Menopausal Mother Nature

The weekend was beautiful, which carried over to the beginning of the week. Yesterday was sunny and windy, but turned cold and misty late afternoon. Today, we have wet, heavy snow. This crap is getting ridiculous. I'd be much happier with a consistent 65-70 degrees and sunny. It's May 2nd and WE HAVE SNOW!!! I'm over it. I might as well return all the new spring and summer clothes I have for the kids.

Sunday

Tuesday

Tuesday

Thursday

Make-up lesson

Sunday morning, the kids woke by their usual 7:30 time and I was not ready to get out of bed yet. Adam was already in the garage working on some project, so I had to deal with the kids. By dealing, I mean turn the tv on for fletcher to watch cartoons and listen for brynlee as she 'plays' between rooms. B was back and forth a few times and then she disappeared. I thought she was reading books in her room, since it was quiet, and this is a regular occurrence for her. Then I remembered that fletcher went to the bathroom before coming in my room and I didn't remember hearing the door shut when we was done. I quietly got out of bed. Tiptoed to the bathroom and saw baby girl playing with my make-up. She was trying a new look with mascara, that I think she still needs to master. Needless to say, she was stripped and put in the tub...after I took pictures of course.

My hospital date

A slow week in blog land for me, so as I sit here trying to get baby girl to sleep, I will share some fun pictures from my evening with my princess of a niece, camryn.

My sister and her husband were taking the twins on a date tonight and needed someone to sit with cam while they were gone, so I volunteered.

I was recruited to be the bad person and make her do her spelling words and practice reading her books. I'm a good negotiator, so it wasn't that bad.

We had some visitors while I was there which made the time go by a little quicker. I also got to be on poop patrol as they needed to 'collect a sample' and needed to let the nurses know if anything happened. I'll just say that she needed to change her undies :)

There was some game playing, face making and sister dancing going on. You would have thought we were at a party, rather than a hospital. The kid seriously has way too much energy, but I honestly wouldn't want it any other way.

the last five months-august

august was packed full of fun. we had to make sure we did all the last 'summer-ish' things before school started for flether and our days weren't so open. 

one day in early august, adam's dad was up doing some things to the house (we were still moving at this point) and he heard some music in the distance. when he caught sight of what it was, he came inside to see if the kids could have ice cream. this is a very rare occasion so all three of us joined him outside to get a treat. 

in the middle of the month, my parents had my niece and nephew (brother's kids) for a few weeks. they decided to make a trip to the omaha zoo and the kids and i were asked if we wanted to tag along. since adam was out of town (big surprise), we did. we were only gone for one 30 hours, but we were on the go. we headed to the air and space museum to check out all the old planes...four kids and two adult females were bored out of our minds, but my dad sure enjoyed it. 

when we left the museum, we drove next door to mahoney state park where we were staying at the lodge, checked in and then thought we would go to the water park for a bit. this was a major hit. 

checking out the map of the grounds. there is so much to do that they want to come back. 

the following morning, we got the crew ready for a day at the zoo. 

the iowa state fair starts the second thursday and goes for the next 10 days. it's kind of tradition for us to go and do certain things every year. the kids are getting older and having more fun seeing the animals and doing  some of the activities 

camping at camp pops and nana's

my grandpa's 89th birthday. we had a family party for him and all of his kids, grandkids and greats were in attendance. 

grandma and grandpa with the greats. seven kids, nine and under...oh, the joys. 

the last five months-july

in july, we did stuff. some memorable, some not so much. 

july 3rd at prairie meadows waiting for the firework display. someone also discovered her nostrils. 

introducing the littles to 'snakes'. 

we celebrated adam's niece's wedding, two days after we celebrated our 4th anniversary. 

the daughters of four of the original neighbor girls. these four are all within four months of each other. 

ellie, nov. mckenna, dec.  brynlee, feb. zoey, march

the kids took swim lessons. they loved it. the bottom picture is distorted if i make it bigger, but im sure you get it. 

we met some friends at the pool one afternoon and then headed to have froyo afterwards. 

we attended camryn's first annual christmas in july toy drive. 

practicing for saturday night live. an old tradition that my parents and their neighbors did when i was young. now when all the 'kids' are in town, we all partake as our littles run and play like we used to. 

