Busy Busy Busy

We've had a busy week around here. Monday night I got together with the ladies to make frozen meals. Tuesday I had a doctors appointment. Wednesday Mason had his Christmas concert. Thursday Valynn had her Christmas concert, Friday Mark and I did some shopping and I worked. Saturday I got together with the neighbor ladies to do a Christmas baking exchange and we had a Christmas party and today Valynn is sick so we get to stay home otherwise we were going to Bloomington for the day.

Mason did a very good job at his concert. He sang and did all of the actions. It was just Valynn and I watching Mason. Mark had to take a final test so I left Kyra and Kyleigh with the Ingle's. Kyra helped Danielle make cookies and Robbie took care of Kyleigh. I think the Ingle's had fun. Mason is done with school until January.

Valynn's did an excellent job at her concert as well. We left Kyra and Kyleigh with Kayla our babysitter. Valynn is feeling better today but she was sick every two hours throughout the night. This is the third time our plans have fell through going to Bloomington due to a sick kid. Maybe the fourth time will be the charm.

We are leaving on Thursday for our annual Christmas trek. The kids are excited to be going. We're not sure how we're going to get everything packed into the suburban. We have to take the bassinet up north for Mark's brother and wife along with some baby clothes on top of all the normal "stuff" we take and the Christmas presents. We might have to tie some things to the top.

We with everyone a Merry Christmas and we will be back in the new year.

What no mom wants to see!

When I walked into Valynn and Kyra's room last week, this is what I saw. It got worse when Mason told me he was on the bed and pulled Kyra up because she couldn't get up by herself even when on the stool.

It's been crazy here, I'm doing my best to stay one day ahead. Friday Mark was home from work so he helped with the kids while I had my doctor's appointment. I was dealing with headaches and a backache for three weeks, it seem the virus I had, imbedded itself in my back. I'm finally getting to the point where I don't need my ibuprofen to function. Saturday we rang the Salvation Army bell at a store in Wyoming. The Lutheran church was asked to provide bell ringers so we volunteered. Saturday evening we went to a dinner theatre with Mark's work group. We had a great time and it was nice to get away, it was even better knowing that Kyleigh was good for Kayla. Sunday after Sunday school and church we helped decorate the church before coming home to watch the Vikings. Sunday evening was the holiday homecoming in Princeville and Valynn sang with the Girl Scouts. Yesterday was Mason's classroom Christmas party. It's full steam ahead the rest of the week and right up until we leave.

I posted a couple of pictures from ice skating. Valynn and Mason have really improved a lot over this session. Our garage is completed, now we are waiting for the electrician to visit. It's so nice having a garage for the suburban and pickup. The neighbors were complaining because they can't tell if we're home now or not since we don't have any vehicles parked outside.

I have to close with a story about my 2 year old. Last Friday we took pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits. When we were done Kyra got mad because she didn't want to take her dress off she wanted to "look pretty". So I told her she could wear her dress on Sunday to church. Sunday rolls around and I get another outfit out for her. She comes running in saying "I want to look pretty". I show her the clothes I had picked out and she told me "NO". She remembered that she could wear her Christmas dress to church and that's just what she did. That girl has a memory on her.

It's Begining to look a lot like Christmas!

We received our first snowfall of the year, about 5 wet and fluffy inches. The kids got outside and started playing as soon as we got home from church. They built a snow man and did some sledding. Kyra absolutely loved playing in the snow and went out a few times. Mark got a few decorations hung up and we put our old tree up in the sun room for the kids to decorate as "their" tree.

It looks like Kyleigh has someone to sleep with. As will all of the kids Snaps took her place in the crib to protect the baby. Snaps doesn't sleep in the bassinet, just the big crib, and always at the feet of the baby. We set up the big crib this weekend since Kyleigh started to turn sideways in the bassinet.

Happy Thanksgiving and Three Months

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I know we did, we had so much to be thankful for. The meal was wonderful (of course I'm going to say that, I cooked it) and we had great friends to enjoy it with. The Donsbach's joined us and we had an enjoyable visit. Thursday night we went to the Endres' for appetizers, dessert, and chocolate martini's. The kids always enjoy playing with each other and the adults had a nice visit.

