This Crazy Wonderful Life

This is....um..embarressing.

2011-09-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

Please don't look at the date of my last post.

I almost didn't even remember what my blog address was.

Its been that long.

I know.

Embarressing.

Moving on.

We have been crazy busy.

What with?

Just everyday stuff.

School.

Canning and freezing produce from our garden.

Potty training (Audrey).

Camping.

Wood cutting.

The mountains of laundry that can't seem to conquor.

Oh and I didn't even get on here to announce some really BIG news.

You know I'm growing a little one in me.

ITS A BOY!

Yup, 5 boys!

We definatly love boys around here:)

(Now that is embarressing that I never got on here to tell y'all that!)

I'm not sure I'll ever get caught up on here but for now I'll just start with the present and if I can find time to get on here again soon I'll show you lots and lots of pictures of what has been keeping us busy:)

This little guy growing in me has been sucking my energy completely dry. I don't remember being this tired with the rest of the kids but maybe because I have 5 other kids and being prego makes me this tired.

Just thinking about it makes me yawn.

Have I ever told you how much I love my bed?

I do feel like things are going to start calming down a little bit.

So I will be on here again soon, I promise.

(Ethan and I did a little Pregnancy Photo shoot today of my baby bump at 27 weeks today ....here's a little peak)

CRASH

2011-08-08T19:27:00.000-05:00

Some of you might know of my wish and prayer to have a bigger house.

We moved in here when we got married 10 years ago, renting from Ben's parents, with plans to live here a year or two. Years went by quicker that we thought they would and we just kept adding to the our family with more and more kids. We ended up buying the place from his parents, thinking that we would soon be able to tear down the house ( I wanted to burn it down and be the one that lit the match!) and build a new house in its spot.

As it happens, things just haven't worked out that way and now we are in a tiny house with no money to do anything about it. And now our adding a 6th baby to the mix soon has made me feel the pinch that comes when I think about 8 people living in a 2 1/2 bedroom house.

So, there is this really BIG oak tree that is very close to our house. It has to be 200-300 years old. We've been noticing that it seems to be splitting down the middle. I've been nervous about it because it looked like it could very well demolish our house if it fell. I kinda hoped and prayed a bit that when it fell, we wouldn't be home and that it would destroy the house. It was one of my only hopes that would get me that new house.

Then, this last Friday night, after a big rainstorm, we woke to Ethan yelling to us that the big tree fell. And it did, split right down the middle with it just barely scraping the side of the house, taking a few shingles with it. I have to say I was a little disappointed that it hadn't worked the way I had hoped. But I am so very thankful that God protected our children from that monstrous tree. It could have very easily went through the roof and landed on the kids' bedroom where they sleep on bunk beds.

So now, I have to have hope that God has already decided how we will make it in this house or how He will get us out of it. He showed me that HE's in charge and I need to trust His timing. I may get a little cranky and anxious about what we are going to do, especially in the long winters we have here with all of us squished together all day, everyday. He has a plan for us and I just need to be patient and wait for it. ( if you know me at all- this is soooo hard for me)

Thanks you, Jesus, for your protection!

1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

2011-08-08T19:05:00.000-05:00

You might be wondering why I'm posting this much in one day.

Ben and the big boys are fishing.

Ben has fishing on the brain.

Which is nice because its putting fish in our freezer.

He has been trying to go out once or twice a week with the kids and they have been catching their limits of Sunfish every time.

Which is over a 100 at a time ( or more depending on how many kids he has with!).

He even taught Clint and Ethan how to clean and fillet the fish so he's not the only one out there cleaning them for hours at a time.

They even took this crazy mama with once.

He made me put my own worms on ( and you need to realize that I even had to break the worms into smaller pieces with my bare fingers to make them last longer ) and take my own fish off the hooks. That was NOT the fun part. The fun part was watching how excited the kids were each time they pulled one in. Fishing is a really fun thing to do for really cheap. And I'm glad I have a husband who knows how to fish and where to catch them. He is quite the fisherman if I do say so myself:)

Oh, a camping we will go....

2011-08-08T18:53:00.000-05:00

The kids were thrilled that we finally taking them camping.

I mean, summer is about over and we hadn't taken them even once this whOOOle summer. Such mean parents!

But when your daddy is a truck driver its hard to make time for camping.

A big group of our friends were all camping together and we'd really wanted to go with them but didn't know until the night before if it would work out for us. So we hurried up and packed the camper up and headed out there.

I think we all really needed it. The kids rode their bikes all over, swam alot and just had fun being together. My favorite part is after we get the kids to bed and all up grown ups can sit around the fire and laugh and relax. We only stayed 2 night but we were thoroughly wiped out by the time we made it home.

I'm hoping we can get one more camping trip in this summer or even this fall.

Enjoy some of the pictures of our fun there.

( notice I don't have hardly any pictures of the older kids because they did their best to not hang around me:)

It's About Time!

2011-08-08T18:35:00.000-05:00

Someone in our house has been impatiently waiting to lose some ivory.

Someone who is 6 years old and thinks that he has waited long enough.

Especially since his younger cousin has lost multiple teeth before him. How dare she;)

It finally happened.

First a little wiggle.

Then when he couldn't wait any longer he had his older brother pull it out with a pliers.

Yup, he was desperate!

Then after another day or two, he thought the tooth next to that empty space felt a teensy bit loose too. He didn't even wait for it to loosen up more. He had his brother with the trusty pliers there to yank it out.

He looks a little crazy here, and I think he might be if he would let that brother of his near him with a pliers again.

He is always testing out his other teeth now because he "needs" money, he says. That tooth fairy gave him a whole paper dollar for each tooth, and to him that's some easy money!

2011-07-24T21:14:00.000-05:00

Lets just ignore the fact that its been close to a month since I've been on here and the fact that I'm going to skip over a bunch of stuff that we've done because I don't want to bore you all with my catching up- maybe I'll get to our anniversary trip at some point but not today.

After some of the hottest muggy weather we've had in a long time, we've been enjoying a few days of almost perfect sunny days. This last week, Ben decided to get out the fishing rods much to the glee of the kids and take them sunny fishing from his parents dock. I don't think the boys could have had a better fishing day than that one. They were bringing in fish left and right and as fast as they could get the lines in the water. Ben had a couple of his youngest siblings with as well so he didn't get to do any actual fishing himself, he was so busy taking fish of hooks and dealing with all the fun stuff you have to when your fishing with kids:) At one point Owen dropped his rod into the lake and Ben's sister had to go in after it:) Ben figured they had caught at least 140 sun fish but after throwing the smallest ones back he ended cleaning 92!!! That means we will be having a BIG fish fry here soon. I stopped over there when they were about finished and took a couple pictures of some of their catches.

Blake haulin' in one of his fish

Clint, proud of one of his many fish

Ethan loves fishing:)

Needless to say, they are hoping Dad takes them out again this week when he gets a chance!

Since the boys were out fishing, Audrey and I decided to do a little Photo Session of her. We packed up her doll and her purse and headed to Paynesville to try and get a few shots. We had fun, just her and me:) I promised her a treat when we were done and ended up getting some donuts and juice for her and iced coffee for me.

Here are a couple of the shots I got. She really doesn't like to look AND smile at me at the same time. Next time I'm going to have to bring someone with me to get her to do that.

I took a couple at Ben's parents while he was cleaning the fish too. And of course Owen wanted in on them as well:)

2011-06-30T05:00:00.001-05:00

The Story of Us

Once upon a time {about 15 years ago} there was a 14 year old girl and a 16 year old boy. They had some big crushes going on for each other. He called her. He asked her "out". She said yes. Their parents thought they were pretty young. Thought they didn't know what they wanted. They fell in love. The boy was always telling the girl that he was going to marry her. She liked the idea but really didn't want him telling her what she would do. So she broke up with him. She started to believe her parents, that they were too young for this kind of relationship. The boy was heartbroken. He was mad. He decided that he would get her back by making her incredibly jealous. She went on with her life, having fun with her friends. But there was always that little spark of love in her heart for him. Meanwhile the boy started to lift weights, get a pickup, start to hang around some other girls. After about a year of being without each other, the girl started to miss the boy. She started seeing him with his cool pickup, his big strong muscles, hanging out with different girls and she got jealous { just what he wanted}. He wasn't about to ask her out again, so the girl had to call the boy up this time and get him back. The good thing was, he still wanted her back so it wasn't too hard. They fell in love again. They were a little bit older and knew what they wanted.

They dated for a few more years. Then one night the boy came over to her house and sat on the porch swing with the girls dad. He asked for the the girls hand. The dad said "Are you sure you want her? She's kind of a handful" Thankfully the boy said "Yes".

The next day the boy and the girl were going to go take some carpet to her sisters house. The girl picked up the boy. He said he had to run up to his room to get some socks. She followed him. Instead of pulling out some socks he pulled out a ring. He asked. She said yes.

Ten years ago, she wore a beautiful white dress, he looked handsome in his black tux. She walked down the aisle. He was waiting. He smiled. She smiled. They both said "I Do".

Ten years later, the boy and the girl now have 4 boys and 1 girl and 1 more little one on the way. He works hard to provide what his family needs. She takes care of their children. They have gone though the trials that most married couples go through, but they've made it through with more love than they had before. They might not have alot of money, may not live in a fancy house {or even a big house}, but they have a big love.

They would do it all over again.

2011-06-26T19:07:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting to get on here to write for a while but just haven't mustered up the mind power to actually come up with anything interesting. This little baby inside of me is sucking out my brain ( what's left of it anyways after the 5 previous ones did there best to rid me of it!).

Random things that I can somehow remember that have happened since my last post. They will probably not be in order of when they actually took place. I'm too lazy to look at a calender to try and recreate the order of events.

{1} There is in fact a real live baby inside of me! I heard the proof! The little heartbeat was be-bopping away in the 160's range:) Such a fun moment! I LOVE hearing my babies heartbeats for the first time!

