On this trip we invited my cousin Jake and his family. It was very fun and all the kids got along well. We didn't know them very well before we went up but we are delighted to know them better now! We are missing one kid in the picture below and Carrie is due with their fourth. They are a great family and we enjoyed playing with them at the cabin.
I finally got a picture of all four kids together...ok not the best picture but I got them all in their natural state :)

This is my cousin...He introduced Trout fishing to Matthew. They froze their tales off but man did they have a good time. Can you believe that it was in the fifties in the middle of July!!! Crazy!

This fish was one that Jake caught and it was a mounter but they don't have the money for that right now so they took good pictures and we "board" mounted it...they drew a outline and wrote down the name and date and hung it in the shed...hillbilly mount I guess they call it :)

Alexis loved the fish and was wanting a picture with them. She didn't care for the taste of these fish but she loved seeing them before they were cooked...really good btw! They roasted them over the fire...hmmm should have gotten pictures of that too.

Ok well over all this trip was a good one. All the kids except for Rylie and Alexis got sick but it was not too bad so we only made two different trips to the laundry mat :) Can't wait to invite them back again!

Little Alexis is Two!!!

So baby Alexis is no longer a baby. She is two years old! She is a spunky little girl and she sure does love life. Oh and cake :) lol! The pictures below are her "helping" with her cake.
Must be yummy!!!

And there she is with her dirt cake just waiting to dig in! She ate it that evening but didn't care for it after that. She liked just the gummy worms but then after the second night she didn't like those either. Crazy child! She did however like the bubble blower we got her and her squirt guns.

Thus begins another year with our precious Alexis Jill. She is a wonderful part of our family and she is so unique. We pray that this year will be a blessing in her life and that she will grow in grace and beauty

When Matthew is fishing...

When Matthew is fishing we have a few things we do...I normally do projects and watch chick flicks...this time however I planted a few new perrenials and I did a little weeding in the landscape. I cleaned the house and then found it messed up again because...we live here. Then I set up lots of play dates. We had our friend Meigen and her daughter Ashlynne over, then we went to visit the gals at the hospital that I work with. We stopped at the park afterwards and had McDonalds that day. We went to my friend Tonia's house and the kids played and then to Grandma and Grandpa's house where the kids were very ornery. Church, and then My parents came to visit. Then we had my friend Laura over...yup a full five days. It was exhausting and totally didn't make me miss Matthew any less than normal.

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!