6 months

I can hardly believe that Kyleigh has been with us for 6 months already. This week she has gone through a mental and physical growth spurt. She is constantly talking and the older kids think it's funny when she says mama. They start yelling "She's calling for you" which just happens to be her trying out sounds. Kyra even claims she said Kyra one day, we doubt that. She has gotten a lot more wiggly this week and on a regular basis will roll from her stomach to her back. She prefers to be sitting up but will lay on the floor for long periods of time as long as she has entertainment, i.e. a sibling. She loves suppertime and eating with the family. Next week she has her check up so I'll post her stats at that time.

It's been a busy week here, on Wednesday I had surgery on my foot so I'm hobbling around. It's feeling good and having to prop my foot up is giving me a chance to get caught up on TV shows and magazines while having an excuse to not clean house.

Valynn has her last basketball game this weekend and then we move into soccer season. She is still loving school.

I was talking with Mason's teacher this week and she said he was doing very well with his reading. He's not quite as far as Valynn was but he's at the top of his class. Hopefully the trend of having kids who can easily pick of reading continues to the other two.

Kyra is still being very independent. If she can't do it herself, she doesn't want to do it. She is also slowly giving up naps while at the same time telling me she's tired.

On Wednesday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and I sent the kids outside to ride their bikes. It is so nice to be able to let the kids go outside and not have to worry about constantly watching them. I just call the other moms, they send their kids out and we take turns checking on them depending on whose yard they end up in or just watch them ride their bikes up and down the street. I had an HOA officer meeting last night and we are going to look into getting "children playing" and/or dead end signs so people who don't live on the street will be hopefully be more cautious.

Pretty low key.

There hasn't been too much excitement this past week. Valynn's sleepover went very well, the kids had fun. They each got to make their own pizzas and play the Wii. They stayed up until 10:00 and then were awake at 6:15.

We have had a nice relaxing weekend. We decided to take it easy and haven't accomplished much but we need to do that every once in a while. Valynn had a basketball game and she is learning more every week on how to play the game. It was also Softball and Tee ball sign ups so Valynn and Mason are signed up to do that in June.

We have an extremely busy week ahead of us. We'll be playing musical kids with the neighbors this week as we each take turns babysitting. In addition to babysitting I decided to work one afternoon. I'm also meeting with the other officers of the HOA one day this week to get ready for the annual meeting. On Wednesday I'm having minor surgery on my foot and will have to take it easy for a few days. Otherwise it's the normal everyday stuff that's keeping us busy and running everywhere. Have a good week.

Wow, how time flies by when you're having fun!

We're still dealing with sick children around here. Kyleigh has an ear infection and Valynn isn't feeling well. In fact Valynn napped two days in a row. Kyra also had a rough couple of days but she is getting better and Mason still has his cough.

Kyleigh had a couple of firsts this week. We started her on cereal. She loves eating supper with us and Kyra is my biggest helper when it comes to feeding her. Kyleigh has graduated to the big bath tub and loves getting to splash in the water. Her biggest is accomplishment for the week is that she is starting to inch herself along the floor. She can turn herself and move a couple of inches when on her tummy. She is still not rolling. I guess she decided to skip that step. She is also getting more steady sitting by herself.

Mason had his Valentine's Party on Wednesday. He had fun playing games and eating candy. He enjoyed getting outside and playing this week. He also learned to cross the playset on the rings by himself.

Valynn's party was on Friday. She received more candy than any 7 year old needs. Valynn's Valentine box was a kitten this year. She has her first sleepover tomorrow night. Abigail, Isabelle, and Allie (the neighbor girls) are coming over to spend the night. They are all excited, in fact, Allie packed her bag Friday after school. Jordan is also coming over for a few hours to play with Mason but we'll send him home for bedtime. There is no school Monday because of President's Day.

This week I signed Kyra up for preschool. It doesn't seem possible that she will be old enough to go next year. In Illinois they have to be three before September 1st, so Kyra makes the cut by 10 days. It will be an adjustment for me to go from having children who are the oldest in the class to a child that will be the youngest in the class. The teacher thinks she will be fine based upon Valynn and Mason abilities. In two years we'll make the decision on whether to have her start kindergarten on time or hold her back a year. Kyra is very excited to be attending school next year and tells everyone that she sees that she will be going to school.

On February 12th Mark and I became an aunt and uncle again. Ralph (Mark's brother) and Nancy had a girl, Mandy Lynn. She joins Cindy (16), Mindy (14), Randy (11), and Brandy (9) at home. Mom and baby are doing well and we hope to meet her soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rinkel for TWOOO!!

Valynn scored her first basket on Saturday. What an improvement over the previous week, she was rebounding, playing defense, dribbling down the floor, and after a reminder from mom (yes, I'm one of THOSE parents) passing. She took quite a few shots but only one went in, but she is definitely learning the game.

