Doing Good

We're doing good here. The kids are stilled enthralled with our newest addition. Kyleigh sleeps most of the day, only waking to eat. It's starting to look like her nights and days are a little mixed up since she's awake from about 10- midnight. The kids are enjoying having the Grandmas around, they've been busy playing cards, etc. We have also put the Grandmas to work. We peeled some apples from our tree yesterday and then made applesauce from the rest. We also took care of some of the tomatoes I had frozen.

First night.

Just a quick update rather than emailing everyone. We have a very good first night home. Grandma and Great Grandma arrived around 7:00 last night. The three older kids were excited, Kyra was a little disappointed that Grandpa wasn't with them. Kyleigh slept most of the afternoon and woke up around 7:00 to see the Grandmas. She went to sleep around 11:00. I woke her at 3:30 to eat and then she slept until 6:00 this morning. Mark isn't getting much of a chance to hold her between the Grandmas and the kids. I think Mason held Kyleigh for 1/2 and hour this morning, Valynn got about 10 minutes before the left for school, and Kyra even made sure to get her turn in. Everyone is doing well, I'm off to take a little nap while Kyleigh is sleeping.

We were to the doctors this morning for a weight check, she is up to 6 lbs. 7 oz. Kyra also had her well child visit. She weighs 24 pounds and is 33 1/2 inches. Kyra is short and skinny.

Thanks for all the well wishes.

The newest Rinkel!

It's a girl! Kyleigh Elizabeth was born on August 27th at 1:16 AM weighing 6 pounds 11.2 ounces and 20 in. long. She has three very proud siblings. Here's the link to the hospital pictures. www.our365.com You can find her under my name.

How to confuse the neighbors!

By putting orange, brown, and while balloons on the mailbox. That's what we did for Kyra's birthday party and it seems they couldn't figure out if we had had the baby or not so they started calling the neighbors. I guess we went into hiding at the same time which made it seem even more likely. I'll post pictures when I get a chance from the weekend. Saturday we attended a circus family reunion of some friends. They kids had a great time and came home with lots of goodies. Yesterday consisted of going to church and Valynn had her first catechism class. We then pretty much took it easy the rest of the day. Today has been nonstop. Kyra had a doctor's appointment and gymnastics this morning. Mason stayed with a neighbor. After gymnastics Kyra and I had lunch and ran a couple of errands before my appointment. Kyra did great at gymnastics and didn't want to leave. She gets to go back tonight when Valynn and Mason start their gymnastics classes.

Kyra's Birthday Party

Kyra had a great time at her party last night. She had a lady bug cake designed and decorated by daddy. The kids played outside and had fun running around. Kyra got a lot of nice gifts from everyone and even this morning can't decide what to play with. All the kids liked the tent/tunnel system.

Valynn had a good first week of school. She likes her teacher and classmates. Unfortunately all three kids picked up colds this week so they aren't feeling 100%.

I have said I can now have the baby any day. We got Kyra's party out of the way and school has started so we're into a routine. The downside of putting the kids to bed early is now they are all up before 6:30, even on the weekends. Tomorrow Valynn starts catechism. Monday all three kids start gymnastics and they are excited for that. Kyra and I both have doctors appointments on Monday as well. It's going to be a busy day.

Kyra's Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday Kyra. I'm sorry the video is sideways, I can't figure out how to get it upright, but it gives you an idea. She's excited that it's her birthday today. It's so hard to believe that she's 2, where does the time go? Now for my brags about her, she knows most of her colors and shapes. I can't believe how well she talks. She's putting together sentences of 7 words together and using pronouns and tenses correctly most of the time. She recently learned to get her feet off the ground when she jumps and to climb up the ladder on the playset instead of having to use the slide. Yesterday she asked when she gets to go to school, so cute.

We are having her party tomorrow night (if there is no baby).

The Start of a Busy Week

On Sunday we had the annual St. Timothy Lutheran Picnic. This is always a fun time, the service is held outside on a farm with a potluck picnic to follow. Yesterday I took the kids to Tanners Orchard where we met some friends. The kids had a great time playing and we stayed for lunch. Of course we couldn't come home until we picked up some donuts and peaches. In the afternoon I took Valynn to the doctor, she had been complaining about her ears off and on for a month, she has swimmers ear.