{2} As most of you know- I have had to deal with Blood Pressure issues since they made their appearance when I was pregnant with the Oyster (Owen). I've been on medication since then and have figured I would always be on it. But when I found out I was expecting again I stopped taking the med mostly because there was a warming to NOT take if you are pregnant. I hoped that things would be ok until I would go to the Dr. So when I had my first appt. my BP was really high- like 160/96 or something. They figured I was just freaking out a bit from worrying about what my BP would be like at the drs. They let me lay down for a few minutes and took it and it had dropped quite a bit. So now I'm just monitoring it myself and it hasn't gotten out of control as of yet. I"m really hoping I won't have to go back on the meds because the ones I can take when your pg have annoying side affects. Please pray that I can avoid these this time around!

{3} Last night at last minute we decided to go to the carnival in a nearby town. They kids were super excited and I just really wanted some mini- donuts! When we got there people were lining up for a parade that we didn't know was happening. We had some really happy kids to get parade candy and they made out like bandits with all the sugar they were able to score! The kids got to go on a couple rides each ( because when you have 5 kids I gets spendy really, really fast!) They enjoyed the ones they got to go one and Ethan was screaming and Blake was pretty scared but they had a blast.

{4}I feel like I'm getting out of the sick stage of this pregnancy. I usually have a bad day every other day now. I'm 13 weeks now so I'm guessing it should end very soon ( I'm hoping!). I'm so tired though- I have to try and get a nap in everyday or I end up feeling really sick by the evening. Its nice that Owen and Audrey still take naps and I can usually get the older boys to watch a movie or do something quiet while I rest.

{5} Ben and I are looking forward to this week. We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary on Thursday. We have always said that for our 10th we would do something BIG like a cruise or a some other amazing vacation. But when you add 5 kids in, more bills than you can handle and Ben's busy work schedule with no vacation time trying to make that dream possible isn't very easy or realistic. I had at least hoped to get out of this state! But alas, it was not meant to be. I'm just thankful that we are able to get away, just the 2 of us, for some fun and be able to relax. We are doing it major cheap-O! We are going to pull our camper to Taylor's Falls and go camping and maybe some canoeing, go on a ferry boat tour, try the Alpine slides and if I can convince Ben, maybe some go-carts:) I am sooooo excited about this time we get to spend with each other. We haven't went anywhere just the 2 of us for longer than one night since we got married so this will be a very big treat! I'm so thankful to Ben's sister and her husband for their willingness to stay with our kids for a couple nights and fro Ben's parents for taking them for a night also. It is insanely difficult to find people to watch all your kids for 1 night much less 3 nights!

{6} We have some new pets. I do not like them. I despise them. Raccoons. Two of them. A couple weeks ago we had a whole family of them living in a tree next to our house. Ben went out with his manly self and disposed of them in a typical manly way. With a gun. Of course it had to be his biggest, baddest gun because let's face it, he really doesn't have enough chances to use that spendy, scary gun enough. While he was out ridding our place of those pesky varmints, I was crouched on the floor covering my ears from the scary thought of him missing the raccoons and the bullets going into the house. Thankfully my Benny is quite an excellent shot and was able to get a few of those naughty things including a big mama coon. Unfortunately, this left a bunch of baby raccoons wandering around our yard wondering where their mama went. We killed a couple of them but then the boys decided they wanted them as pets and caught 2 of them with fishing nets and put them in a pet carrier. They've been feeding them and yesterday when I demanded that they let them go, the stinky little things refused to leave. Now we have to raccoons sticking close by our place. I'm really hoping they leave so this Mama doesn't have to take things into her own hands and dispose of those creatures! Coon Skin Hats anyone??!!

So now Audrey just informed me that she has a messy pants so I'll leave you for now and hopefully continue regaling you with all the very exciting happenings of our crazy household. ( being very sarcastic of course, our life is not very exciting- just loud!) I will for sure be writing some mushy stuff about my dear Hubby this week, I'm sure you all can't wait to read ;-P.

{Newborn Photos} Paizli

2011-06-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

You might remember the pictures I took of my sister Jaclyn when she was pregnant.

She had her baby!!!!!!

Little Miss Paizli Adelle is here!!!

I had the most fun taking pictures of her. I think I was there for 4 hours. It took a while to get her to sleep but after that it was like a dream taking photos of her. She was like a little doll, so perfect! I could have spent even more time taking pictures of her but the card on my camera (which is actually quite small) only held about 300 shots.

Paizli is so absolutely beautiful. It made me very anxious for my little baby to get here:)

I had a very hard time picking out the pictures I'd share with you but here are my favorites....

I love her little face in this one...she look like a little baby elf:)

{Newborn Photos} Jacob

2011-06-10T14:35:00.002-05:00

So about a month ago, I had the opportunity to photograph a little sweet new baby boy.

Up until then, I hadn't taken pictures for anyone other than family so when this mama asked if I'd take her baby's pictures when he was born I was really quite nervous about it but really excited too! I hadn't taken any pictures of babies before ( besides my own) and none since I had gotten my DSLR camera.

The family was very pleasant to work with and they were patient with my own inexperience. I think things went well and the pictures did turn out good:) Although the little guy decided he wanted to be awake during his session, we were able to get some good shots of him. His mama told me afterwards that he slept for hours! He just didn't want to miss out on all the fun I guess:) He is one cute little guy!

Happy (belated) Birthday to my girl!

2011-06-09T17:11:00.000-05:00

I'm extremely late is posting this. I will take the bad mom award for this. But I have been feeling pretty lousy lately with this pregnancy going in full force right now so maybe I have somewhat of an excuse.

Happy 2nd Birthday

Audrey Elizabeth!

( her birthday was last Friday- you can get on my case if you must! naughty mama!)

You are such a blessing to us. You are indeed our little girlie-girl! Always loving anything frilly, pink, and sweet! You are so beautiful. Your smile lights up our hearts and gives me the butterflies! I love how your little girlie arms will wrap around my neck with a big hug and your kisses are the sweetest thing ever! Your brothers are so in love with you, they can't believe how fun it is to have a sister. They would protect you with everything in them. You are Daddy's little princess. He loves his "girl"! We love watching you as you are growing out of being a baby and into a little girl. We look forward to seeing what a beautiful little lady you will become. Happy Birthday my sweetie pie, I hope you know how much you are loved and cherished!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had her birthday party at a nearby park and invited lots of cousins and friends to celebrate with us.

It was a very sticky, humid day, but we had lots of fun!

Little stinker was trying to sneak a cupcake before everyone got there!

We went though almost 6 gallons of lemonade! I did say it was hot out!

I made 72 cupcakes and there were only a handful left!

Mama and the birthday girl:)

Audrey and Owen with a few of their cousins.

She was so ready to blow out those candles we didn't even make it to the end of the song:)

Only part of cake Audrey will eat....the frosting! She gets that from her Daddy!

She received many lovely things from her guests. She loved every single thing!

And she ate almost an entire tube of chap stick!

Can you guess what this means???

2011-05-31T08:28:00.000-05:00

Audrey is sporting a new shirt these days.

She's pretty excited, as are her brothers.

That's right!

A new little baby will be joining this crazy bunch!

We are due December 29th.

And we are pretty excited about it too!

Can't wait to see who this little person will be:)

( you might have been wondering why I've been so absent on the blog here the last couple weeks....been extra tired and not feeling the best. Plus, I've been DYING to tell you all and just couldn't think of anything else besides this new little one growing in me that would be worthy of talking about and didn't want to slip and blurt it out until I was ready!)

Some of my Favorites

2011-04-30T18:51:00.000-05:00

It's been almost a week since Easter and I just haven't gotten around to posting pictures on here from that beautiful sunny day. Just wish the weather would have stayed like it was.I did post lots of them on FB but wanted to make sure to get some on here.

Here are a ~~FEW~~ lot of my favorites:)

( And I'm sorry if it takes a long time to load- I do shrink my pictures but it still seems to take some computes to load them)

Little G checking out Grandma's newest baby calves.

Seriously, what is cuter than little kissing cousins?!

Lots of Bale jumping going on at the farm

Ethan is always ready to strike a pose!

Audrey making friends with a calf not much bigger than herself:)

Mama and all her girls! I only hope I can look as good as her when my kids are all grown up!

What's a trip to the farm without a ride on the Gator?

You know you are totally jealous of me!

My good looking little brother who is driving now! Where did the time go?

I had to leave you with a picture showing just how beautiful the day was. Lovin' that green, green grass!

Especially the beautiful ladies sitting there!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T21:36:00.000-05:00

He Is Risen!

Hallelujah!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Let's remember why we celebrate Easter.

The King is Risen!

He is Alive!

2011-04-22T19:11:00.001-05:00

This week has been super gloomy, rainy, and just plain depressing!
I'm really hoping that Easter will be sunny.
I really think that this lack of sun has taken it's toll on all of our attitudes around here- especially mine!

I'm really happy that last Sunday before the gloominess started I let the kids talk me into taking them to a park. I told them I'd take them after I finished up a sewing project that I had been dying to try. Here's a little peek of it.

I've been wanting to try and make a Pillow Case Dress for some time and when I was going through the kids' closet, I found a set of pillowcases we had gotten from my Grandma for our wedding. We hadn't used them, they were pretty special. All the time she put into embroidering them. I felt that I needed to save them for something special. I couldn't think of anything more special than making one of them into a dress for Audrey:)

So after finishing that project up I figured I'd better do what I said I'd do. I really didn't want to drive far with our big beast sucking the gas down like she does, so we went to the town 6 miles away and went to their dinky little park. The kids had a blast! Here are some pictures from our little outing at the Windmill Park.

The Merry-Go-Round was by far the favorite! I was getting dizzy just watching them and felt like loosing my lunch after pushing it around.

What's a trip to the park without a little swingin'

Does this make me a mean mom? That I take pictures of them when they get hurt? Sorry, I just love their expressions!

And yes,

That's my kid!

Pinecone Soup

2011-04-21T12:11:00.000-05:00

Owen and Audrey have a recipe they would like to share with you.

They made it themselves and decided it was quite delicious!

Pine Cone Soup

Fill a pot with pine cones.