Kyleigh turned three months on Thanksgiving. She is growing so fast. She has learned to turn herself in a circle, it's so fun to watch her push herself around. She has also started putting her legs down so she can lift her butt off the ground. She is our wiggle worm, constantly moving and rolling to her side. It won't be long before she's rolling over to her tummy. Kyleigh always has a smile and definately enjoys being entertained by the older siblings.

Valynn set up the Christmas village yesterday. She was entertaining to watch. She had a story for every person and house that she set up. It all had to make logical sense to her or she wouldn't place it there. For example, any figurine that was a kid had to be next to the school for recess unless that child was homeschooled, then they didn't have to be around the other kids. And since there was only one figurine with ice skates, that person didn't have many friends which is why he was ice skating alone. She spent hours arranging and rearranging it, she's still rearranging it.

Mason set up the nativity scene for me. He placed all the figurines looking at baby Jesus so all that you can see are their backs. I loved how he had a different perception of how it should be arranged.

Kyra wished everyone a Happy Birthday Thanksgiving. We even had to sing Happy Birthday to Kyleigh since Kyra insisted it was someone's birthday. She is a constant ball of energy.

We've enjoyed being home for the Holiday. We are getting a few projects done around the house, I had a honey do list for Mark. The only thing that hasn't been done yet is decorating the outside of the house which he insists it must be cold outside before he'll do it. Tomorrow looks promising for the decoration since we're supposed to get about an inch of snow tonight. We have some decorations up but last night we decided to order a new Christmas tree so it'll be a couple of days before that arrives and we can decorate it. I had to buy candy today for the candy ribbons so the kids can start the countdown on Monday.

Today Mark took Valynn and Mason ice skating. The had a great time. Kyra, Kyleigh, and I braved the crowds at Target to pick up a few things. We're gearing up for a busy couple of weeks with doctor's appointments, Christmas concerts, meal prep/ cookie baking, and Christmas parties just to name a few. The neighbors and I have been busy scheduling babysitting swaps to make all the errands easier for those involved. I hope everyone has a good week.

The Grandkids have been elfed

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elfed

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Videos of Kyleigh

I have added some videos of Kyleigh. I was trying to get her laughing but of course she didn't really laugh once I got the camera. She is getting so big and it's hard to believe she's almost three months. Don't you love the hair in the second video, the poor girl has quite a few bad hair days.

Our weekend was pretty relaxed. I had my last day of tutoring on Saturday. Mark got his papers written for his class and he finished putting new trim around the living room window.

Kyra was a chatterbox yesterday in church. I don't think she went thirty seconds without talking. The funniest part was during the sermon when Kyleigh passed gas loud enough for the people around us to hear and Kyra loudly exclaims for the rest of the congregation "Kyleigh passed gas". It took a lot of self control for us and the rest of the congregation not to laugh. Kyra also made sure everyone heard that she got candy during the children's sermon. Thankfully it was a Lutheran Sunday so the congregation just laughed at her antics. During Sunday School Kyleigh attended the adult forum with the pastor's wife, she was very good until she got hungry. I got the feeling not much got discussed instead Kyleigh was the center of conversation. Don't worry I wasn't kid free, I took the Sunday School teacher's 1 year old and entertained him since he was giving his mom fits. Mark covered the other three in Sunday School, actually it was just Kyra he had to watch and she did very well listening, sitting still, and doing what was asked.

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving here in Illinois this year. I first have to get my over fixed, the heating element went out in my top oven yesterday. This morning I had a light go out in the fridge. Our garage should be complete by Wednesday! Tomorrow they are finishing the siding and on Wednesday installing the garage doors. Have a good week!

The sickies....

Valynn ended up being home all of last week. Her fever finally broke Friday morning. Friday afternoon Mason decided the fever looked like fun and he spiked one. He still has one today. I was feeling better by Thursday and my sore throat was gone by Saturday. This weekend Valynn had a birthday party at Jump Start Gymnastics and CCD. She also was able to spend some one on one time with mom and Saturday and dad on Sunday. I think she really needed this. We don't have anything too exciting going on this week. Mason was home from school today. If everyone is healthy enough I'm babysitting Annika tomorrow. We'll see how skilled I am at handling two babies. I'm tutoring more hours this week since I cancelled last week.

As you can see Mark's garage is coming along. They orginally thought they would have it sided on S aturday but I think it was too cold and they quit for the day. The garage doors should be in by the weekend.

Enter at your own risk....

