Bugs

Anyone that knows me very well knows that I HATE bugs. They just make my skin crawl. I hate to step on them as they make an awful crunching noise and the feeling on my foot is just gross. I will go to great lengths to corral a bug in the house until Elliott makes it home to dispose of it. Although today I rose above my fear and handled the situation . . . Lauren has just went back to her room for a nap when she starts frantically calling me. I go back there and she is laying on the floor looking under her bed and telling me there are bugs under there. I can only imagine what is under there as she is not usually scared of bugs. Against my better judgement, I lay down and pull up the bed skirt and much to my delight it is just a roly poly bug. Whew . . . I can handle that one! And thankfully so as Elliott is in western Kansas today and won't be home until late so it would have been a long day with a big creepy crawly in the house. So Lauren is now sleeping peacefully and I feel like super woman 'cause I took care of the bug. You can be sure when Elliott gets home tonight and I re-tell the story it will be a huge hairy bug that I wrangled but he will know better.

Memorial Day

Each year on Memorial Day we go to the cemetary for services and then to the farm for a cookout. Elliott's parents are a big part of the services and Lauren is a junior auxiliary member so she got to stand up front with Grandma this year. She wasn't up there too long before she ventured back to us, though. I'm proud of her going at all. Last year there was no way she would have done it at all.

After the guns go off all the kiddos scramble to get the spent shell casings. Grandpa had saved one for Lauren & Ethan and here Lauren is running to show it off to us. Crazy what gets a kid excited.

There are so many babies around when we all get together now. I never did manage to get everyone in one picture. Here is Morgan with Colton and Elliott with Andrew. Andrew is only 6 months older than the other two little ones but he looks so much older since he is quite big. I hope the other two catch up quick or we might have a bully on our hands. Actually, Andrew seemed to like the little ones and was quite gentle with them.

I'm sure that Ethan had to sleep in the car on the way home as he and Lauren ran non-stop. Lauren was sleep in the first ten miles and Andrew was before we even made it a mile. The kids all had a great day. It is so much fun to get everyone together. I wish we did it more often.

Strollin'

We go for a walk almost everyday when the weather cooperates. All five of us go in the evening (two adults, two kiddos and one dog) and soon when it is nice enough I'll take them in the morning as well. Or is just may be Andrew and I. Lauren used to be an early riser but now it is Andrew that gets up around 6 AM

Back at Home

We've all arrived back at home after our worldly travels. Our trip to Colorado was by far the longest trip the kids have ever taken and they did great. They road in the car like champs and even slept quite well in the motel. Nighttime was my greatest fear. When Lauren was smaller she didn't sleep well anywhere except her own bed but thankfully this is no longer the case for her. Andrew on the other hand, well I didn't really know. He hasn't spent too many nights in strange places so I was just hoping for the best.







My aunt & uncle's reception was well attended and I do believe that everyone had a good time. After the festivities in town we all headed to their house for some supper, chatting and karoke. Lauren is in heaven outside so she was having a great time at their house.



She had wide open county to explore. I'm not sure how many laps around the property she took Grandma on but I know that they didn't miss much.











Having two little ones kinda put an end to our fun early in the evening, but I did manage a couple photos before we left. I can only imagine it got better after we left. Here my uncle and two cousins are singing.









Elliott arrived home with a slight sunburn which I totally expected as he has to get at least one a year! He brought all of us presents and we couldn't be more delighted with his selections.

The schwan's man come this morning so I'm off to prepare my order. I know one thing that we'll be ordering for sure. . . cheese nuggets. YUM!!

The Red Stuff

Andrew had his first bleeding incident yesterday. Why does a little cut in your mouth have to bleed SO much? I'll set the scenario for you . . . Lauren was snacking some on Goldfish in her Elmo chair. She likes to put the Goldfish in the cup holder of her chair and Andrew has figured this out (as well as Barkley). Andrew sees her sitting there munching away and decides he needs some as well. So as he is trucking it across the room, Lauren is yelling "Mommy stop Andrew". Well, I didn't make it there in time to stop him so she did. Poor guy took a head dive into the Elmo chair and cut his upper gum. Nothing serious but it sure was a bleeder!

I'm off to fold laundry now so we can all pack our bags for our upcoming travels . . .

Back from the doc . . .

Andrew went for his 9 month well baby check this morning and he is doing great. He weighed 21 lb 15 oz (72%) and was 29.5 inches long (85%). He had been in the high 90 percentile on weight & height so it's nice to see him back into a little more of an average range. And thebest news was that Dr. Senseman couldn't detect even the slightest of a heart murmur. So we believe the hole has closed.


We've been attempting some pureed foods for the past couple of month but he hates them. So we got the go ahead for all chunky table food. Yippee! Barkley is going to be loving this. Now, he won't know which end of the table to sit under.

We have a busy week ahead of us. Tonight Elliott has a softball game and we will all be attending it. Tomorrow morning Lauren has a playgroup scheduled and then my parents will be down for a dermatologist appointment in the afternoon. Wednesday morning Lauren has an appointment and then we are meeting Sheila with some baby items. Thursday morning Elliott flies out to Mexico for a 5 day vacation. Andrew has an appointment with a early childhood education teacher in the AM to chart his progress and then the kids and I will be heading to Mankato sometime in the afternoon. On Friday morning, we are heading to Colorado with my parents for my aunt & uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. Whew . . .

Almost complete

After a week of rain Elliott was finally able to work on the playhouse again. It is almost complete, now. All that is left to do is shingle the roof and paint it. Lauren has decided it will be light blue with white trim. I think that we can comply with that wish. I wasn't sure what we were going to do if she wanted it to be orange or hot pink!



My parents came down for the day and got a little more than they bargained for - manual labor! I don't know if Elliott or I was the more appreciative one of my dad's help. It would have been me holding up all those boards for Elliott if he hadn't been here. Thanks Dad!!

We had a great day with beautiful weather. We all love to be outside so this was a treat for us. And my kiddos treated me to a HUGE mother's day present . . . they slept in!! Andrew didn't wake up until 8:00 and Lauren was up shortly after. I don't think that we've slept that late in 3 years.

Nine Months Old!!

Andrew is nine months old today. I can't believe how big he is getting. He's a master crawler and doing some assisted walking. He goes on Monday to his doctor for a check-up. I can't wait. I'm always anxious to hear how much the kiddos have grown between each appointment. I'll make sure to report back on his stats!

Nap Time

Lauren is in the whole dress up phase. She probably changes her clothes 4 times a day and has on a countless number of shoes. You'll see from the pictures that nap time is one of her favorite times to work on her outfit. We finally had to hide her winter coat as she was sleeping in it at nap time and

about to sweat to death!

Here she has on a blue shirt(the only original article of clothing she had on when nap time started), a pink cardigan, an orange skirt and purple fuzzy slippers. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger and get a better view.

Finally, some nice weather!

Since we've had so much fun reading our friend's blogs, I thought that I should give it a try myself.

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend. It was absolutely beautiful outside and we took advantage of it to the fullest. Lauren was outside pretty much from the time she got up until it was dark outside. We did manage to squeeze in a little lunch & supper but it sure wasn't her idea.

Elliott started building Lauren a playhouse this weekend and she thought the site wasn't quite level . . . our little engineer in the making.