This past weekend was so long and so busy and so hectic. But it was also a fun weekend, so I can’t complain!

We started it off by having dinner and some friends’ new house. They bought their house and did a lot of work to it and it looks so beautiful. They have two kids, one of which plays on Joshie’s football team, so the boys were playing football out in the rain while Kylie and their little girl played inside. My parents offered to watch Ryan for us, so we were able to stay until 11:00 and we had such a great time!

Saturday morning John and Josh had t-ball practice, and I took Kylie to gymnastics, and then Ryan and I headed to our usual Saturday morning places (Yutzy’s and Dings and Dents). I really cherish the time that I get to spend with Ryan alone. He is at my favorite age and I love talking to him. The whole time we were in the car he was saying “big trucks, see, mo,” which meant he wanted to see more big trucks. He’s fascinated with big semi-trucks right now, and he gets so excited when he sees one…he says, in a squeaky high-pitched voice, “mommy, big truck.” He was such a good boy the whole time were shopping – I had so much fun!

After we ran our errands, we went to the gym to watch Kylie. The minute we got in there Ryan was yelling “Kylie, Sissy” and pointing. She has so much fun at gymnastics, and I love seeing her face out there when she’s practicing!

After that we went home and had lunch. John worked on a computer problem for his dad while Kylie and I went up and cleaned out her room. I sorted through all of her clothes, and then we pulled all the toys and furniture out. Then I taped her room so we would be ready to paint. Then we all headed to Home Depot to look at blinds for her room (because she had custom princess blinds up there that now needed to come down). My parents again were such a huge help and kept Ryan, so the four of us could get what we needed and get home! We ended up getting blinds for a couple different rooms and headed out to the pain store. We were going to get pain at Sherwin-Williams because 1.) I had a 20% off coupon, 2.) I had another coupon that I could use, and 3.) we were going to keep the pink that was already in her room, and it was from there and needed matched. We pull up to Sherwin-Williams at 5:10 and they closed at 5:00. It was the worst luck ever and Kylie was so disappointed because we promised her room would be done that day.

We decided to head home and cook some burgers and relax for the rest of the evening. The kids played outside, John mowed, and I played with Ryan. It was a good ending to a very busy day. If only we knew it would pale in comparison to Sunday…

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. I helped John get all the kids set up and then Kylie and I actually met my parents at the nursery to pick out my plants. One of my other goals for the weekend was to get my garden in, so I got all of the plants and my parents took them home for me while Kylie and I went back to church to help clean up. Have I said how much I appreciated my parents this weekend???

After church we headed to grab some lunch, and my parents met us there. We took our food to the high school where Joshie’s championship game was going to be played and we ate it in the parking lot with our friends from Friday night. We were tailgating before the flag football game :) Afterwards we headed into the stadium and got set for a hot game. The sun was out and the temperature was in the 80’s…a huge change from what we’ve been in (60’s, maybe 70’s if we’re lucky).

The boys had fun playing, and we were cheering super loud! Both teams were undefeated, so it was a really good game. In the end, our Titans lost, but they tried and for the most part looked like they had a lot of fun! Ryan was not making it very well and cried the last ½ of the game. Again, my parents to the rescue…my mom walked around with him in the shade so that I could watch the end of Joshie’s game.

After the game, as we drove home, we devised our plan for the rest of the day. Ryan fell asleep with the phone that he was playing with still up to his ear, and even though Joshie tried hard, he fell asleep too. Once we were at home, we put the boys down for a nap, and I went out to put my garden in. My parents weren’t back yet, so we couldn’t go and get the paint since the boys were sleeping. I got my whole garden in pretty quickly (thanks to my dad who had prepared my dirt in the preceding weeks), and once my parents were home John and I headed out.

We decided that God did not want us buying pain at Sherwin-Williams. We pulled in at 4:25 and they had closed at 4:00. I have never heard of a store closing at 4:00…it’s such an odd time. So we took it as a sign and headed over to Home Depot and got her paint.

Once we got home we quickly at some Skyline hot dogs and then headed up to put the first coat of paint on. My parents watched Ryan outside while my dad finished his garden project, and Kylie and Josh came up to help us. They helped with two of the walls, but then finally, John and I had to kick them out because there were just too many painters in there! I got them into the shower (Josh was full of paint!) and then they played a little bit downstairs while John and I painted. By this time my dad had left to go back home and my mom offered to take Ryan over to her house with her. When I sent Kylie over to get her backpack from my parents’ house, Kylie said that Ryan was on the trampoline, so I don’t think my mom ever made it inside :)

I got the kids into bed, and John and I continued. My mom brought Ryan in because he was hungry and needed a snack. I got him eating and my mom informed me she had watered my garden (the only thing I had left to do from planting) and cleaned up all of my gardening stuff and closed up our garages. I really don’t know what we would have done if we didn’t have her help! She ended up giving Ryan a bath and cleaning up after our dinner too. Seriously, such a help to us!

John and I finally finished up painting around 10:30. The only thing we have left to do are the edges where we have to tape the newly painted wall (because we have two pink walls and two brown walls), so we’ll wait to do that next week when we know the paint is good and dry. We will try to put her room back together tonight and hopefully get her blinds up. We were so beat by the end of the day!

