I'm officially a soccer mom!!

Valynn and Mason had their first soccer practices yesterday. They had fun but it was COLD! After practice we checked out the new restaurant in Wyoming. Saturday night we played Ponyopoly. Kyra was rolling the dice for me and she was hitting every number I wanted until I made a mistake. I told her her roll anything but a four. Well, she rolled a four. I said, no not a four. Kyra replied "Sorry mommy". I guess she does understand the word sorry. Today we went to church and then to Panera Bread for some bagels since Valynn didn't have catechism. This afternoon has been spent playing on the Wii together. Mark was supposed to go out for supper with a guy he is hosting but that was canceled so instead of leftover we ordered pizza. Kyra has been my little helper with laundry today. Ignore the bare bottom, she won't keep a diaper on tonight. Tomorrow it's back to reality since Spring Break is over. I'm working on Tuesday morning and it's parent teacher conferences Thursday afternoon and Friday. So Valynn has a short week. Have a great week everyone.

Happy Easter

We are enjoying our first full Easter in Illinois. Yesterday we did the egg hunt in Princeville, all three kids got the right amount of candy. We were up at 5:00 this morning to make it to church by 6:30. The kids weren't thrilled to be up that early, but they were very well behaved. Kyra was the only one that was moving around this morning before we left and she started picking up the eggs she found. After church we ate breakfast at the church and then the kids went on an egg hunt there. We then came home and the kids had to find eggs here. Valynn and Mason were sent on a Scavanger Hunt by the Easter Bunny in order find their Easter gifts of new Nintendo DS games. They then went outside to find the eggs that the Easter Bunny was to lazy to hide and just put in a pile. It did take the kids a few minutes to find the pile. After Kyra woke up from her early nap she found the rest of the eggs hidden around the house since Valynn and Mason were too busy playing their games to look for more eggs. We are taking the rest of the day easy and have a late Easter dinner. We hope everyone had a great Easter.

Busy Day

We had a busy day yesterday. Kyra turned 19 months, we went one step forward on the potty training and one step back this week but I'm sure it'll all come together soon. The kids enjoyed licking the mixing bowl after the cookies were made. As you can see by the pictures we have very decorated cookies. We also dyed eggs yesterday. Kyra jumped right in and dyed hers as well. I made a seafood lasagna last night that turned out delicious, we ate all that I cooked, I froze half so we'll have to eat the rest soon. The most exciting part of the day for Valynn and Mason was them receiving their Wii. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Larson. The kids had fun playing it (ok, so did mom and dad). Today if the rain holds off we hope to go for an Easter Egg hunt in Princeville. Have a great Easter!!!

There must be something in the air...

or the water, or it could even be a sign that it's been a long winter. It looks like the Rinkel baby won't be the only new addition to the Chippewa Estates subdivision. There will be two more babies joining the crew of kids we already have on the block. Out of 8 houses we have 5 houses with 12 kids under the age of 6. Two of the other houses have 4 kids in 7th grade through college. That leaves one house with no children and they are moving within the year, hum, I wonder why? Carrie is due the week before me and Chantel is due the beginning of October.

Mark made it home safely from Las Vegas last night. Today he's been busy working on homework. He had fun in Vegas but was kept busy at the Expo. The kids were happy to see him. We've spent the last three days outside playing in the 60 degree weather which makes the snow were getting today depressing. The kids were having a blast going outside and I think the teachers at the school were happy for the break. Valynn and Mason have been practicing for soccer that will be starting after Easter.

I am happy to say it looks like we just about have Kyra potty trained. Knock on wood she keeps it up. She will still have the occasional accident during the day and we're still working on the pooping but for her age she is doing great. Maybe tonight I will dare put her to bed without her diaper on because she wakes up dry, she just doesn't want to go potty right away in the morning.

We got Valynn's report card on Friday. She did great as expected. There are still a couple of things the teacher says she needs to work on but Mark and I are questioning if that really is the case or the teacher just felt that she had to put something down for Valynn to improve on. For example, she needs to work on her rhyming words, that's something she's been able to do for a couple of years, in fact, Mason can even do rhyming words. We'll see what the teacher says at conferences in a couple of weeks.

This is Valynn and Mason's last week of school before Spring Break. We're actually staying around here for a Easter which will be a nice change of pace. I have a couple of things planned for Spring Break to keep the kids busy and hopefully the weather will be nice again so we can get back outside.

Went south to find this snow!

We had a busy week last week. Friday I was excited because I was supposed to sub for the Biology teacher, finally something I'm qualified to teach. Right before school started I got called down to the office, they changed my assignment to Kindergarten, Valynn's kindergarten class. Needless to say, she was excited to see me walk in but I had other thoughts. After Friday, it's still safe for me to say, "I am not a Kindergarten teacher"! They have too much energy for me and I'm not equipped to deal with the noise and whining and chaos. Friday night we went to Indiana for a baby shower. They got around 6 inches of snow so the kids and Mark headed outside because all of our snow has melted. We had a great time with Rick and Cindy and the cousins. The men took the kids to McDonald's while Cindy and I got things ready for Lori's baby shower. I guess the Diet Coke there was the best you'll find (leave it to the men to spike their diet cokes at McD's while in charge of 3 kids) We'll be anxiously awaiting to hear all about Ethan's arrival in late April. I was supposed to start my new job last night but because of the last start we got I'm going to start tonight. I will be tutoring a local high schooler in Biology one day a week.

18 month stats

Here are Kyra's 18 month stats
Weight 21 pounds 6 oz. (10%)
Height 31 1/2 in. (46%)

She is on the small side but considering she hasn't been feeling the greatest for a few weeks now, the doctor isn't too concerned about her weight gain.

Where did the weekend go?

What was supposed to be a laid back weekend turned into a busy one. On Friday Mark's Uncle Carl and Aunt Rosie stayed with us on their way back to Minnesota. We had a great visit with them. It's the first relatives of Mark's other than his siblings or parents to visit us. Saturday night we helped Brad celebrate his birthday, I think the kids were on a sugar high after the ice cream cake. On Sunday after Sunday School and Church I attended an Uppercase Living party and then we had our friends Kristen and Sheldon over for supper. It was nice visiting with everyone and the kids had a great time playing. It's going to be a crazy week around here. Today Valynn has an appointment with a pulmonologist. Tomorrow Kyra has her 18 month check up. Wednesday is MOPS. Thursday and Friday I'm working, I get to teach Biology, finally something I know. Friday we're leaving for the weekend. Here' s a couple of pictures from the weekend. Oh yeah, after a beautiful 55 degree day yesterday that melted the snow, we're supposed to get 2-4 inches today. We currently have a thunderstorm and rain. Should make for an interesting day.