Find a large stick and stir the pine cones until they look ready.

Have your little sister taste to make sure its ready.

If it looks like she likes it take a taste yourself.

Lick the pine cones.

Sit and enjoy the rest of the soup with each other.

Best eaten with a sister/brother.

Decide that it is the bestest soup ever!

Seeing Double

2011-04-19T13:42:00.001-05:00

After waiting weeks ( 3 to be exact!) we finally were healthy enough to go and visit Ben's newest neices.

Yes! TWINS!!!

Ben's little sister Emily and her husband Matt just welcomed beautiful twin girls into their family.

Now they have 5 beautiful daughters.

Hannah Maurine and Amelia Rose

Oh My! I had so much fun holding those precious babies.

( I think I may have been hit with Baby Fever )

I think Ben might have the fever too:)

When You Run Out Of Pants

2011-04-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

What do you do?

When all of your pants are soaking wet and covered in mud from playing out in the springtime thaw?

It's Obvious.

To a 3 year old.

Your little sisters skirt.

A Walk in Muddy Shoes

2011-04-18T08:46:00.000-05:00

Our walks have begun again.

Down our driveway.

We love our adventures down the driveway.

We look for neat rocks.

Look for gopher holes.

Sing silly songs.

Have races.

The kids like to walk around out in the field.

They like to walk out to the little swamp to see what birds and animals they could find.

But this time of year is treacherous to walk through the field.

You fall in the mud.

You get stuck in the mud.

You get in trouble for walking in the muddy field while wearing your new shoes.

You find a feather and get really excited thinking its from a swan.

Until Mom tells you its a turkey feather from the turkey farm across the road.

I love our walks.

I wrote about how much our walks mean to me HERE.

Help a Mother Out

2011-04-16T17:06:00.000-05:00

I'm here to ask for your help.

For a bloggy friend of mine.

Her son drew a picture.

He entered it into a contest in hopes that his drawing of a whale will be made into blankets for needy children.

Will you help?

Please?

Pretty, pretty please?

With a Cherry on Top?

You will?!?!

Thanks.

Click HERE to get to the link and read more about this contest:)

Oh, and check out her BLOG HERE!

I love reading about her adorable kids. I love her style of writing too.

I know you'll enjoy it:)

Tell her I sent ya.

My Asphalt Cowboy

2011-04-16T09:24:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week the kids and I walked to the end of the driveway to wait for Daddy to get home.

This is his Ride.

We saw him coming from a ways off and the kids were pretty excited to get to see his truck.

Have I ever told you how good Ben is at backing up?

Let's just say he can back from the highway onto our narrow driveway and all the way to the the curve in our drive. And our driveways is loooong!

Look at that boy, backin up like that!

So proud of him!

I can hardly back out of my parking space with a small car let alone a semi!

This is why I married him.

Or maybe this is why-

He's just so darn cute in a bandanna!

( but will someone tell him that he NEEDS a haircut!)

You might be wondering where the children are while I'm taking way too many pictures of a boy in a truck.

Take a little look see down below.

Blake was supposed to be bring the little kids back to the house in the stroller but once again didn't listen. So instead be let the stroller go down the ditch with the little kids in it and took Audrey out while letting Owen try to walk out the the muddy field. He was crying at this point and trying to get his boots out which led to his boots staying stuck in the mud and him walking through it with his socks.

It was quite the episode.

Most things in this family are.

2011-04-07T21:29:00.000-05:00

2011-04-04T19:22:00.000-05:00

We've got ~~Puddles~~ a Lake

Which means lots, and I mean LOTS, of muddy, wet laundry and floors for Mama.

But it is sooooo worth it to be able to let them run free outside again!

Sowing Seeds

2011-04-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

I've always wanted to plant some grass inside the house for an Easter decoration.

This was the year to do it.

Mostly because I actually bought some grass seed in time.

Plus, I had potting soil from planting all Ben's seeds.

So it worked out perfectly.

The kids were pretty excited about it.

Even Clint.

Although, he is NOT a fan of me taking pictures of him.

So even though he looks extremely not interested about this little fun, he was probably the most excited:)

Fill up the cartons with dirt.

Plant the seeds

Think Blake used enough seed?

Of course, you must water the seeds.

( oh, and I am getting extremely annoyed that Walmart has no watering cans....we've been using Audrey's little beach toy one to water all our vegetable plants!)

And stick your fingers in and squish the dirt.

Laugh and giggle a whole bunch!

And most importantly, climb up to the table after Mommy just cleaned it up and stick your fingers in it again ;)

When a boy gets hurt....

2011-04-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Owen was being his boyish self and following his brothers around outside.

They went up to their fort in the upstairs of the garage so he followed.

Or attempted to.

But fell backwards off the ladder.

And hurt his arm.

We thought maybe it was broken.

If it had been my first child I would have probably been freaking out and rushed him to the ER.

But this experienced Mama knows that if there aren't any bones sticking out or blood squirting anywhere to just let it play out on its own.

So I snuggled him on the couch.....

Gave him lots of attention...

Wrapped his arm in a sling.....

And waited it out....

It bothered him for the rest of the day.

But by the next day, it was like it had never happened.

Must have just been a sprain or bruised.

Thankfully I was calm enough to NOT panic and rush him to the ER where it would have cost us an Arm and a leg since we didn't have insurance.

(Oh and that was him the day after the accident in the previous post- the one with the life jacket. So you can see that he's feeling much better!)

2011-04-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

What?

Your kids don't wear life jackets out in the snow?

That's Wierd!

Sick of Being Sick!

2011-03-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

After almost 3 weeks of sickness around here, we are finally on the mend!

Which means I can finally get caught up on all the laundry and cleaning that this sickness has left in its wake.

I was sick for almost 2 weeks with a head cold and cough, then just when I thought I was getting better something else came into our house.

I'm not sure what we had but it seemed like influenza.

With myself being the most affected.

A horrible lingering cough.

Congestion.

Fevers.

Chills.

Body Aches.

Plugged ears.

Sweats.

Headaches.

It was not fun!

So thankful its over!

Please, Lord, keep anymore sickness away from our home for a while!

I hope everyone else that has been sick gets better and is doing better as well.

I can't wait for spring to get here, so I can air out my house and get rid of all the germs.

A Year Ago

2011-03-22T14:36:00.000-05:00

This week marks an anniversary.

A year ago Audrey came down with pneumonia. She was rushed to the children's hospital by ambulance. because her chest x-ray didn't look quite right.

We ended up finding out that she had an extreme type of a Hiatal Hernia. Her entire stomach was pushed into her lungs.

You can read about all of it HERE and HERE.

I'm not going to go into it much because most of you remember, and if you don't you can click on the links and read about it.

I'm very thankful this week for God guidance in that trial. I"m very thankful that He was there for us in that time.

I'm even thankful that He allowed her to get the pneumonia, otherwise we would never had known about the hernia until it was much worse and causing much more dangerous problems.

Thank you Jesus for keeping my children and our family in your Hands!

Have You Met The Traveling Tulips???

2011-03-20T18:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if I have ever told you much about The Traveling Tulips before.

So I guess I better explain if I haven't.

It started even before I was born.

With my mom and her sister-in-laws and some cousins, I believe.

They would dress up like old ladies and hit the bars and I think do some skits of some sort for showers and such.

I may be off a little, but its close.

For some reason my sister and I inherited her love of being dumb and acting strange.

They were called The Lavender Lilies.

We, wanting to keep with the flower theme, thus came the idea of

The Traveling Tulips.

I believe our first "gig" was at a friends personal shower.

We don't know what got into us but just wanted to have some fun and make people laugh.

So we got gussied up and drove over.

The entire drive over there the car was filled with screaming and laughing and terror and thinking "What in the world is wrong with us! We are so stupid. They are going to think we are nuts"

Because.

They had no idea who was actually coming.

The Traveling Tulips.

{ Otherwise known as Mildred and Poppy Tulip}

It was really awkward when we arrived.

They didn't know what to think.

I think the Bride was a little embarrassed and confused.

We were too.

We didn't have an act yet and just kinda sat there looking like some weirdos!

After that, we decided that we NEEDED an act of some sort so we wouldn't look like total idiots.

We started popping in at friends and cousins personal showers.

We did our church's Mother/Daughter Tea.

Baby showers.

Mom's groups.

We started out by doing some songs and then incorporated our "famous" Seminars!

I can't remember how long we've been doing it but it's got to be almost 10 years.

We have had so much doing it.

Mostly because we love making people laugh and laughing at ourselves.

Our friends have been so jealous of our life as the Tulips , that we decided to invite them to dress up with us and go out for a night on the town. This past Friday was the night.

Everyone shopped for the best outfit and practiced their best southern accent for their night of being a Tulip.

The night arrived and we all met at my house to get ready.

So much laughing, and screaming at how funny everyone looked.

Everyone got Honorary Tulip names and wore name tags so we could remember.

{Here most of us are, we did pick up 2 more on the way}

We all loaded up in my big van and headed out.

We stopped at a bridge on the way for a "Photo Shoot".

Here are my shots.

Don't I look HOT!!!?!!!

If you want to see the rest of the Gals in all their glory on the bridge, head over to my good friend Sarah's { or should I say Agnes Tulip} blog.

Click here to go to Sarah's Blog

After that we stopped at A&W for a snack to keep us going until we stopped for supper.

Then we hit up the Saver's and T.J Maxx.

Let's just say we were noticed!

And we loved it!

These 2 are my gorgeous sisters Gertie and Poppy{ my partner in crime} Tulip

{real life sisters Jaclyn and Christa}

After all the store closed we headed to LaCastia for the 1/2 price appetizers and finished the night out my laughing til it hurt.

It was one of the BEST nights ever!

Love my girls.

Can't wait til next time.

Now Introducing.....

2011-03-17T16:53:00.000-05:00

Chubs

(also goes by the name Crazy Eyes and Gary)

(Don't ask why, I'm still confused by the multiple names)

(just so you know- its a boy which means , no, I will NOT be milking him. He will be hamburger when he's big enough)

But for now- he's a cute little calf that we are having fun feeding milk replacer to. He came from my mom's herd because they only keep the girls to milk later on.

