May Madness! 2010 Edition...

Well, our house redecorating has pretty much been put on hold. I have not been home much this month with all of the end of school activities. So far this month we have had Sara's 3rd birthday, Mary's end of the year BBQ at the park, Sophie's Kindergarten Graduation, a trip to Rapid City for a weekend, Gabriel's end of the year reading program and the list goes on. This next week we have Track Day and field trip to the movies and then we are DONE! YAY! So I just thought I would share a couple of pics....

Sara Age 3



Sara at the park for Mary's BBQ\


Mary



Sophie at graduation

Gabe at his reading program

House Remodel!

We have been very, very busy this last few weeks! We decided that since we were going to be in this house for the next few years at least, it was time to fix it up. So after a quick call to my landlord we got after it. We got the girls' nasty wall painted and the bathroom done a few weekends ago. I still need to get curtains for the bathroom and take down the girls closet doors and put a curtain up there.

Since then we (and by we I mean mostly Stephen) have mudded ALL of the wood panelling and textured the whole living room and got it painted. I am working on getting all of the new trim we got primed and painted so Stephen can get it hung up on his next day off. And to complete the new look Stephen decided to buy "for me" a 52 inch flat screen TV with a new stand! Out of all of us, I think Gabriel is the most excited about the TV! After all of that is completed we are moving on to the our bedroom and then the kitchen/hallway. I am very excited to get all of the walls and ceilings finished so that we can move on to new flooring.

Happy Easter!

We had a fabulous Easter. My grandparents came from MT and the whole weekend got spent visiting with them at the ranch. Gabriel thought his Papa Mou was the funniest guy ever! All of the kids enjoyed seeing them very much, as did I.

The kids had a great time with their Easter baskets and hunting for eggs. Sara was a little stressed about some random bunny sneaking into her house in the middle of the night though. She is such a chicken! The whole time we were hunting for eggs she just kept saying "that bunny is so silly."

Papa and Mama Mou with their Wyoming Great Grand Kids!

Random Happenings

Last week was a super busy one for us. We had the Awana's Grand Prix which is a wooden pine box car derby. This was the first time we have ever participated in one and it was interesting to say the least. Gabe is way to competitive to enjoy anything like that, and it took every ounce of will power he had not to melt down when his car was eliminated. Sophie's car made it for quite a few rounds, but she could of cared less....

Sophie watching her car

Sophie had her last basketball game to cheer for this last weekend. She was sad to see the season end! We all had a lot of fun watching her cheer and have so much fun, but I am very glad that is one less activity that I have to worry about for the time being! So now she is back in Tae Kwon Do full time with her brother and is working hard to catch up with him!



Gabriel, tested for his orange belt the same weekend and passed with flying colors. While he is not big on competitive sports, he absolutely eats up Karate. He loves everything about it, but especially sparing. He is a quick little bugger! Now he is just working hard to get to green belt so he can start breaking boards with kicks!

Look at that balance! Just toes on the ground! (Second one from the right)

L

Mary is trying her hardest to be patient until a spot opens up for her in Tiny Tigers at the Karate Studio. EVERY single day she asks the instructors if it is her turn yet and EVERY single day they tell her pretty soon! I am hoping that she doesn't have a complete meltdown when they give her a white belt, because she is quick to inform everyone that she already knows how to kick and punch so she should be "wellow belt." She has been on a real dress kick lately and keeps asking when she can where her pretty dresses and "frip frops." She is just all about the accessories!

Sara is just busy getting hauled around non stop when her dad isn't home to watch her. For the most part she is a trooper, but some days she has just had enough. Even though I don't want her to grow up anymore, I am somewhat looking forward to her being old enough to participate just so I don't have to listen to her tell me "I NOT a baby, I want to do it too!"

She is looking forward to her 3rd birthday and really really wants a "fishy." I am on the fence about this as I am pretty sure she would kill it within hours of having it. The kid can not stay out of anything! But maybe she would surprise me...



That's pretty much all that is new for now. I am praying that it quits snowing and the temperature rises above 40 for Easter or my girls are going to freeze! So more pics of Easter egg dyeing and more to come soon!

Busy days and Spring Fever!

We have been going non stop here for weeks now it seems like! This week alone, we have Karate every night since Gabe is testing for his orange belt on Saturday, Sophie has her last week of cheerleading (thank goodness!)so we have practice, a game that happens to overlap with Gabe's testing on Saturday (thank goodness for Aunts to help haul kids!) and an awards ceremony, the 3 older ones have a BBQ/wooden car derby for Awanas on Wednesday and Stephen started his volleyball league this months. Sara is just along for the ride :)

I keep thinking of all these things that I need to get done, and I am just not sure I am going to fit it all in. My kids NEED a picture taken, it has been 2 year since they had them professionally done, I am sure I will kick myself for that 10 years down the road. I would really like to get them done in their Easter clothes, but no promises that you will receive them anytime near Easter, my Christmas cards never even made it out this year!