Mark spent two long days cutting up logs for firewood with some friends. He is very sore today and his arms are bruised. We get a portion of the wood so we'll have a supply for next winter.

I had a wonderful Girls Day Out. We went to lunch and to the movie "New In Town". Very funny, especially if your from the midwest because it takes place in New Ulm, MN. The kids were good for Conrad (a neighbor). He watched 7 kids with no problems, except for Kyleigh's 20 minute crying fit. It was quite funny to turn onto Chippewa and see the sea of bikes and Conrad and Brad on Conrad's front porch watching the 9 kids riding their bikes with the two babies in their car seats next to the men. We had a beautiful 55 degree day and the neighbors only lost two sandals in the snow/slush in our ditch.

Sunday after church and Sunday school Mark went back over to help with the wood while the kids and I just hung out at home. For supper we went to Applebee's and then stopped to get Valentine's Day cards for the kids.

Unfortunately the kids have been sick for a couple of days which means they don't sleep well at night which translates into mom and dad not getting much sleep at night. I did get to sleep in Sunday morning since I couldn't be found in my bed and therefore dad had to get up to help Kyra.

We have Valynn and Mason signed up to play soccer in April. The are both excited to be playing again. Also, on Thursday President Obama will be in Peoria touring a CAT plant. This is the third time in 1 1/2 years that a president has been to Peoria.

I hope everyone has a good week.

Remember When?

The two of you loved each other so much that you would sleep next to each other? I'm sure I'll be pulling this picture out in the future. They both ended up in our bed this morning and I couldn't resist taking a picture. I was going to take a better one but didn't want to risk waking them.

I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Tomorrow Valynn has basketball in the morning. Mark is going to help some friends cut down a tree and then we'll have some wood to burn next winter. I am going on a "Girls Day Out" with the neighbor ladies. Somehow Mark gets out of watching the kids again (the first time we did this the kids were in ND). The neighbor dad is going to watch my four on top of his three. He's a brave brave man, but he volunteered, he's watched the older three before and they were no problem so the only one that could cause any trouble would be Kyleigh.

Have a good weekend all.

No rest for the weary

It seems like we're always busy and have something going on. Last week Kyleigh had a little cold so she wasn't sleeping well. I was supposed to go in one day to work and I called to cancel because we had gotten so little sleep. Saturday Valynn had her first basketball game. She did very well and got close to making a basket a few times. It is so funny to watch them play a game and you can definitely tell the kids who have older siblings that play because they know what to do. Saturday night Mark and Valynn went to the Father Daughter dance for Girl Scouts. They had a great time and said they danced most of the songs. On Sunday we went to Bloomington after church to visit some friends. The five time was the charm with seeing them. We had a great visit and stayed longer than planned since the Super Bowl Party we were going to attend was canceled. The kids are still busy with their after school activities. Valynn decide to remain in ice skating, Mason went back to gymnastics, and Kyra is still in gymnastics. All of their activities are on Monday so I keep busy driving around but it's only for one day. Today I worked a half day. It was nice being back in the school but I don't know if I'll be able to do it anymore. Kyleigh threw a fit for the sitter today and I hate leaving a child with someone when that child is going to cause problems, especially when I'm not paying the babysitter. Yesterday I had a nice afternoon, all three kids took a nap at the same time, unfortunately I had to wake them up to take them to their activities.

In the basketball picture, Valynn is number three on the left. How about Mason and Buttons, they were both sleeping so soundly. Valynn was excited to feed Kyleigh a bottle in the bottom picture but you can see that Kyleigh doesn't think much of a bottle.

5 months

Kyleigh is five months today. She still isn't rolling over a lot and only once has gone from her back to her stomach. She is sitting better on her own everyday. She just gets so excited when she's sitting that she falls over. She is speaking with more sounds. We've gone through a bit of a rough patch with her, she hasn't slept well or been her happy self since we've been home from Christmas. The last couple of days she has been acting more like her old self.

Kyra has gotten to where she likes to dress herself in the morning. Last week we went to town with her in her pajamas. On Friday we went to IN with her shirt and pant on backwards and her shoes on the wrong feet.

This past weekend we were in Newburgh, IN to visit Rick, Cindy, Derrick, Lori, Ethan, Tyler, and Brandon. We had a great visit as always. It was nice to meet Ethan who is 9 months. Kyleigh was instantly intrigued by him but he didn't think much of her, then when he did get interested in her she didn't want anything to do with him. I was going to take a picture of the two of them together and it never happened, but he's not much bigger than she is.

Valynn and Mason had fun playing Rock Band 2 while we were there. They got better all the time with hitting the right notes. I even took a turn and didn't do too bad my first time out.

On the way home we stopped in Vincennes to visit one of my high school classmates and her family. We had a great visit.