We are finally having a little "Hobby Farm" We are planning on raising chickens this year too. Hopefully we'll be getting the baby chicks in a couple weeks. So excited for spring this year!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.....

2011-03-15T11:13:00.001-05:00

How does your garden grow?

I don't know about hers but mine is growing in my pantry.

All the tomatoes are up.

And the squash, and even some of the watermelon.

Ben is sad though.

His precious pepper plants never came up.

So he replanted them last night.

We are so ready for spring and there is still no spring in sight here.

Can't even see the ground yet for all the icky snow and ice everywhere.

"Spring!!!!! WERE ARE YOU?????????"

We can't wait to run barefoot in the sweet smelling grass.

We can't wait to dig our toes in the black warm dirt.

We can't wait to go outside and not have to bundle up for fear of frostbite.

We can't wait to ride our bikes and go for long walks in the evenings.

We even can't wait for that first mosquito bite!

Yes, you heard me right!

I am so sick of winter right now that I would give anything to get a giant mosquito bite on my bum just so that it could be summer!

That tells you right there how much we need spring!

A New Addition

2011-03-15T09:43:00.002-05:00

So we have welcomed a new little one.

It's a baby boy.

He's got big eyes.

Big ears.

Smells a little.

Black and White.

Four legs.

Furry.

Drinks a gallon of milk a day.

Lives in the barn.

What is he???

I was going to give you a little sneek peek at what he looks like but blogger is once again being annoying and won't let me upload any pictures...so lets see you answers and I'll show you what he is when I am able to put pictures up again.
(update....i finally was able to add a photo...what do you think our new addition is??)

Pregnancy Photos {Jaclyn & Paizli}

2011-03-11T17:15:00.001-06:00

I had a wonderful opportunity to take my baby sister's pregnancy pictures on Wednesday.

I had such a great time taking pictures of her beautiful baby belly where my soon to be born little neice is at the moment.

My sister Jaclyn is such a beautiful pregnant mama and was great to photograph!

{ She was a much better subject than my squirmy little kids }

We also got a few with her her son Zander- only a couple- he just wanted to watch Toy Story;)

Here are a few of my favorites.

I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures as much as I did taking them.

2011-03-09T12:30:00.000-06:00

Wordless Wednesday

{who are we kidding- I always have to have a couple words}

I don't know if you know, but Owen {hearts} coffee very much.

He begs for it everyday, and I do usually let him have a cup with me.

{watered down with milk and creamer}

Its even more fun when you get to drink it out of your new Lego mug!

Just What We Needed

2011-03-07T18:29:00.000-06:00

Weekend Recap

Ben was having some sinus issues that were being caused by him having an abscessed tooth. He took his second route of the week off because he was going to have a root canal. We decided that if he was feeling well enough afterwards we would head to the Cities and take the kids to the Mall Of America.The kids had been asking to go to the Lego Store for over a year.

After he declared that he would be able to handle driving and the stress of the Mall, I booked us a hotel off Priceline. Such a good deal. $45 for a 3 star hotel. I. Love. Priceline!

We very quickly packed- I mean like in a half an hour we were all packed and just had to load up in the van.

The kids were super pumped!

We checked into the hotel and then headed to the mall. My kids couldn't believe how big it was. I mean, they have only been to the mall in Willmar maybe 2 times in there life and that mall is pretty pathetic.

The only place the kids wanted to go { and Ben} was the Lego Store. They brought their money and we let them buy something that they just had to have. Believe me, it took a looooong time to decided. Owen picked a Lego coffee mug:) I thought that we would just leave after that but Ben surprised the boys with a ride at Nickelodeon Universe. A roller coaster. Their first. They were so excited. Ben said Blake cried and was very scared and Ethan declared that it was "insane!". The little kids and I just waited on a bench and ate cotton candy. Oh, and Audrey learned how to say Sponge Bob {the character was everywhere}.

{Now she wants to watch it all. day. long.}

We headed back to the hotel and swam and ordered pizza.

The next morning, we headed to Ikea where I drooled over everything. I really wanted to get a cube type shelf. Bet Bed decided that he could make one for way cheaper, so we'll see how that goes. Ended up with a bunch of little odds and ends. The kids really didn't like the store and just kept begging to go home.

We headed home after that.

It was a short little trip but exactly what we needed with this winter so long and boring.

Here is a little bit of the fun we had:)

What did you do this past weekend?

So I Guess I'm Sewing Now:)

2011-03-07T17:09:00.000-06:00

I have been having so much fun!
Sewing!
Yesterday, after we got home from church and Pot-Luck, I started making some more bibs. I finally was able to get my machine working the way it should { or maybe, I'm finally understanding how to use it!} I wanted to make a bib for a friend who was having a baby shower today for her little boy. What a cutie pie! So I started with his. Denim on the front and camo on the back {Ben had to surrender a pair of him beloved camo pants} and Sewed on J for the little guys name. It turned out! I was so excited that I just couldn't stop with one. I made 3 more bibs, one with a plain pink flannel back. Then I got daring and decided that the backs needed something to make them reversible. So I cut out "petals" of denim and flannel and pinned them on to make a flower and stitched them up to let them fray a little on the edges.

I decided to use snaps, mostly because I hate it when the Velcro on bibs get worn out and don't stick anymore. Hopefully these will last longer!

I can't wait to make some more after the kids go to bed tonight. I'm running out of fabric for the backs though so I'm going to have to make a trip to the fabric store and maybe even the thrift store. I think I may have found something I can actually do that turns out!

Hmmmm......is this my child?

2011-03-02T17:26:00.001-06:00

Let's examine this picture shall we?

Yup, He's mine :)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T16:41:00.000-06:00

Potty Training Day 3!

Potty Mouth

2011-02-28T17:26:00.001-06:00

It has begun....

The crazy time known as

Potty Training.

I know,I know, I should have started a long time ago,
I mean he's been 3 for some weeks now!
He just wasn't ready.

{ or maybe I was just too lazy to run up the stairs to our only bathroom every 15 minutes!}

I bought him some "big boy unnerwear" complete with super heroes plastered all over them{which I must say are WAY too overpriced for some pieces of cotton that are going to be stained with nastiness is just a matter of days!} 2 weeks ago. We have tried them a few times but I usually give up by mid morning because I forget to take him to go in the middle of school.

Today is the day though.

And it has been going fantastically! No accidents yet today! Not even during his nap { although I DID put a diaper on him for that just in case, I'm not THAT brave}! He is very excited about going "pee" and "poo" in the potty! And I am super excited about not having to change those diapers on his {much too old for going in a diaper} butt again! He is just too darn cute sitting on that seat with that little butt holding himself up so he doesn't fall in!

In other potty news...

Today, I started using Cloth Diapers again on Audrey.

I was so exited when I remembered that I can finally start using them now because we have soft water again!

Her little bum is super cute in those adorable padded fabrics.

Oh and Audrey woke up this morning with the contents of her diaper all over her bed, blankets, and her . Don't you just love it when your kids decide that they want to surprise you first thing in the morning with that? { and NO, she wasn't in a cloth diaper yet - those darn disposables }

Well, I'm not sure about you, but I'm had enough "potty" talk for one day!

Finally!

2011-02-27T17:12:00.001-06:00

I did it!

I actually did it!

I sewed something!!

And even though it doesn't look like much and the stitching isn't the greatest and straightest, I'm actually quite excited about it!

I was having the hardest time with the dumb bobbin and the tension on my machine. I seriously had to rip out the thread at least 10 times. Very frustrating. But I got it done and can't wait to make some more.

I still have to decide what I'm going to use as a closure- any ideas on what would be best? I was thinking either Velcro or a snap.

And please, if anyone knows what I'm doing wrong or any tips for me, help a mother out!

The best part about this project was it didn't cost me a thing! Old jeans that were headed to the trash, ribbon off a gift, and a receiving blanket I didn't need anymore.

This is where I found the directions for this easy sew project.

Check it out! Her bibs turned out so much cuter than mine, but I really just have a simple sewing machine that doesn't have any fancy stitches. Hopefully I can do better at my next attempts :)

2011-02-26T15:41:00.000-06:00

5 on ~~Friday~~ Saturday

{1}Since last Sunday was Clint's birthday and we were set for having another blizzard, the thought of being stuck in our house and not being able to have Clint's Uncle Michael and cousin Jadan stay over night was not an option. We decided to pack up and move to my Mom's for a couple days to ride out the storm. My sister and her kids were up staying at my mom's and it seemed like a good way to celebrate. We had lots of laughs and stayed up way to late talking. Always fun going to my Mama's house. Plus, she is cooking and baking the entire time so you feel like you can't move the whole time that you just sit around and eat some more. It was a good thing someone was able to plow out my driveway the next day or they may have had to roll me out the door.

{2} On Wednesday we headed on a trip to the Children's Museum with a bunch of friends.

We had a great time, even though I was rear ended by one of my friends an the way there {no one was hurt!} and we had to wait like 45 minutes for the sheriff's dept just to show up to do an accident report and then another 15-20 minutes for him to do it.

I had thought that maybe I shouldn't drive the rest of the way with out rear light/blinker and a bumper hanging down {which Sarah, Nicole and I ripped off}, but we made it to the museum without any problems other that another car laying on the horn for me trying to change lanes without a blinker. The kids always have a blast there and Owen keeps asking when we can go again. I think it will be a little while for even though it was fun I could have done without Audrey vomiting all over herself on the way home and no napkins or wipes to clean her up. Only her blanky. Totally disgusting. Makes me want to just stay home for awhile.

{3} Ben took the van in to get an estimate done for repairs on the van and it looks like they'll just end up totaling it. The estimate was $57XX and I'm guessing they won't think that its worth it to fix it. So we are looking for a new ride.

