Sick of Being Sick!

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

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???

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.....

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.....

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

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}

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.

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

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:)

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?

Let's examine this picture shall we?



Yup, He's mine :)

Wordless Wednesday

Potty Training Day 3!