So as you can see, it was a jam-packed weekend, but we got a lot accomplished which felt really good. I’ll hopefully have pictures of the finished room soon. And the only thing that was getting us through all the work was knowing that I’m going on Kylie’s field trip to the zoon on Wednesday, and then John and I head to Charlotte on Thursday, so only two days of work this week!

The kid on the left is only 8 months older than Josh! Poor Joshie looks so little!

Joshie and his friend Taylor. This girl was the best player on the team by far! You could always count on Taylor to pull the flag or score when she had the ball. She was always chasing Joshie and he loved it :)

This is Joshie upset because they were no longer undefeated:

Coach dad and Joshie before the game:

Pictures From Kylie's Birthday...

Here are a couple of pictures from Kylie's birthday the other day:

Us singing to Kylie (that is her diet Coke in the picture - she asked me so sweetly since it was her birthday if she could have diet Coke...how could I say "no?"):

Kylie opening the cool wallet from Grandma. She absolutely adores that thing! All of her allowance money went right into it!

Kylie opening the picture of the bedding set we ordered her:

Recap of Kylie's Birthday...

What a fun birthday Kylie had!

I again copied from this cool lady and wrote out 7 birthday love notes that I went around and hid the night before. I taped the first one to my bedroom door because every morning she wakes up while I’m still getting ready and comes in and hangs out with me, so I knew she would see it there :) She ended up finding all of her notes before she left for school.

I decided to take ½ day off so that I could surprise her and pick her up from school, and so that I could get an early start on her special birthday dinner. So I got home and was able to play with Josh and Ryan all afternoon. We also decorated for Kylie’s birthday with streamers and balloons. Ryan LOVED the balloons!

Kylie was super surprised when I picked her up! As soon as we got home we started right in making her special dinner. Her request was fried chicken (which was always my request when I was little) and watermelon. So she and Josh helped me make the coatings for the fried chicken and got them all ready to go so they could sit out for a while before frying them.

While I was getting everything ready for dinner, the kids all played (mostly with the balloons) and my mom helped watch Ryan. We finally sat down to an awesome feast! We had some of the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and watermelon. It really was a wonderful dinner!

After dinner we got everyone bathed and then it was time for cake! Kylie had picked out these little chocolate mousse cakes that tasted so good! After cake Kylie opened her presents. She only had a few to open because we are having a joint birthday party for her and Josh in June, and most people have opted to wait and giver her their presents then. She opened a present from my mother-in-law that she adored! It was a wallet that she had wanted with some money in it and a McDonald’s gift card. She really loved it! Then she opened our present, which unfortunately was just a picture because it hadn’t gotten there yet! John and I are going to redo her room this Saturday, so I had a picture of the bedding I had ordered her and she loved it! Josh and Ryan got her a sheet set to go with her new bedding :)

After all that the kids played a little more and then it was bed time. They all crashed fast and hard! John met with his co-coach and neighbor to talk about t-ball and I got to just relax and watch a little TV.

It was a great birthday! I forgot my memory stick, so hopefully I’ll have some pictures tomorrow :)

Happy Birthday Kylie!

Dear Kylie,
Today you are 7 years old. 7 years ago right now I was lying in a hospital bed wondering when I would get to meet you! I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by…I look at pictures of you when you were younger and I feel like it was just yesterday. Right now I’m looking at a picture from your first trip to Disney, which was only 2 ½ years ago, and you look like such a little girl compared to how you look now!

You are an amazing little girl. Everyday you come up with new ideas or thoughts and I just sit back amazed. And you spoil me…I rarely have to help you with any of your schoolwork because you either already know how to do everything, or you take the initiative and work on the stuff by yourself. You just did a presentation on koala bears, and I was so proud of you because you got on the internet by yourself and googled “koala bears” (which you thought was the neatest thing to do) and did the whole project completely by yourself! I’m still so proud and amazed! If we could just work through your frustration when you don’t know how to do something, I think school will always be a very easy thing for you.

You are a fabulous big sister. Last night you told Joshie he could sleep with you, even though you like to sleep in your room by yourself, just because he was sad. You guys laugh together and play together and have a really good relationship. And you with Ryan? Amazing! You watch over him so well and are such a huge help to me with him. You hug him and kiss him (even when he screeches “Noooo”) and play with him when I need to get something done. Last night you voluntarily shared your mint ice cream with him, just as you share a lot of things with him. You are great about running and getting me something I need when I’m in the middle of changing his diaper. He looks up to you and loves you so much because you are so great with him!

You are doing great in gymnastics. You have joined the Scarlet and Grey team, so you will start competing next fall, which is super exciting! You have Miss Laura for a teacher, who is your favorite, and you practice with all levels, which I think has been motivating for you. But you also like to do a lot of chit-chatting during practice :) Right now you’re working on your mill spin and you’re so close! You do your back handspring with a light spot and you’re doing handstands on the beam. You love to go to practice each week!