{4} In the meantime, we are borrowing Ben's parents 15 passenger van. The kids think it is the most awesome thing ever! They each have their own row except Owen and Audrey who are in the 1st row. I do have to admit that it is very nice to not have to deal with all the fighting that normally goes on because they are all squished together, not to mention the fact that I can hardly hear them way back there. Makes for a pleasant driving experience. Ben is thinking about buying it from him parents, but I was hoping to get a Suburban. But we all know that I will give in and we'll be driving the van. So please don't make fun of me when you see me on the road. I never thought I'd become one of "them". You know "the Big Van Family" that I've always made fun of! But if I start wearing my hair in a long braid down my back and start wearing denim jumpers, will someone please knock me out?!

{5}I want to sew. It is one of my New Year's resolutions and I really need to get started. i found a really cute pattern for some baby bibs and was planning on starting last night but got to tired or lazy and put it off. I really just need to learn HOW to use my sewing machine. I'm very intimidated by it and it doesn't help that Ben always remarks that HE could teach me. That really annoys me but I'm thinking of taking him up on it. I mean he did earn a purple ribbon at the fair on a lap quilt he made. I even think he made some place mats for his Aunt's wedding. Yes, you can make fun of him, he's very secure in his manhood and is actually proud of his abilities.

Happy Birthday Clint!

2011-02-20T15:34:00.000-06:00

Today marks an important day.

9 years ago I became a mother.

9 years ago my son was born.

On February 20, 2002 at 6:36am a little brown-eyed, thick black haired baby entered the world.

How is it that that little 8lb 8 oz baby is now so big that last night before bed when I made him let me hold him like a baby, he pretty much squished me?

How is it that that little 21 1/2" long baby can take up an entire couch when he's laying down?

Today Clint is 9.

God truly blessed us when Clint was born.

We were really young, I was only 19 and Ben 21.

We didn't know much, but thought we knew everything about being parents.

Clint was by far our easiest baby.

He has always been the most obedient, never wanting to disappoint us.

He taught us how to be parents.

We haven't always done the right thing, or done things the right way.

But he has been an easy child that has always just put up with us as parents.

I love seeing how God is shaping his life.

And making him a young man after God's heart.

Happy 9th Birthday Clint!

We love you so much!

Thank you for making us parents- we love being your Mom and Dad!

To get caught up....

2011-02-17T20:20:00.000-06:00

I have much to get caught up on here but just have been too lazy to do, so I'm hoping to get it all in 1 post. If it gets too long for you, feel free to leave without finishing it, its mostly just for me anyways, so I don't forget these things.

* Blake's Birthday: We celebrated by going to Carlito's ( a Mexican restaurant in town). Yummy food and Blake even got to take home a Pinata. We took the pinata to Grandma's house and let the kids have at it there with some of their cousins.

* The {Love} Party : We had a valentine's party with our playgroup and it was fabulous. The kids had a blast doing some very fun crafts that some of the Mama's planned and everyone brought yummy food. I love my friends in this group. We always have lots of fun together letting the kids run wild!

*Sledding. We conquered the great Darwin Hill again with our friends after the {love} party. The day was beautiful and unseasonable warm. The kids declared it "The BEST Day Ever". Which does make a Mama smile:)

* Talking about the weather...it. has. been. WONDERFUL! We have been really enjoying being able to finally get outside and it actually being fun and not feeling like you were turning to an ice cube the moment you stepped outside!We had so much fun making snowmen. The boys have been waiting forever for the snow to be sticky enough to do that. Audrey actually got to play outside for the 1st time since this long cold winter started. She loved it. The only thing is, she doesn't have any winter boots. only some dressy suede ones. Those doesn't exactly work for what our yard has become- a mud/water puddle lovers dream. I went to Target today in hopes of finding some but there were none to be found and they already have flip flops out. I mean seriously! It's only February, Target people- we probably have a couple months left of winter! So if anyone has any size 6/7 size toddler boots they aren't wanting anymore- I'll take em:)

* We are super excited that Daddy took a few days off this week. We aren't planning anything exciting but its just fun to have him around and him being able to get caught up on some things around the house. Not much gets done when he only has 1 day off a week!

* Yesterday, I took Owen and Audrey to their cousins Melina and Gianna's birthday party. We had a fabulous time and my sister always puts together quite a food spread. Hobo Tacos were delish and 2 kinds of cake. We were very stuffed and played out when we got home.

* We are really enjoying our wood stove. But it does keep the kids and Ben awfully busy busy with cutting down the dead trees out in our "woods" and the kids have been learning how to split wood and keeping the wood box full in the house. I love watching them out there- brings back lot of memories of when I had to do that very thing when I was little.

That should about do it for now. Hope you all have a great rest of the week :)

After 9 long months of waiting it could only mean 1 thing!

2011-02-17T18:52:00.000-06:00

I'm still screaming inside!!!!

Why?

I have a new WATER SOFTENER!!!!!!

Seriously, the best thing that has happened this year!

For the last 9 months I have been without one.

Which has made my life pretty much miserable.

From having to run all my "whites" to Ben's family's farm (where there is a softener and washing machine) so we wouldn't have big orange rust stains on all our clothes

to having to wash all the dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher because the dishes came out dirtier than when they went in in the first place.

Not to mention the havoc its created with my sinks and toilet and shower being stained almost beyond repair with a nasty orange rust.

I've tried not to complain too much but it did grate on a persons nerve to have to load all the kids up in the nastiest part of winter numerous times a week just to wash clothes. Lots of times I thought about just letting the kids wear their underwear dirty!

I feel like you will never understand how amazing and wonderful getting this water softener will mean to me. It will literally save me hours every day! And with teaching school and managing 5 children I will forever ( for a long time, anyways) be Thankful for what Ben bough me today!

Baking at Midnight

2011-02-05T00:50:00.000-06:00

Tonight I had a blast with some of my bestest friends ever.

We ate incredibly delicious food at an amazing restaurant.
{ I had Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Grilled Chicken - doesn't that just sound amazing?}

Laughed until our tummys hurt.

Talked about Ev.er.y.thing.

Ate delectable desserts.

Shopped at Target and didn't want to leave.

It was so what I needed.

I felt refreshed and ready to go back home to my kids.

I love being able to be "real" and know that they aren't judging me.

I love being able to talk about how tough this Mommy Thing is some days and know that they completely understand what I'm going through because they are too.

What an amazing group of friends God has blessed me with.

P.S. I just baked a "from scratch" cake just now at 12am because I had entirely way too much caffeine tonight! So worth it!

Happy Birthday to my Brown-Eyed Boy

2011-02-04T09:44:00.000-06:00

I can't believe you are 6 today.

But then again, I don't really remember life without you.

You are my third child born in just as many years.

I remember looking at your sweet little face, with the little upturned nose.

Head full of dark black hair.

I loved you immediately.

Love at first sight.

I was so happy to welcome a third son into our family.

You were born with a strong will.

One that has made us bump heads on many things.

I realize now that God made you that way.

He wants you to be able to stand strong in what you believe.

I Love You.

You love to laugh and to make us all laugh too.

You "live" for Legos, I can't get you to play with anything else.

You and Ethan are the best of friends,always finding some sort of adventure in everything.

You still are my snuggler.

You now have blond hair but still have those piercing brown eyes.

That little nose.

I hope you will always want your Mama's hugs and kisses.

As much as I don't want you to get any bigger,

I can't wait to see what great things are in store for you.

I love you Blake Alexander.

You will always be my little boy.

Blake Alexander Smith

Born on Friday, the Fourth of February, 2005

2:18 p.m at Hutchinson Area Health Care

Weighing 9lbs 9oz.

5 on Friday

2011-01-28T15:28:00.001-06:00

1} Strep....yuck. Its been running through our house with amazing speed. So far 4 of the kids have gotten it. Thankfully the Dr. said she'd just call in Rx's for anyone who comes down with symptoms. So i called in today to tell her Audrey and Ethan were down with it. Really hoping the rest of us don't get it, but I guess we'll see...
2} It's actually warm in our house. HOT, to be more accurate! I haven't felt this warm all winter! And its all thanks to my Father in Law who got us a wood stove. Ben and his Brother in Law put it in this week and boy, is it toasty in here. Yesterday it was so warm we had a bunch of the windows open and had to go outside numerous times to cool off! Its going to take a while to adjust to having a warm house. The kids room was 71* last night when I put them to bed. I don't think its ever been that warm in their room in the winter since we've lived here. It usually doesn't get above 60*!
3} I can start a fire and keep it going so much better than Ben! I'm very proud of this fact. I like to rub it in too. His idea of starting a fire is to throw some gas or lighter fluid on it. I'm an old fashioned girl and actually use kindling and newspaper. I learned from the best my Mama!
4} Yesterday, Ben and I went out and cut a dead standing tree down to burn in our stove. ( he actually cut it up- wouldn't let me near his beloved chain saw) I, more accurately, picked up the pieces and loaded them in the pickup. Reminded me of when I was a kid. Man, I hated doing that work. It seemed like we spent the majority of our childhood hauling logs out of the woods. Splitting and stacking, splitting and stacking. Ah, my sister and I would sing our heads off while we worked. Dad must have thought we were really strange. But we had to make the best out of a not so fun job. Wow, I really got away from the subject here.
5} My sister and I just booked a "gig" for the Traveling Tulips on the 10th of February. We are doing it for a Church after their monthly meeting. Anyone have any ideas on what we should base our skit?

Girls just wanna have fun....

2011-01-25T14:55:00.001-06:00

with a Wiener Mobile!

So we didn't drive around in one of those but we did dare each other to get out and have their picture taken with it.

Unfortunately no one took it on.

So I just snapped a shot through the van window.

I didn't take too many pictures because we basically were having too much fun to pose for pictures. And we shopped the almost the entire time and I didn't want to lug my camera around. I know...excuses, excuses.

Here are a few that we took at an amazing restaurant we went to for supper. It was a fancy, cozy Italian place called "Neighbors". So delicious, I want to go there again very soon!