Unfortunately, we've been sick here. Valynn is home from school for the third day with a fever. For the most part that is the only thing she's complaining about. I have also been sick for two days now with a fever and chills. Mark worked from home yesterday so I could take it easy and he's planning to come home early today as well to help me out. I'm hoping everyone else doesn't catch what Valynn and I have.

2 month stats

Here are Kyleigh's two month stats. Height 23 1/2 in. (83%). Weight 10 # 8 oz. (34%). It looks like we have a tall skinny girl.

I am currently watching the walls go up on the garage. Next Sunday the roofers are supposed to be here. It's all coming together quickly.

Yesterday I was giving Mark a bad time because Kyleigh peed all over her clothes when he was changing her and just as he was putting a clean onesie on her she spit up. Well what goes around comes around. This morning Kyleigh did the exact same thing to me, so three outfits later we head to the doctors office where she proceeds to pee all over her clothes as I was lifting her off her diaper onto the pad that she is weighed on. She then decided to really let loose on the way home and managed to get another outfit and onesie full of poop. So I guess I should go put a load of laundry in, it looks like I'll need a few more outfits today.

Happy Halloween!!!

The kids are on sugar overload. Another successful trick or treating around the lake. Mom even scored some wine at one house and mom and dad got beer at another. For some reason it took us 3 1/2 hours to make it to 11 houses. We maybe shouldn't visit so much. Wednesday Mason had his Halloween party. On Friday Valynn had hers.

This morning concrete was poured for the garage. On Monday they will start framing and by next Sunday the roofers will be here. It's so nice to see this project finally going and be done in a timely matter.

Keep cheering for Princeville, they won their first game in playoffs last night. Also, school test scores came out yesterday and Princeville High school was ranked number 37 in the state. The elementary school didn't rank as high but they still made adequate progress with over 91% of their students passing.

2 months

Kyleigh was two months old yesterday and for mom's 2 month present Kyleigh slept for over 8 hours straight. I'm hoping that continues. Kyleigh is doing great and all the kids still love her. They keep asking to hold her and play with her when she's awake. She is "talking" more and very interactive with us. Sunday afternoon Valynn had a Halloween party for Girl Scouts and after we picked her up we went to Tanner's to play for a little while and then went out to eat. Yesterday was the last days of gymnastics for Valynn and Mason, they have decided to try ice skating. Last night we carved pumpkins. They still think we should do one for Kyleigh, we'll have to see if we have time. The kids each designed their own faces and dad helped them carve them. It's the start of a busy week with parties, classes, and work.

The toothfairy should be fired!

That's right, another tooth falls out and the tooth fairy is a no show. That's the second time this week she has failed to show up the night the tooth falls out. Valynn lost her other front tooth last night.

This morning Valynn took part in her birthday present from us. She took a horseback riding lesson. She had a great time prepping the horse and learning riding techniques. That girl truly loves horses.

We went to the annual Blue Ridge Church Halloween party this afternoon. The kids came back loaded with cakes from the cake walk as usual. I think Kyra won 3 times and the other kids won twice. We're going to take the cakes with us to church tomorrow to share. I think we'll also take some to the neighbors. The kids loved getting dressed up. The girl holding Kyleigh is Kayla our babysitter.

Daddy has a new job at night, putting Kyleigh to bed. I don't know how he does it but he has the magic touch. If I lay her down she always wakes up and wants to be picked back up, if Mark takes her from me and lays her down she stays sleeping.

Valynn's conference

We just got back from Valynn's parent teacher conference. No surprise that she is doing very well. She is reading at an early third grade level. Technically her reading level is higher but her comprehension is third grade. The teacher was very happy with her progress. There was an incident where Valynn was tested earlier this year and came up at risk for not knowing her letters so the teacher had to spend two weeks with her on that. The teacher figured it was a fluke since Valynn is her top reader but had to work with her anyway, Valynn then tripled her score on the retake. She is well behaved and respectful. I went to work yesterday and stopped by the office and was told my little one was in there crying because she couldn't find her coat, she had left it on the bus.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. Valynn has her horse riding lesson tomorrow and we have a Halloween party tomorrow afternoon. Sunday Valynn has a Girl Scout Halloween party. Somewhere in there Mark has homework to do.

Yesterday I was offered more tutoring hours. I will also be the coordinator for this student between her and her teachers to try to get her caught up in all of her classes and eventually transition back to the classroom. I am also planning on going back to subbing half days in January if everything is going well here at home.