I am very much looking forward to things starting to wind down. To top it off the weather keeps teasing us. Today it is 50 degrees, tomorrow more snow :( I truly hate spring I just want it to get nice and hot! I am just itching to pack up the mountain of snow boots, gloves, hats, snow pants and winter coats!


After this busy week I will have lots of new pics to post!

Mary's Birthday

I can't believe our little Mary is already 4 year's old! While I can't believe how fast time flies, I am very glad the birthday is finally past us. She literally has been waiting to be four since the day she turned 3! For the last 365 days I have probably been asked a million times, "mom, when is my next birthday?"

We had a little party at the ranch. She loved all of her presents, I have not seen her for more then 20 minutes she has been so busy playing with her new barbie house! On Monday Stephen and I took them all swimming at the Aquatics Center here in town. We had never been there and as most of you know I don't particularly enjoy water, so I was having some anxiety about it! But it was fantastic other then the constant chore of counting " One, two, three...Stephen where is Sophie!" They have so much there, I was shocked! There is a little "lazy river" current that the kids can float on in inner tubes, a small slide in the 1 foot section and two large water slides (one slower one and a super fast one!) for the bigger kids over in the 3.5 feet section. Mary loved going down the huge water slide with her dad, Gabe was brave enough to go on his own, Sophie went once, that was enough for her! Sara didn't love the water, but that is not surprising since she is pretty much afraid of anything and everything. I sure hope we have the chance to spend more time there this summer.

Nothing like a roadtrip!

We just got home a from a little trip to Nevada for my cousin's wedding. We had a fabulous time and a much needed break from real life! The kids traveled wonderfully, even the sick ones and who can ask for more then that? Of course traveling with my family is always an adventure, so the trip was not without a few bumps along the way. We got a flat tire on the van in Utah and had to purchase a few new ones. I learned that if the van is driving funny for a week or two that it might NOT be mud caked in my tires, but the actual tires and that I should let my husband know of these issues so he can double check it :) oops!

One vehicle in the caravan from Wyoming broke down along the way, but it was all good. Dad needed to buy a new flat bed trailer anyways and it is obvious that Winnemucca Nevada was the logical place to do that hehe!

All in all we had a great time, like we always do with my family! The wedding was beautiful (especially the flower girls :D) and the reception was a good time had by all. Gabe rocked out like normal, Stephen entertained us with a line dance, Sophie flitted around like the social butterfly that she is, and Mary and Sara finally passed out under the table.

I can not wait until June, when we get to do it again! But this time it will be Minnesota. My kids have never been there so we are very excited to take them. They are already counting down the days till they get to play with their cousins!

Happy New Year!

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time. I am sure this is because, just like people warned me, life gets crazier the older your kids get.

We had a great Christmas (well a few actually!). It was such a busy Christmas season that my Christmas cards are still sitting on my desk on top of my broken printer, that I have no desire to fix or replace at the moment. The kids had a really long Christmas break this year, they just went back to school on the 11th. I LOVED having them home, life was peaceful, (other then the screaming, bickering and the constant plague of them being hungry ALL the time!), laundry was mostly caught up, and real meals were cooked. It was fabulous!

Of course now they are back in school and activities are in full swing once again. Our weeks are pretty much jam packed, and I am sure Stephen will end up thinking I am trying to starve him to death with my crock pot meals. But hey, when you don't get home till 7 o'clock at night and still need to feed, bathe and read to kids, dinner needs to be already done at the very least!

Gabe is back in Tae Kwon Do 2 days a week, Sophie is cheerleading, and of course the older three are in Awana's on Wednesdays. Thankfully cheerleading is done in April and then we can go back to Gabe and Sophie both doing Karate 4 days a week *sigh*

Sara is doing well, with the potty thing as long as we aren't home or at Grandmas. Thankfully, as you read above we are not home much. And thankfully after having potty trained 3 kids, I am not nearly as stressed about it as I would of been 7 years ago.

Mary is having a harder time getting back into the swing of things as far as school goes. She loves to socialize with her friends, but is not at all impressed with having to try and write her name. She keeps telling me she doesn't need to put her name on anything, everyone knows she is Mary Beth! She is however very excited about turning 4 in a few months. At the moment she is trying to decide whether she wants to be in Karate with Gabe and Sophie or give soccer a try. I am trying to subtly encourage Karate for a few reasons.
1. It is indoors and warm
2. We already have Karate on the schedule anyways
3. Did I mention warm?

Now off to go put something in the crock pot!