My beautiful sisters Jessica and Christa

My Mama, sister in law Caroline and I

My baby sister Jaclyn who is prego with her 2nd baby and her bestie (who lives where we had our weekend) had to bring her along because she is pretty much "One of us" and because she makes us all laugh until we cry ( or pee in out pants) or both :-)

All us Chicks ( even baby G got to come with us)

i love my mama!

All prettied up and ready to hit the town again!

Can't wait until next year!

Owen's 3rd Birthday ( finally)

2011-01-25T14:29:00.000-06:00

So after almost 2 weeks of being very annoyed that I could upload pictures it seem to have fixed itself. Here are a few pictures of Owen with his "Race Car" cake.

Since I can't post any pictures....

2011-01-18T18:26:00.000-06:00

So far this last week:

I've been tazed by an impostor FBI agent.

Been called by David Spade.

Had my van sucked into a fast moving flash flood that carried us almost to lake with huge waves.

Thankfully when that happened the van was caught on a big rock and the children and I did not perish.

I found out that my Grandma was hoarding coupons.

She in fact had entire floor of her house dedicated to storing them in a neat fashion. I was insanely jealous.

My husband has been shooting with a teeny tiny gun in Downtown Litchfield at pheasants during a parade.

He thought he could get away with it being it was such a little gun and all.

The sheriff arrested him on the spot and he is currently serving 30-35 years for shooting inside city limits.

He never did get that pheasant.

I was freaking out and sobbing and couldn't breathe because I didn't know how I could raise 5 children alone while he was behind bars.

This all happened between the hours of 1 am and 6 am.

I lead a pretty exciting "dream life"!

No wonder I'm so tired all day...what with all this crazy stuff happening to me all night long.

Irritated!!!

2011-01-18T10:56:00.000-06:00

I'm getting a little annoyed. Actually REALLY annoyed!!
I've been trying for days to upload some fantabulous pictures of my awesome cake decotating skills that I performed for Owen's 3 Birthday cake. And photos of him eating that amazing work of my hands. Also, I've been dying to show you all the fun I had with my beatiful Mama and sisters. But alas, for some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload them to my blog. Irritating, I know. So I will keep attemting to get them on here. I just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten to put them up- I'v been desperatly trying to show them all to you. Hopfully I will be able to do that very soon:)

Three Years Ago....

2011-01-14T12:32:00.000-06:00

....we welcomed one of the sweetest, snuggliest, loveable brown eyed boy into our lives.

Happy Birthday Owen!!!

Looking back over pictures of him of the past 3 years tears me up.

Yesterday we took the kids bowling

to celebrate Owen's birthday since Ben has to work today.

He was so excited to go "bowin". He jumped up and down everytime he literally threw the ball down the lane. The balls took forever to make in to the pins and once it didn't make it at all- they had to run down to the end to push it down.

The kids and I made a Birthday sign for Owen this morning and he was so happy. he had to get his picture taken next to it. He tries to "show" that he's 3 with his pingers but just can't seem to get that worked out yet.

Tonight, my parents are going to come over for cake ( a Raceway Cake) which was Owen's choice. I should proabably get going on that, or we will have a very sad little boy.

Oh, and Owen will not let us say "Happy Birthday" to him, he insists that we say "Happy Birthday Cake"!

We are going to PA.R.TEEEEEE!!!!!!

2011-01-07T18:07:00.000-06:00

Its that time of year again. A girlie weekend. Its our annual Mama/ Daughter weekend. Mom treats all us girls to a weekend at a hotel for our Christmas present and we enjoy it soooo much. We look forward to it for so long and so badly that it always goes by too fast. We will get all refreshed and ready to come back to our lives again on Sunday night. So tomorrow morning at 9 am I will be loading all my kids up and taking them over to my Mother-in-law's to stay while I'm gone and heading over to my sisters house and off we will head to the big city of Mankato to party. And when I say party, I mean PARTY!!!! Although our idea of partying will probably be eating, sitting in the hot tub, eating again, shopping, eating, sleeping, laughing and eating. So pretty much we will be eating the whole time:) I'm hoping to take some great pictures of our time and can't wait to share them all with you when we get back.

O a sledding we will go......

2010-12-29T15:25:00.000-06:00

Today was the best.

I love days when our family can get out and enjoy God's beautiful world.

Today we conquered the sledding hill.

We bundled up. ( But not too much, ya need to know that we are in the middle of a heat wave~ 32 degrees today!! It hasn't been this warm is at least a month!) Headed over to Grandma Kay's house to drop off Audrey and pick up my 2 little brothers who wanted to sled with us.

Off we drove the The Hill.

We climbed and climbed will until we made it to the top, all pulling our sleds behind us.

Lucky little Owen gets a ride up the hill:) Wish I was 2!!

The boys made it to the top first and down they flew. Getting thrown out of their sleds just about every trip down.

Even I had to try it out a few times. I was lucky enough that Ben had the camera this time so I could relive this trip down the hill. Thanks Honey!

I did get thrown off the sled in a much worse fashion later on but thankfully Ben didn't have the camera on then. Although when we reached the bottom of the hill another family was just getting there and they had to comment on The Amazing Flying Woman that they had seen when I was making my way down the hill. Yup that's how I "Roll" haha:)

I think a fun time was had by all. I can't wait to get out there and do it again!!

The "Mommy Blunder of All Time" Award goes to....

2010-12-26T11:06:00.000-06:00

ME!!!!

Thank you , thank you. I would like to thank my camera for offering the opportunity for this magical event. I would like to thank my husband for forgiving me for earning this award. And a special "thanks" to my kids will will undoubtedly never forgive me and will bring this up many times as the day mom ruined Christmas.

Would you like to hear about how I won this prestigious title? No? Too bad, I'm going to tell you anyways.

We had a lovely day spent at my parents home for Christmas Eve, which I spent most of the day trying to capture it all in photos. I admit I was being a little camera happy. ( You would too, if you finally had a nice camera for Christmas.)

Christmas morning was spent in the typical way, reading the Christmas Story for the Bible, opening presents and eating our typical breakfast tradition of Monkey bread and Orange Julius'. I was having such a great time capturing the kids excitement with my camera as they opened the gifts that we had gotten them. Audrey's face was precious as she opened hers that contained a kitty that meowed, purred ,and walked. Owen was so excited to get a big Tonka dump truck and the older boys were jumping up and down when they each opened up a new video game. Then there was me, jumping up and down when I opened a gift from Ben that was the famed Photo Shop. I could hardly wait to upload the program onto the computer.I started taking even more pictures just so I'd have more to edit on the new software. While waiting for it to upload, I decided to try to find the setting for taking pictures in the RAW form, but when I got to what I thought was that setting I was in fact in the card format and stupidly clicked OK instead of CANCEL. Just like that all the pictures were wiped clean off the camera and card. I panicked and cried. Desperately hoping for some chance that they would still be on there. But alas, it was not to be. I started to think about all the memories I'd captured on that card, all the moments I'll never again get to enjoy in the same exact way. I won't ever see those snapshot again. I now am trying to reconcile to myself that the pictures were not that important. I still have the memories, right?!?

This makes me think about when Jesus was born. About Mary. It says in Luke 2:19 :

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

She didn't have a camera. But, she did treasure those moments and had the memories so she could remember that special time. The most important thing that could ever happened and she experienced it! And she DIDN'T HAVE A CAMERA!! Because of that I will try not to feel too bad that I lost all those precious pictures because I will still treasure those moments and I'm sure will ponder them many times in my heart.

2010-12-25T10:24:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!!!!

From our house to yours:)

Hopefully He'll Forgive Me Someday.....

2010-12-21T13:00:00.000-06:00

.........But I doubt it!

Owen has been sporting a new "look". He has taken over Audrey's Tutu which has annoyed her so much that I had to make her another one so they could both be wearing them. He loves wearing it and I'm sure Daddy will not be very happy to see that he won't take it off. I'm hoping we will be able to go to Ben's parents Christmas party tonight without too my hysarics when we won't let him where it there. I'm sure he'll live to regret this someday, but I am actually enjoying this little bit of entertainment since it has gotten quite boring around here with all the snow we've been getting lately.Nothing like a little boy pretending he's a princess to wipe away those winter blues! I can't wait to put these in the paper when he's 18 and to be able to bring out to show his girlriend someday.

You're Here by Francesca Battistelli

2010-12-20T15:27:00.000-06:00

5 reasons I should have stayed home!

2010-12-20T14:18:00.000-06:00

Its snowing here....again.
I don't think we've had so much snow by this time of winter in years. It is beautiful and the kids love it. I just wish Ben didn't have to work in it. I really worry about him out driving in these snowstorms. I really hope this one doesn't strand him out in South Dakota like the last one!

Last night was our church's Children' Christmas Program. The 3 oldest boys did a great job remembering their lines and I was a proud mama for sure. But the evening didn't start out so great. Trying to get 5 kids and myself fed and dressed nicely and to the church by 6:30 is a feat in itself but when you throw in the extra hiccups I was about to find a nice little dark quiet hole to hide in. It started by the rushing through the house, trying to get coats and shoes and hats and gloves on everyone because it was a cold night...-7 degrees.

#1 reason I should have stayed home=While we were driving into town I realized that dummy mommy forgot to put a sweater on Audrey who was wearing a sleeveless dress.When we got to church I realized I forgot mine as well.

#2 = Trying to rush into the church from the parking spot on the street while we were running late while trying to balance a 1 1/2 year old on my hip along with carrying all the gifts for the Sunday School Teachers, the diaper bag, my purse, my big camera and holding a 2 year old's hand so he wouldn't get hit by the cars that were driving past. My blood pressure was I'm sure sky high just by doing this when the gift bag for one of the teachers decided to rip open from the bottom and out flew the 2 ltr of Sprite and a roll of Summer Sausage across the street. After yelling for the kids to "HELP ME" we managed to get into the door of the church.

#3= While standing in the entry, Ethan, who is holding the platter of Christmas Cookies that we brought for the fellowship afterwards drops it and they all roll onto the floor. Right there I just wanted to cry and run away! Finally we get all the treats picked up. All the kids go to where they are supposed to be.

