Happy Birthday Kyleigh

Wow, Kyleigh is 1 year old today. It's hard to believe a year ago we were adjusting to a new baby in the house, and now I'm adjusting to running after a curious toddler while trying to get two kids off to school. Kyleigh is starting to climb, if a drawer or cupboard can open she is emptying it, and we can make out a couple of words she is trying to say.

These pictures of Kyleigh were taken two days ago when the girls were helping me dig potatoes out of the garden while the boys were at football practice. Eating dirt kept her entertained.

Kyra's Party

Sorry it's late but here are some pictures from Kyra's Birthday party. Everyone had fun and she got some great gifts. She loved her cake. Kids enjoyed playing outside and running around. We held the party in the new garage so there was plenty of room. That is lasagna on Kyra's face. How do you like the way she blew out her candles?

Saturday Mark and I went vehicle shopping. Sunday we had the Lutheran church picnic. As always the food was fabulous. Monday was spent looking and negotiating on a couple of vehicles. Tuesday Kyra started gymnastics, which she LOVED!! She did a very good job listening, I was a little nervous since it was a new teacher. Mason and Kyleigh had shots after gymnastics. We took Mason back to school, stopped at home for a quick lunch, and then took Kyleigh to the ENT. We are happy to say at this time she doesn't need tubes in her ears. The pressure was normal and her hearing was excellent. He is hoping we are nearing the end of the infections. We follow up in 6 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed. We also found a suburban that we are going to purchase.

Hope all is well, it's a whirlwind of activity here.

Happy Birthday Princess

Princess Kyra is three today. She is having her party tonight, here's her cake!

I also included a picture of the carrots from our garden. The one on the top is the size that you get from the store.
Kyleigh also has another ear infection and is being referred to an ENT. We'll find out the date today.

First day of school

Today is the first day of school for Valynn and Mason. Yes, I'm a little sad that I'm sending another off to school. I know Mason will do great, he picked his favorite breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon, mushrooms, and onions for breakfast. Mark walked the kids to the bus and then met Mason at the high school to take him to his classroom for the first day. I met the bus at the elementary school to walk Valynn to her classroom. Kyra and Kyleigh are a little lost without their older sibling but I know we'll do just fine. I have to say if this is a sign of things to come I'm going to get more done during the day, alas, I'm sure it's just a fluke that I was able to clean up after breakfast, wash dishes, unload and load the dishwasher, bake Kyra's cake, and frost her turrets all during Kyleigh's morning nap.

Today is also Mark and my 9 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated a couple of weeks ago when the kids were in North Dakota. It's hard to believe that it's been 9 years already. 9 years ago neither of us thought we would be parents to fours kids, two of whom are school age and we couldn't be happier.

We had a long weekend here with sick kids. Friday night about 11:00 Mason got sick. Around 1:30 Valynn started getting sick. We were up every 15-45 minutes with one of them, at least they can hit buckets. It was a very long night until about 6:00 in the morning when their stomachs finally settled down. We were good until about 1:00 Saturday afternoon when Kyleigh got sick. Luckily she only threw up twice. Saturday and Sunday were pretty much spent lounging around and taking it easy. Mark worked on his garage and we now have garage door openers and outside lights.

Yesterday we met some friends at Tanner's Orchard. The kids have fun playing in the playground and of course eating some cider donuts. I have a couple of pictures I hope to get later but they are on a different camera. I had to send mine in to get fixed and am borrowing a friends camera for the next few weeks because of all the times to have a camera break it's during birthday season at the Rinkel household.

We are gearing up for birthday, first up is Kyra's this Friday. She's is having a castle cake, I can't wait to see the finished product. Have a good week!

Chaos

It's been a whirlwind couple of days here. Yesterday was spent freezing peaches and blueberries. I also baked a blueberry peach pie and did laundry. Today I'm tackling 6 dozen ears of corn, broccoli, and other produce that's in the garden.

The big news from here is....we're short a couple of teeth. Valynn and Mason both lost a tooth yesterday. It was Mason's first and Valynn's 7th. My camera's not working otherwise I would post pictures. Mason had his first flag football practice. Mark said he did great, you couldn't even tell that he missed the first two practices because he was gone.

It seems that the sickies have already found us for the year. Kyra got sick last night. I knew that something wasn't right yesterday when she was laying around all morning and then took her nap around 12:30. She seemed fine last night before bed. She's been a bear so far this morning but I'll let it slide since she didn't sleep well last night, she also gets a free pass to watch TV most of the day if she would like.

I should go, I hear corn calling my name.

On the road again....

just can't wait to get on the road again. Wait, I hope to not have to travel for a LLLOOONNNGG time. We left Friday night for South Dakota, about 6 hours into the trip the muffle came apart from the engine. We stopped for the night and found someone to fix it the next morning. We arrived in South Dakota about 12 hours after we were supposed to arrive. When we showed up our kids were indifferent to us being there. Kyra asked me "What are you doing here". "I'm here to pick you up." I don't want to go home with you I want to go home with grandma". So after the cool reception we watched the kids play in the lake and visited with family. We left for Illinois on Sunday morning. About three hours in to the trip our transmission went out. We were able to get a tow back to town and a room at a hotel. There was too much damage to the suburban to fix it so we rented two cars (because you can't rent a minivan for a one way trip), and got home late last night. Mark's brother is going to pick up the suburban and do whatever he wants with it. We didn't qualify for the cash for clunkers because you have to be able to drive the vehicle onto the lot.

Needless to say it was a very long trip. The kids did wonderful with all the distractions and chaos. They were very patient and kept themselves busy as Mark and I discussed options. The drive home was long because Kyleigh got tired of traveling but it could have been much worse. We haven't decided if we're going to start looking for another vehicle right away or wait awhile, we are in no hurry because we still have two vehicles to use.

Anyway, the kids had fun, I'll try to get some pictures posted when Grandma sends them, she's having a little technical difficulty, the camera got wet when she fell in the lake (I guess this is the kids' favorite part of the trip). Beside camping and fishing, the kids also golfed up in Canada, saw relatives, played at the park, and did some sewing just the name a few activities. We are gearing up for the start of school and birthday season so I'll be posting those events as they happen.

How long would you cook this?

30 years give or take a decade? I've been in the kitchen most of the morning getting things ready for the meal prep night with the neighbors so I gave Kyleigh a frying pan to play with. She wasn't happy with just the frying pan she needed a little Brandy to go with it.

Things are going good here, I've been busy cleaning and sorting. As you can also see, I've been getting more help than I need in that department as well. I had just folded all those clothes. This is the first day Kyleigh hasn't been clingy and wanting to be held most of the time. She's finally learning to entertain herself. Each day she's taking more steps but still finds it quicker to scoot around.

Saturday night we had Brad and Chantel over for Chantel's birthday. Their three older kids were with Grandma so it was just the two little ones. It was so nice to be able to visit without kids interrupting us, etc. They were even able to stay later because Annika fell asleep in the pack n play. We played some games and relaxed.

Valynn, Mason, and Kyra are having fun in North Dakota. As of last night they still aren't ready to come home. They went camping this past weekend and were able to spend time with Dick and Linda, and Jerome, Monica, and kids. Brady and Jodi were home as well.

Last night I made my first attempt at canning pickles. I am happy to say all the jars sealed, next well have to see how they taste. After canning 11 quarts of dill pickles and a gallon of sweet pickles I still haven't made a dent in our cucumber crop and that's after giving away grocery bags full to the neighbors. I have broccoli I need to get frozen sometime this week as well.

Enjoy your week. I'm going to enjoy the quietness of the house.