Valynn and Mason have friends coming over to play today before we go get our hair cut so I should finish with breakfast dishes before they get here.

Mark's birthday

Happy Birthday Mark!

It's been a busy two days here.
1) Valynn lost one of her top front teeth last night. Actually dad pulled it out with a string. Unfortunately the toothfairy didn't come last night (Mark said he would have a talk with her).

2) They started working on Mark's birthday/Christmas/what ever holiday I decide to include gift today. They broke ground on the garage. I'll get pictures as it goes along.

Summary of my day. 7:30 the appraiser came to appraise the house for our loan. The good news is he said our home value will more than likely go up $5000-$10000 since the appraisal a year ago. I then talked to Chantel and Tonya to get their groceries lists and took Mason to school. It took me about 30 minutes longer to get groceries today. Imagine what the cart looks like buying for one family of six and I was buying groceries for another family of six as well. It was a very full cart and I wasn't too fond of the grocery bill either. I start my job today. This week the kids are going to Carrie's while I'm working, except for Kyleigh, she's going to Danielle's. Mark will pick the kids up when he gets home from work. Brad and Chantel are coming over for supper tonight to help celebrate Mark's birthday, I got most of supper ready yesterday for that. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

Hectic week

Well what was going to be a fairly relaxing week turned busy, but that's how it goes. I'll start at the beginning. On Monday the latest Chippewa Estates member was born, Annika Joy. I'm the only one who has seen her so far but the kids can't wait to meet her. We have been very lucky, there was an illness and a staph infection going around school the last couple of weeks, where 1/3 of the student were missing class, we didn't catch them, but the neighbor kids did. Tuesday and Wednesday Tonya and I took supper over to Chantel's. On Wednesday Robbie and Danielle brought us supper (can you say musical meals?). It was very delicious. On Friday I was offered a job at the school. I will be working three hours a week as a tutor after school. I will be starting this week, provided I can get a sitter lined up, the sitter I have lined up can't start until next week. Saturday was Valynn's birthday party. The kids played pin the tail on the horse, had a pinata, and found money in the hay. It was a beautiful day for a party and everyone had a great time. I also made Halloween pizzas. Saturday night Mark went to the Illini football game so a couple of neighbor ladies came over for supper. It was a nice evening and the kids were sufficiently wore out from playing. On Sunday after church we watched the Vikings lose to the Bears and then went to a surprise 16th birthday party. After the party the kids went to pick their pumpkins. Mark's birthday is coming up on Wednesday and then we are officially done with birthdays for a few months.

Valynn is 7

So it has been a couple of weeks since I've posted, we've been busy. I'll start with the most important thing. Valynn turned 7 today. Wow, where does the time go? She is getting so big and too smart. If Mark or I are reading a book and we make a mistake, she corrects us, she brought home her last list of sight words that she needs to know by the end of first grade, and is curious about how everything works. Unfortunately we weren't here to help her celebrate her birthday. We are fortunate to have such good friends that brought her a cake and help her ring in her 7th year. She got a horse blanket from Grandma and Grandpa Larson (great job grandma!). Mark, Kyleigh and I were in North Dakota to celebrate my "other Mark's" wedding. We had a great time. Friday night we drove to Eden Prairie and spent the night with my college roommate Christy and her husband. Another college roommate stopped by to visit with her two kids. We had a great visit with them and wish we could get together more often. On Friday we drove to Fargo (it was cold and rainy, and in IL, sunny and 80). We had a great time at the wedding catching up with old friends from college. A friend of mine was there with her little boy Emery who is one day younger than Kyleigh. We joked that they had their first wedding dates. Of course we couldn't resist taking a few pictures. I also had Kyleigh get her picture taken with the bride and groom. Kyleigh shares a birthday with Mark. We had a long drive back today but were very happy to have to turn the air conditioner on when we got home, much better than the 3 inches of snow in Lignite. The three older kids stayed with some friends of ours over the weekend. They had a blast playing with their three kids but were happy to get home. We brought back "Chippers" (chocolate covered potato chips) as thank you gifts for everyone who helped us out by watching the kids.