Today is Valynn's first day of school. I can't believe she is in first grade this year. Once again I watched her get on the bus and then drove to the school to wait for the bus to arrive so I could walk her in to her classroom. I think she feels better when I do that, as do I. The bus stop is crowded this year, there are 8 kids getting on at the end of the street, compared to 3 last year.

Today is also our 8 year anniversary. We're not doing anything special today, we took our trip to Galena earlier to celebrate.

Here's a few pictures from the past week.

Here are a few pictures from the past week. We went swimming at a friends house on Thursday. Friday we went to a Chiefs game, there were fireworks afterwards which were a great display. On Monday I took the kids to the museum and the grossology exhibit. The kids learned about burping, farting, snot, etc.

We've been busy getting things done in the garden. Last week we froze corn from the garden and from the neighbor, over 10 dozen ears. We also dug up the potatoes, carrots, and onions. The only things left in the garden are the watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers.

We've got a busy few days coming up so check back often for updates.

Back online

We're finally back online and no baby yet. I'll post a few quick items and then maybe add more later.

Concerning me and the baby. I'm 39 weeks so anytime now. I had an appointment yesterday and there was concern again about me not gaining weight and my uterus not growing. We are chalking this up to my feeling ill with flu like symptoms the last three days and not eating like I should. Today I'm feeling better and have an appetite again. If I don't gain or grow by next week they will be inducing, so I'm eating everything I can. Ironically Chantel found out yesterday that's she's not gaining weight in her pregnancy either, must be something in the water.

We have a new member on the block. Last Friday Collin joined the Chippewa Estates kids club on his moms birthday. We also lost a neighbor this week. The boy across the street with Muscular Dystrophy died Sunday night. Our thoughts are with his family.

I think I mentioned last week about the storm we got. It seems we must have had a power surge because the garage outlets quit working, Mark's CPAP quit, we lost our modem, a few light bulbs burned out, and our coffee maker timer quit. I think everything is back to normal now.

Well the kids are getting up from their naps so I best attend to them. I'll be posting pictures and other things later. It's been a hectic week and I know I forgot some things.

Thanks Grandma

for brainwashing my one year old.

Kyra: Thank you for the toast grandma.
Valynn and Mason: (laughing) She called you grandma.
Kyra: Grandma mom

I don't know how you did it but you're getting credit for things when you're not even here.

Whirlwind of a first day.

We got the outside items taken care of yesterday morning (garden and unloading the suburban) before it got too hot outside. It was a heat index of 109 degrees. Just a little warm. We got most of our unpacking done and then had some unexpectant company. We babysat for some friends while they went to the hospital. The kids had a great time with Alex and Kyle. Valynn and Mason played with Kyle (8 weeks) and stated how they can't wait until their sibling is born. Kyra could take or leave him. She pretty much ignored him except when she woke up from her nap and I couldn't hold her because I was feeding him, then she gave us a dirty look and sat next to me on the couch. Chantel had us over for supper which was nice, that way I didn't have to cook with 5 kids. I then had a MOPS meeting and took Kyle with me while Mark watched the other four. This morning we woke up to a terrible thunderstorm. 70 MPH winds and lots of thunder and lightning. The wind blew the top of our lamp post off and broke a couple of the side panels of it. Otherwise just a few branches down. Our garage door wouldn't open this morning, that remains to be seen if it was due to lightning or not, but through it all we didn't lose power. I best get back to work, I'm making meals with the neighbor ladies tonight and have company coming this afternoon.

They're BAAACCKK

We made it back about 9:30 last night. We are tired and I'm sore (I don't recommend traveling 10 hours one way when 37 weeks pregnant), but it's great having the kids home. The girls' were excited about their room and they both slept the whole night in their beds. Kyra didn't climb out of her bed until 6:00 this morning when she was ready to get up. The kids were excited to be back and we will be hitting the ground running today.

We had a great time at Adam and Paige's. The kids spent most of their time in the water, on Saturday they went into the lake around 9:00 and didn't get out until 6:00 that night. Besides swimming in the lake, they rode the jet ski, and went on the tube behind the jet ski.

We have two weeks before school starts for Mark and Valynn so we will be busy wrapping up some loose ends. I have a doctors appointment today and a meeting tonight and meals tomorrow. Mark has a supplier coming in on Thursday and Friday so we won't see much of him. We are hoping to make it to the museum one day this week and with the heat that is predicted maybe to the pool one day. We'll see how much we can squeeze in. We're headed out to the garden now before it gets too hot for the day.