#4 = I go downstairs and see my sister and she asks me if I'm all right. I just break down right there. Tears and all. I ran to the bathroom to try to suck it up. The program starts. My mom takes Owen to sit with her. The program starts and I'm so proud of my kids up there. Then the singing starts.

#5 = Audrey decides she needs to go up there and sing with the other kids, unfortunately for here Mommy won't let her have her way. She proceeds to scream and throw a hissy fit every time the kids do a song. I finally gave up and walked out with her.

Finally the program ends and we visit for a while and then go home. I was so happy to go home. Its days like this that make me hate Ben's job. I hate being alone for special things the kids have. I don't think he's ever made it to any of the kids Christmas Programs. It makes me sad that he doesn' get to see his kids up there. It makes me sad that while everyone else's husbands are there for them to help them just to get the basics done ,like helping everyone get to church,I am all alone trying to manage 5 kids. I know my husband hates being gone for those important things too. I'm so thankful that I have a husband that works so hard to provide for us even if it means him having to miss out on all the fun stuff with the kids but it doesn't make it any easier.

I realize now that even though I wanted to run away last night, I'm so blessed with such a great church family. When the cookies dropped a wonderful lady from church quickly said "It's o.k honey, 5 second rule right and the carpet just got vacuumed so its clean. Let me help you" What a lady- she is so sweet. I don't know if she knew how close to tears I was. Blessed with a mom who helped me with Owen and helped me get all the kids out to the van when it was over.Blessed with a sister who knows what I'm feeling and understands when I break down in tears in front of her. My other sister who tells me she likes my skirt even though I felt like I looked like crap. My pastors wife, she tells me that I encourage her when I don't know how that could be when she's the one that always has an encouraging word. It makes my tear up just thinking about all the wonderful people God has put in my life to be there for me when I feel like I can't take it another minute.

I have so much to be thankful for and I'm just so thankful that He is always there putting people in my life when I need that bit of comfort or encouragement. Its so amazing to me that the God of All the Universe cares about me. About all of us. He sent his one and only son to be a savior to us. Just to live so he could die for us. Think about that. Did you know that you were loved that much? And even more amazing is that He would have done all that just for me or even just you. He is Wonderful. I hope that you want to know Him if you don't already because He is there just waiting for you to accept that amazing most wonderful gift of love.

2 Corinthians 12:9,10
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" Therefore I will boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in persecutions, in hardships, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

5 on Friday

2010-12-17T12:34:00.000-06:00

Hold on to your pants people, we got a lot of ground and sweets to cover here.

1. Cookie Cut-outs. Tradition. This is one of many. It just wouldn't seem like Christmas without making Christmas Cookie cut-outs with the kids. I grew up doing this with my mom and sisters and it is one I will continue doing with my kids. Its the one time I try really, really hard not to get so picky on how they are cutting the cookies out. I gave them each a hunk of dough and they went at it. They got to decorate their cookies too and eat them ( because if you had seen them, you wouldn't have wanted them either- so many sprinkles and layers upon layers of frosting!) But they had a blast and so did I:)

2. We still try to carry on the tradition of making cookies with my mom and sisters every year.

This year it was at my sisters house and bake, bake, bake we did. So many goodies and sweets we felt sick from looking at them all. We had so much fun laughing and tasting everyones cookies and candies.The only thing that was missing was my sister, Jessica, she had to work and couldn't make it. I love spending time with my mom and learning from her. She is one of my bestest friends. I love that woman and have always wanted to be like her. Just look at her- what a babe:)

3. Gingerbread House Party.

This year was the second annual Gingerbread House Party. I organized this party and had so much fun doing it. A bunch of our friends came and each family had a "house" to decorate their ownIt was really fun to see all the kids (and moms when the kids got tired of doing it;) creativity in how they decorated their houses with tons and tons of candy.

4. Snow, snow, snow....

It can be a love/hate relationship.

It's not fun to drive in. We get stuck in it. We get snowed in our house. It's cold. It makes for a lot more work for Ben.

but.....

Breathtaking!

And so worth it:)

5.I just thought I'd share our favorite

Christmas Cookie Cut-out recipe.

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies

1/2 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 2/3 c. flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional)

1/2 c sour cream

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cream butter, sugar,egg and vanilla together until smooth.

In another bowl, mix together dry ingredients.

Alternating the sour cream and flour mix add gradually to butter/sugar mix.

Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.

Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutters.

Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes. Frost when cool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You will probably want to double the recipe. I usually do and sometimes triple it.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It is so yummy and the cookies are nice and soft. Delicious with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee.

I'm still here!!!

2010-12-08T13:31:00.000-06:00

Hello again!
Its been a while since I've posted anything. We've been busy, but I'm not really sure what with. That time of year when the days go by faster than I can think.

~~We've~~ The kids have been enjoying all the snow. Although I did don my snowpants and boots and head out there with the kids this week. We made snow angels and played king of the hill. We've made some Gingerbread Men and our living room looks like a blizzard with lots and lots of snow flakes hanging from the ceiling. Everytime Audrey comes downstairs in the morning she just giggles and squeals because she just loves those snow flakes. She is amazed that they are "floating" in the air:).

We have been infested with mice again. I thought I'd gotten them all this fall when we caught about 12 of them in traps. But once again they've made there presence shown with droppings all over the counters, in the drawers, and chewing the nipples off of bottles that were rolled under the couch or under Audrey's crib. Yuck! I really hate mice! We caught 2 the other night. That day I opened the door under the sink to get out the dishsoap and there sat a mouse on a sponge. After thoughlly freaking out and jumping up and down I tried to figure out a way to catch that sucker. It just sat there but as I tried to catch it in a bucket it ran off. A little while later Owen opened the cupboard there it sat a gain. This time Ethan thought he would take a crack at it with a dart. It got scared and ran off. I decided we better just set up a trap and sure enough not even 3 minutes later we heard the "snap"! Gotta get those rodents outta hear!

Ben and the three oldest boys are off ice fishing right now. They were so excited,. They just love fishing with Dad. We even gave them each one of there Christmas presents- sleds- so they can sled out on the lake. I hope they gets lots of fish because I could really go for a fish fry!

Well, I'm goign to go put the little kids down for a nap and maybe take one too- don't get this chance very often that the house is quiet.

Lost Something???? I got you covered!

2010-11-17T19:55:00.000-06:00

What's that?

You can't find something?

Well, you've come to the right place.

Because, apparently I'm the only one who can find anything in this house.

Maybe you feel that way at yours?

Or maybe I just have special powers!

Yeah, that's probably it!

I knew I was good for something.

Or maybe my family doesn't have any eyeballs.

You know- the 2 balls that are stuck in the middle of your head?

They must not have any.

They are constantly saying

"MooOOoM! I can't find my money"

"MOOOOM! I can't find my book."

"MOM, I can't find my shoes!"

or if I ask them to get the ketchup out of the fridge...

"I can't find it"

so I go over there and Amazing Mom is seeing it right in front of their face!

or this..

"Honey, have you seen my black shirt?

"Hon, have you seen my hooded sweatshirt?

"Babe, do you know where those really important papers are that you never saw and I put them somewhere but don't remember?"

Sure- I know where everything is!

And if I can't find it then its apparently MY FAULT because I probably threw them away!

I will now explain to you why I believe I have super powers!

While I was jammin at the Skillet concert I thought I'd call my sweet, dear husband and tell him how much fun I was having. But he was super grumpy, so I asked him what was wrong. He said he couldn't find his Montana Hunting License. ( this was important because he was planning on leaving to go to Montana on this hunting trip as soon as I returned home from the concert) I reminded him that I had asked him if he knew where it was a week before and he had said "Yes, I know where it is" so I had left it at that. That just seemed to irk him even more. He then told me that he had torn the house apart looking for it (thanks honey, that's just what I wanted to hear, that my house was going to be a disaster when I returned from my fun!, appreciate it!) and to no avail, he couldn't find it. I told him to look in the desk. He then got upset with me again saying he already did.Then he basically accused me of throwing it away just like everything else that I apparently throw away. (I must point out to you now, that I had never even seen these important papers!) So I said, I don't really want to get into this right now, I would like to enjoy my once a year fun.

I was dreading coming home to see the bear unleashed. I walked in the door and asked if he had found it yet. He said "No.", so I started looking. Started on the top of the fridge, then looked on the counter, in the pantry, and ended up at the desk. He then said, "I already looked in the desk, you won't find it." I said "o.k. but I want to check anyways." And can you guess what I found when I opened the third drawer? Yup, that right! The license was laying right there on the top of the stack of other papers!

Now do you believe me?

Yup, I have Super Powers!!!!

{or maybe he doesn't have any eyeballs}

I'm going to go with the Super Powers, it makes me feel more important!

Ten on Tuesday

2010-11-16T19:22:00.000-06:00

1. Last week we took or attempted to take our family picture for our Christmas card. I was really excited this year because I actually have a nice camera. I was even more excited that my mom called me jsut a couple days before that and was wondering if the boys would want her antique sofa and stuffed chair to put in their fort in the attic of the garage. OF COURSE I wanted it! Not sure if I'm going to let the boys have it or not because I love it- I just don't have room for it in the house. So I got this good idea that it would be awesome to have our picture taken on it, and to bring it into town to shoot the photos in an alley. I was shocked when Ben said o.k!!! So the morning came that we would take the pictures. I got all the kids ready and tried to attempt to make myself look presentable. Ben loaded it up and off to town we went. My sister met us ther to take the pictures and the whole thing was just a mess. It was freezing (35 degrees) and windy. Audrey was acting up and Ben wanted it to be over before we got there. So before we got to try any other poses he had that thing loaded back into the pick-up and we were on our way home less than 15 minutes later. I was hoping, hoping that we would end up with at least one good one. But they all pretty much had problems. From not being focused to the kids squiming and not looking at the camera. But I did end up being able to edit one that ended up on our Christmas cards.

2. I finished ordering my Christmas cards yesterday, along with taking pictures for 2 of my sister and designing cards for them and my other sister. So happy to have them ordered. What a relief- I don't think I've had them ready this early EVER!