not your average birthday

i was dreading my birthday this year. ever since i turned 30, i've kinda hated my birthday. no real reason other than being another year older. people like to celebrated 'me' and i enjoy it, but then it all hits me that i'm  'getting old'. 

yesterday was one of those emotional days. i was getting 'old' and we were awaiting some news that had the possibility of not being happy. brynlee and i were at my mom and dad's house since the boys were hunting, so i was hoping i would be able to hold it together a bit better, but NO. brynlee has hit the terrible two stage a few months early and was being an absolute terror. adam was coming to deliver fletcher, take me out for lunch and then head out of town for the week on a work trip, so i would be doing some single parenting. oh, and we were waiting for 'the phone call'. 

adam and i enjoyed a nice lunch at applebee's and he got me a kindle fire, on top of the new laptop he had already given me. once we got back to the house, my mom and fletcher had made cupcakes while we were gone, which was a nice surprise. and she had a nice package wrapped, waiting for me...a magic bullet blender.  i said good-bye to adam and about 10 minutes later, my sister was calling. i could tell from the questions my mom was asking, that it wasn't good news. 

after kicking icky cancer's butt once, camryn was going to have to do it again. this time, the spots are small and her body is 'healthy' and strong. the team of doctors already have a plan set out for treatment, so she was admitted last night and began chemo. she tolerated it well and was doing great today and is going home to do the rest of the treatment at home. 

with all the attitude, spunk and strength this little girl has, i have no doubt she'll be whoopin' some ass once again. 

. 

so, with that news, the joy that i was allowing to fill the day, was drastically stomped to the floor. in 33 years, i've never celebrated a birthday so sad. a redo is in place for next year, where i will be celebrating 33 again, with only good news allowed. 

the past five months-may

i've blogged a bit since may, but not nearly enough to keep updated with all that we did or happened. i will {attempt} to get caught up. no promises this time, but i already have two scheduled, so i'm already making progress. i'll start with May and work my way to the current happenings in our lives.

MAY

fletcher had his last speech session of the 2011-2012 school year. we also found out that ms. diane2 would be leaving us and that we would be getting a new SLP. i did not do well with this info, and actually shed a few tears over the news. 

happy mother's day from the hubby and the kids. adam made me this garden box that i've been wanting for the last three years. 

my sister and i decided to take an eight hour (one way) trip to minnesota for our cousins graduation party, with five kids, 5 years and younger. we got some strange looks, but we had fun and the kids were pretty good, most of the time. 

the kids did a lot of playing. 

and one final thing to note, daycare boy had his last day here on may 17th. it was nice having him, but it's nice to just have my kids to worry about and be able to go and do what i want, when i want. 

a trip to CGO

Just a few short miles south of town, there is an orchard/pumpkin patch called Center Grove Orchard. This year, they had a season pass offer, which was 19.95 per person, 3yrs and older. I decided that since I'm not doing daycare anymore, that I needed to do more fun stuff with the kids and get out of the house more. This was a perfect opportunity for me to do just that, so I got a pass for Fletcher and myself.
Every time we go, the first thing we have to do when we arrive, head over to rope some cattle. Fletcher is all about cowboys and farms these days, so this is one of his favorite things to do. We come back to it at least three times while we are there.

They have tons of different activities in the farmyard. There are pigs, goats, chickens, horses and sheep to watch. The kids really love feeding the goats. Brynlee is such a fan. No fear at all.

They have the houses from the Three Little Pigs. Fletcher and Brynlee run from house to house pretending to get away from the Big Bad Wolf, a.k.a. ME.

The jumping pillow and corn pool are the two must-do things when we go. Some of the best smiles and laughs come from the adults as they jump or watch the faces of the littles they are with.

Adam and I have races on these tractors. More like timed laps, to see who can go faster around the track. The kids like to ride with us.

On the hayride heading to the pumpkin patch. After this ride, little boy always talks about 'going to the punkin patch.' it's usually brought up on a daily basis.

And no fall trip to the pumpkin patch would be complete without pumpkins. I just wanted the photos. I'm too cheap to pay for them there. I went the 3 for $11 route at Earl May.

Since our first trip to the patch, we've been at least five more times. The season passes really came in handy. I will definitely do the same again next year since we had so much fun on our little adventures. We still have a trip or two planned before they close for winter.