Valynn marched in the homecoming parade a couple of weeks ago with girl scouts. As you can imagine Mason and Kyra had fun getting the candy that was thrown. We're doing good, Kyleigh slept 6 and 7 hours stretches at night this weekend so we're hoping this trend continues. She was a very good traveler sleeping most of the way. Valynn and Mason have tomorrow off so we're going to be able to sleep in and take it easy except for gymnastics, get Halloween costumes, finish the head room mom list and buy groceries for Valynn's birthday supper. We should have a pretty easy week, Valynn's birthday party is on Saturday and Mark is planning on going to the school to help install the new playground equiment. We finally got another contractor lined up to do the garage and it sounds like he plans on pouring the concrete this week, yeah (keep your fingers crossed)!!! Mark finished his online class last week so he has a couple of weeks off. He won't know his grade until later since the class is graded on a curve.

Friday morning was hectic here because the school bus left without Valynn. It showed up 5 minutes early. The neighbor kids ran out to the bus when they saw it pull up but because we can't see the bus stop we didn't know it was early and Valynn saw it pulling away. I called the bus supervisor to discuss the situation and then the bus driver called me to apologize and tried to tell me she was on time. She didn't have an answer when I asked her if she realized that there were no kids waiting at the bus stop so she must have been early. If it happens again the bus will have to start driving down the street to pick up Valynn.

Thursday I took Kyleigh to the doctor. She hadn't slept well for two nights and has had a cold so we suspected an ear infection. The doctor was positive she had one as well based upon what I told her. As it turns out Kyleigh didn't have an ear infection, which was good, and the doctor thinks she might have had a sinus headache from being congested or just had difficulty breathing. Our little peanut is now weighing 9 # 5 oz. Wow, is she getting big.

That is about all from here. I think I have the last two weeks summarized. Have a great week everyone.

Just when you need...

someplace to put Kyleigh. That spot is already taken.

That can't be good...

Yesterday I was talking to Mark on the phone while holding Kyleigh. She filled her diaper loud enough for Mark to hear. He said "That can't be good." You thing? Kyleigh likes to lay on our chests to sleep, it reminds me of Valynn because she used to like that as well. One of my favorite pictures was Valynn napping on Mark's chest. Sunday our friends from Bloomington brought us supper and came to visit. The two girls enjoyed holding Kyleigh and playing with her.

1 Month

Wow, it's been one month already. That is so hard to believe. Kyleigh is doing great. She's starting to "talk" and roll onto her side. Last night she was on the couch and rolled to her stomach, she had a little help since she headed down hill to between the cushions. We're getting into a routine where she's asleep by 9:00- 10:00 and wakes around 3:00 to eat and then sleeps until 6:00 when she eats and then goes back to sleep until 8:00. The only routine we need to change is so Kyra and Kyleigh nap at the same time. Right now Kyleigh wakes up around the time Kyra goes down for her nap. This doesn't give me a chance to get my nap in or anything else done.

Last night Valynn and Mason had a sleep over in the girls' room. They both slept on the top bunk and no one fell off. We were up too early this morning. Kyra decided to get up at 5:45 when I was up feeding Kyleigh. Shortly after that Mason decided it was time to get up as well. Needless to say at least we had a productive morning since Mark felt guilty with me awake with three kids, so he got up as well. He is done with the outside of all three windows and got everything cleaned up. I started to get my fall decoration up and we got things burned. Around 10:00 we dropped the older three off at the neighbors and went into town to register to vote, drop off the suburban at the mechanics, and buy a few groceries. After nap time/ quiet time we hope to finish the rest of our projects.

Kyleigh

Kyleigh got her first bath this week and as you can see I have lots of help. Valynn would have been in the mix but she was at school. I also got Kyleigh smiling. She's been smiling quite a bit and at times I think she means to. It's been a busy week around here. Mondays are always hectic between preschool and gymnastics for the three older kids. On Tuesday Mason had story time and Valynn had an open house at school. On Tuesday Mark went to Wisconsin for work and was gone for over 12 hours but got home in time for the open house. Valynn was excited to show off her baby sister to her classmates and teacher. Valynn showed us where she sat and her classroom got a Smart Board this year and she was showing us how it worked. Yesterday Mark's parents left and after we dropped Mason off at school we ran errands. Today I'm busy doing laundry and other tasks. Kyleigh is still doing great, she's so content just watching everything around her and the kids still love helping out with her. I get way too much help with diaper changes and I'm always informed when she is crying or awake. We're starting to settle into a routine.