You still love to snuggle, and you love “mommy-time.” We love watching Supernanny together and you tell me all about your friends and boyfriends :) I love listening to you read to me because you’re such a great reader. And of course you love it when I jump on the trampoline with you!

Thank you for being my daughter princess…I love you more than you’ll probably ever know. I hope you have a very happy 7th birthday and that this next year is even better than the past 7!

Love,
Mommy

A Very Busy Weekend...

What a weekend! I can’t believe how much we packed into this weekend, and how quickly it went by…

Friday evening we packed up our picnic stuff and headed to a park for house church. The kids played on the playground, the guys grilled and played corn hole, and the girls talked/watched the kids. We stayed as long as we possibly could (which means it was dark and we could no longer see the kids playing) and had a really, really good time.

Saturday we woke up and my sister and I took Kylie to gymnastics, and then we took Ryan and headed over to the nearby city for some cheap lunch meat and yummy donuts :) After that we headed to the dings and dents grocery store and then back over to watch Kylie finish up at gymnastics.

When we got home, we lathered everyone up in sunscreen and got ready to go play outside. It was GORGEOUS out! The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. Unfortunately, this was also the time that my other sister called us telling us that the moving truck was on the way to the house, so we loaded Kylie up and headed out.

We grabbed some Chipotle for lunch and then went to my sister’s new house. It’s beautiful! It’s a really neat floor plan and a great size for them. The boxes that we needed to unpack, unfortunately, were at the back of the truck, so the movers had to bring in all the furniture before there was anything we could do. Finally, around 2:30, the boxes started coming in and I spent the rest of the day unpacking all of the kitchen boxes. I’m amazed that my sister really didn’t care where I put things…if it were me, there’s no way I’d let anyone organize my kitchen – I would want to carefully plan out exactly where each and every little thing went!

We finally finished up around 7:00 and everyone else joined us to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We had pizza, watched Monsters vs. Aliens, and then had a wonderful Heath Bar Blizzard cake from Dairy Queen. We finally left around 9:30 and we were exhausted!

Sunday we went to church, and then afterwards drove through McDonald’s and headed to Josh’s football game. Thankfully it was not freezing like it has been the last couple of weeks! Ryan was in a great, funny mood and as always, I had a wonderful time watching the little Titans kick their opponents’ butts! Joshie caught an amazingly long pass for a touchdown!

After the game we headed home and went to work putting my dad’s dresser together (which was his birthday present). It was quite humorous listening to John, my sister, me, and occasionally Kylie, Ryan and Josh putting that thing together! But it was worth it because it looked wonderful and my dad was so happy!

After that my sister headed back to Michigan and John and Josh played some baseball. Kylie went in to finish up her Koala bear presentation and Ryan and I played in the court for a while.
We headed inside and the kids were bathed and fed, and then Kylie practiced her presentation with us a few times. Then we put the kids to bed and then ourselves to bed not long after that!

Ryan was up for about 1 ½ hours last night. I’m not sure what his deal was, but he was wide awake and wanted to play. So needless to say, I’m a little tired this morning :)

Tomorrow is Kylie’s birthday, so tonight we’ll be getting stuff ready for her to take her treats to class and make sure we have everything for her birthday dinner request (fried chicken and watermelon).

I'm Back!

It’s been way too long since I’ve updated here. I’m so frustrated with myself that I’ve let weeks go by undocumented. But I can’t change it, so I’m moving forward, with a goal to get back into the routine of updating…because otherwise I will forget the daily craziness of my kids and our family life, and I don’t want to forget.

It is now the middle of May. We are so busy and I don’t see an end to the business until September, which makes me sick. I hate being so busy, but no matter how hard I try to not be, I still am.

Today my sister and her fiancé are closing on their first house! It’s an M/I house, so I’ve put together a fun bucket of gifts for the closing people to give them after they’ve signed the five million papers they will have to sign to buy this house.

Tonight we have house church at a park. We are cooking out and will get to just hang out and relax while the kids play. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous and I’m really looking forward to being outside!

Tomorrow Kylie has gymnastics, and I hope to run to Yutzy’s and the dings and dents grocery store. Yutzy’s is a little market in a town that’s about 35 minutes from us. They have the cheapest sandwich meats and cheeses around and they taste amazing! The dings and dents grocery store is a warehouse that has grocery items that are either dented or are close to their expiration date. It’s awesome because they have name-brand products that I normally buy, for a lot cheaper. I got a box of chocolate Cheerios for $1.50 and I had seen it at Wal-mart the day before for $3.38! We try to get over to these stores every Saturday while Kylie is in gymnastics.

After that we’re (my other sister is here from Michigan) going over to help my sister unpack all of her boxes and stuff at her new house. After that we’re going to celebrate mother’s day and my dad’s birthday with some food and a movie.

Sunday we have church and Joshie has a football game. It’s his last game before the championship game. His team is doing awesome…they are undefeated! After his game I have to plant my garden!

So that’s the plan for the weekend. While it sounds like a lot of fun things, it will be fast-paced and go by quickly, which stinks. But the weather is supposed to be gorgeous, so any time outside will be wonderful!