversation though that becomes controversial in HS circles. Leave it to me to be a trouble maker:)
Kayla has been doing some kindergarten work instead of preschool. I will be going through the summer on a biweekly schedule in case people reading are wondering what in the world I am worrying about this at the end of the school year for. The younger grades are so crucial that I want the kids to keep up on them and not waste precious time in review. I figure that a couple hours during the hottest parts of the day when they don't want to be outside anyways is not that big a deal. Plus in about an hour and a half I can do two to three days worth of classes with kindergarten. First grade....we have not gotten there yet so we will see how easy doubling up days will be since the course load triples.

Ok, enough school talk. On to Alexis. She is a goofy girl! She loves the outdoors and has been enjoying the nice weather immensely! I can not wait for more consistency in an outdoor routine. April showers are really messing with her out door fun. In fact, so is this blog at the moment (lol!). She has become a little more attached to me in the past month. I don't know if it is the coming addition to the family that she is feeling or if she has finally warmed up to her old mother, but whatever it is I like it. For the longest time now she has solely been a Daddy's girl and let me tell you, though that is all fine and dandy it is not cool being stiff armed by your baby when you go to give her a hug, or being forced apart if I am hugging Matthew. So, I am enjoying the new niceness that she is giving to me. Even if dad is the favored one still.

The new baby is apparently very large. So here is the most recent scoop on my pregnancy and then I will quit boring you. :) I am currently in my 38th week. The doctor and I have concurred that the baby is at least eight pounds, possibly larger. He is very concerned about me having issues delivering naturally if I go past my due date as he has not had much success with women delivering babies over ten pounds that way. So, the current plan is that if by my last appointment that is prior to my due date I have not yet had this baby that we will be setting up an induction date. This is fine with me as I really don't need to skip the baby stage and head right for a toddler! Plus the waiting can be such a pain when you want to do stuff...So selfish this one. Ah well, so I am hoping and praying that the baby comes soon but if not at least I know that I won't be allowed to grow a massive child...only a large one:) Oh and in case some of you are wondering how much weight a baby puts on after the 37th week it is an ounce a day on average and I already grow mine above average size so that is the reason for all the hype.

Ok, have a fabulous Saturday my dear family and friends!