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!

Trip to Texas/New Mexico/Mexico!

Well we have finally gotten home. We are so glad to be back! It was a good trip and it was really nice spending so much time with my wonderful husband alone! But by the time it was over, I was just really, really, ready to see my kids :)

Most of our time was spent at the Dentist down in Juarez, Mexico. 10 hours the first day, 7 the second and then 3 more 2-4 hour trips down there. Juarez was actually a lot cleaner then I expected and the people we did talk to were very friendly and helpful. It is a huge city, much larger then El Paso and apparently speed limits and staying in your own lane is optional. If they can fit in between two cars, they will try, whether there is a lane there or not!. We didn't get to see much of they city, since it is so dangerous down there. The streets (other then right at the border) are pretty deserted. No one walks around unless necessary. So we saw the dentist office, the huge Mexican flag flying in the city and a little convenience store.

Just a little FYI: In Mexico if they tell you just a few minutes this can mean 2 minutes or 4 hours!

I got eleven crowns put on my top teeth and 7 teeth pulled all together. My gums are still very sore and full of stitches, but in about 3 months they will be healed completely and I can get a really good partial denture here in Casper. I am looking forward to that! Every time I look in the mirror though, it was all so worth it!

We spent most of our spare time in New Mexico. We aren't big city people one bit and the smell was horrendous! So any chance we got we headed for the country! One day was spent driving through little towns and seeing the New Mexican Scenery. We checked out some HUGE pecan orchards, a few wineries (though sadly not a lot of drinking, since I could barely open my mouth lol) and some neat shops full of Mexican trinkets.

Another day we went to Carlsbad Caverns. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it. The pictures I took just don't do it justice. It was enormous!
Stephen in the Caverns!

My new teeth!

Halloween

The kids had a great time Trick or Treating and dressing up. Gabriel was a U.S. Marine, Sophie was the Cat in the Hat and Mary and Sara were Thing 1 and Thing 2. We went down town during the day, but ended up going that evening too. Mary and Sara were a huge hit! They had their picture taken multiple times by business owners and even by some people we trick or treated!


Only 1 more week and then Stephen and I leave for our trip to get some of my teeth fixed. I am super excited, but also getting a little nervous. More on that when we get back!

Swine Flu!

On Tuesday night I went to check on the kids before bed just like every night and found Sara burning a fever. So I took her temp, which I rarely do unless it feels super hot and she was almost a 104. It just kept going up and up and I was loading her up with Tylenol and Motrin like there was no tomorrow. I stuck her in the bath, which she did not enjoy one bit at midnight!

The next morning she was still burning a fever but it was staying around 101 with medicine, so I wasn't super concerned. Gabe and Sophie had both been sick about week ago, so I knew it was just the same bug they had. But Heidi convinced me to take her in, after she heard that one of her co-workers grandchildren had the same symptoms with Swine Flu. So I did and yep, tested positive for H1N1! Luckily, Gabe and Sophie got over it without any need for Tami Flu, but the doctor decided he would prescribe it for Sara since she is so little still and maybe to help prevent it from spreading. Then he couldn't find it anywhere! He had to call 6 different pharmacies, just to get a hold of some. The whole situation is quite disturbing actually.

Mary still hasn't shown any symptoms and the doctor thinks that maybe she won't since she just finished some antibiotics for an abscess on her tonsil. Who knows, so we are just waiting and watching her! I have already come down with it, but am feeling a little better today. So hopefully I will be able to get over it too without a visit to the doctor and no searching this town for a prescription!

Stephen isn't sick yet either, because he just got back from St. Louis for some drag line training for work. He had a good time and it sounds like he learned a little anyways :) But it was a long week for both of us. He was ready to be home, and believe me I was more then ready for him to be home! So here is pic he took of the arches on driving through St. Louis!\