3.Ben is off on his hunting trip. He left us Saturday night. I really hope he gets a deer soon so he can come home early. It looks like that won't happen since they are in the middle of a snowstorm and almost got trapped up in the mountains while they were trying to hunt today. he said the roads are cloed and they will be sitting tight for the rest of the day.

4. Last night, Clint said to me "Mom, life just isn't fair." I said "I know" but I asked why he felt that way and his reply was that Daddy's never home, I wish he was. I just about teared up. Its hard on a boy when his Dad is not around for 5 out of 7 days a week and even then he's gone busy somewhere else. We really would love it if Ben could have a "normal" job that consisted of being home every night, but there's always bills to pay and he hasn't found a job that would pay as much as he does driving truck.

5. I've been feeling extra lonely lately too. Maybe it because of these days getting dark so early, or maybe because it seems like Ben is just gone so much. I think the winters are the hardest on me. In the summer we are usually staying much busier with being able to be outside and going to parks and having fun at the beach. Now we just sit at home and do school and try to stay on top of the housework. It just gets old, and I miss being able to have my husband at home at night to be able to talk to another adult or just have someone else around.

6. Christa and I rocked the "Tulip" gig! We had a blast and I really think Christa is getting so awesome at getting into charachter. I think (at least I hope) everyone thought we were funny. Although I'm sure not everyone "gets" our humor. Christa even at one point smeared her discusting Tuna/Spam/Cream of Chicken soup dip on my dress. The little brat- I smelled really bad for the rest of the time there. Gross!

7. Today I took the kids to willmar to have lunch at Pizza Ranch. I decided that since Ben is off on a vacation we should be able to have a little fun too. SO we went out for lunch and started a little Christmas Shopping. Nomaly I never start this early. I usually end up wainting til the week of Christmas and then just get everything in one shopping trip. It was so nice to make a dent in it this early though- no overcrowded stores and there were actually toys left on the shelves! I think I'm going to try to do a little bit every week until then.

8.Ever since Blake was a baby he couldn't stand anything in any shape or form of potatoes. We have tried everything to get him to eat them- from spanking to threats to trying to make potatoes taste good for him. He always end up trowing it up. I don't know if its the consistancy or waht but It really gets annoying! Tonight for supper I made Tator Tot hotdish and I was tired of trying to make something Blake would eat or make him something seperate.He wouldn't eat it. I then started to feed him myself. He just kept gagging on it. He was really trying to eat it this time. Even saying" Mmmmm, its good" trying to tell himself that it was good. But he ended up throwing up in the garbage. If anyone has any ideas about what I should do- please HELP ME!

9. The concert was AWESOME!!!! We had horrible seats( I don't think it could have been much worse) but we had a blast! Skillet ROCKED and Toby Mac was jsut amazing! I really needed that night because five minutes after I got home Ben left. So, I've only seen him for 5 minutes since he left for work on Thursday. Can you tell that I miss him? I hate these long days without him!

10. My sister in law is getting married next Friday, and I'm going to be singing. Ben won't be able to come because he works every Thursday- Monday/Tuesday and can't get out of it because he just took this whole week off. I'm really bummed that he can't go with me. So I'm going to have to get a babysitter because there is no way I'm taking 5 kids to a wedding that I'm singing in! Can you imagine that nightmare?

Ah, Hunting season....

2010-11-12T21:51:00.000-06:00

...never ends around here.There always seems to be something in season. But for now, it is Deer Hunting Season. Which means, lots of blaze orange clothing laying around my house, lots of mud tracked in on my entry floor from the Great Hunter, and lots of hunting stories and deer butchering going on.

Yes, we butcher our own deer. I've grown up butchering deer. I loved being able to go out the the shed and hear the stories of how they got their kill. I always wished I could be out there hunting too, but my dad wouldn't let me, saying it was for the guys. So instead of hunting I got to help butcher those dead animals. I don't think I enjoyed the actual butchering, but just being a part of the fun.

Of course I married a hunter. And he loved the fact that I butcher deer. A couple years ago, he even decided that we would butcher deer for other people. So, there I was (pregnant, of course) standing out in the freezing cold shed, butchering deer for countless hours while my back ached and fingers froze. d
I think that was when I decided it wasn't fun anymore!

On Tuesday, my sisters husband shot his first deer ever. This year was his first year hunting so when he shot that 10 pointer, we headed over there to butcher (or I should say Ben did). He was pretty excited, but I think Ben just as excited for him.

The next day, Ben shot a 6 pointer and we piled into the vehicles and went over to his dad's farm to butcher the deer. And yes I helped this time. I was thinking about grossing you all out by adding some pictures of Ben skinning the deer, but decided that you might not appreciate that as much as I would ;)

So tomorrow night Ben will be heading to Montana to go deer hunting out there. He is going with a friend and they will be staying at Ben's cousins home. He won't be back til next Friday or Saturday, so we will be looking for some fun things to do while he's gone have fun too. Although, I really just wish I could go on a vacation for a week! But we all know that will never happen! I really hope he gets something out there because boy is this hunting thing expensive!

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
In other news.....

tomorrow the long awaited event is occurring.
The Traveling Tulips will be performing at a Christmas Open House.
We are set to WOW all attendees with a Seminar that will give advise on Entertaining for the Holidays.
Guests will learn how to decorate on a budget, create a no-fuss, elegant appetizer, see the Tulip's "look" for this holiday season- modeled by a volunteer from the audience, and hear our version on "Santa Baby".
We are really looking forward to bring Mildred and Poppy out of hiding and get a laugh out of people.
If you'd like to see us perform and you live around here, please stop in at the Lake Manuella Creamery. We will be on at 10:30. Hope to see you there. I'm hoping someone will take pictures so I can show off to all of you on here how amazing we look!

---------

Quick subject change....

I'M GOING TO A TOBY MAC and SKILLET CONCERT TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!!!

I repeat!

I'M GOING TO A TOBY MAC and SKILLET CONCERT TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited?
My sister in law Danielle invited me, along with her sisters and one of their boyfriends. It is going to be so CrAzY fun!I know you're all jealous of me. I mean who wouldn't be of this old almost 30ish mom of 5 whose going to be jumping around and acting like she's 16?I know I would! HA!

A quick catch up....

2010-11-07T20:17:00.000-06:00

Sorry, I've been very lazy when it comes to blogging lately. So I'll give you a run down on what we've been keeping busy with.

1. Ethan's 7th Birthday.
We celebrated the day by taking the kids to Space Aliens. The kids pigged out on pizza and Daddy and I pigged out on our favorite Giant Stuffed Baked Potatoes and Tortilla Soup. The kids then talked Ben into letting them spend a bunch of out money in the arcade there. ( if you know Ben it doesn't take much to do that- he's like a big kids when it comes to arcade games)

The next day, Ethan had a couple of his cousins over for a little party and they played a bunch and ate cake.

Ethan's "dirt bike" cake. He's been planning it for almost a whole year!

2.Two Fridays ago, the kids and I headed to Mankato to spend the day with my sister and her family. We had so much fun, visiting and painting pumpkins and just spending time together. The kids love playing with their cousins everyone got along wonderfully! We were just going to stay for the day but time just got away from us and soon it was dark out and I hate driving at night. They were able to talk me into staying over. The kids were ecstatic and my sister and I had so much fun laughing til really late that night. We painted pumpkins- because with Jess- you have to do a craft!

Of course Clint has to show his team spirit with Vikings colors on his pumpkin!

My Niece, Emery, painted her pet hamster, Scoot, on hers:)

Owen thought this was the BEST thing ever!

( Mommy doesn't let the kids paint much, but Auntie Jessica does!)

Audrey didn't paint a pumpkin- she preferred sitting in this tub pretty much the whole time!

We had to get in on the painting too!

Ours took way longer that the kids - like 2 hours longer!

but it was so much fun!

I love this girl!

I really wish she lived closer so we could visit and see each other more. She is one of my Bestest Friends ( all my sisters are!)If she did, maybe we would have cheaper phone bills! We talk pretty much every day but its so much more fun talking in person!

3.We decided to skip Halloween this year. Mostly because Mama was lazy and cheap and didn't feel like going to the trouble of getting everyone a costume and taking them out. We didn't have a party at Church this year so the thought of taking them out trick or treating without Ben gave be a headache and my blood pressure would spike. Instead we played games, ate tons of popcorn and candy and watched a movie. Much more fun and relaxing if you ask me!

4.The Elections!!!

The elections are BIG in this house. Daddy is passionate about our country and where its headed, so politics are the main topic around the house lately. On elections day. I worked as an election judge and Daddy stayed home with the kids all day. I worked for 14 hours. Boy, was it boring but I really actually had fun. Not only was I getting a much needed break from all the household duties and being "mommy" all the time but it was nice talk to adults and not have kids hanging and whining on me for an entire day.

Daddy took all the kids into our county's after election Republican party. I joined them after and when I saw poor little Audrey, I'm wondering if I will leave her home with all the males for a whole day ever again. She was so dirty, with boogers and food crusted all over her face. And her hair- lets just say, Daddy doesn't know how to do hair. But at least the house was still standing and the kids were still alive. And they had a fun day with Daddy!

5. Ben and I went out for supper the other night with our good friends, Travis and Sarah. We headed up to St. Cloud. And instead of going to the same place we always go- La Casita, we decided to try the new place in town. Fugi's. Its a Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi. It was so much fun. The food was great and the experience was amazing. I really want to go there again soon. We sat at the Hibachi Grill and they cooked the food up right in front of us. Ben of course had to always be the brave one and try different things- he had sushi. It looked so icky. He said it was really good but I wouldn't try it- I just can't eat raw fish!

6. I almost forgot! My sister Christa and friend, Amelia, got together to make a bunch of apple pies to stock out freezers for winter. And by a bunch I mean 37!!! It was a lot of work and a long day but was so much fun being able to hang out with them and chat and drink lots of coffee!

Well, that's more than just a quick catch up. I'll try to get on here tomorrow and try to get back in the habit of writing more frequently!