Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!! I love having the kiddos home!

November upon us!

Halloween cometh . . .

Well, hello. Long time no write. Soccer season has officially ended and baby season/nesting has officially begun! Sylas's varsity team lost the first game of the tournament so they were finished last Thursday. Aiden's team lost 3 games in their tourney so didn't make it to the championship round last Saturday. He got pulled out of goalie about 3 weeks ago because a teammate has tendinitis which flared up so bad he couldn't run. So Aiden had to play and sub in for mid-field, forward, and defense, which he did pretty good at considering he's such an awesome goalie. He was really disappointed to not finish as goalie though.

So....nesting....the girls room has been painted, fresh and clean, moved furniture around, gave them each their own area. They love it! And I do too...ahhhhhh the smell of fresh paint. The boys have picked out paint colors and their walls are prepped, so hopefully it will be done by this weekend. Sylas, who has his own room, is painting a large Oregon ducks logo on one wall, complete with wings. My room needs to be painted but I actually love the Pottery Barn look with the beige walls and white trim and black frames. I moved my bed and vacuumed and cleaned and bombed (for spiders and other unwanted bugs) so it's ready for baby. He'll sleep in here for a couple months and then... Not sure where he'll go. We have no room. Maybe we'll remodel, add on. Somethings gotta give. We will also need a bigger vehicle. We've been looking at Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna because both have 8 seats. Then we could still have a fuel efficient car.

Sy is chomping at the bit to get his permit. Yikes!!! We are trying to get the online school done first. He just has a couple more World History sessions and then 9th grade is history! So, as soon as he's done, I will let him take the test. He is doing so much better in school this year. Now we are working on him getting himself up in the morning. We have incentives in place, so he won't have any more tardiness. Cold Stone creamery at the end of this week for getting up good 10 school days in a row. So far, so good.

I'm in the home stretch and sure feel it. Ready to pop, only 5-6 more weeks left. Talked to the doc today about getting induced on Nov 30 so Kenny doesn't miss the birth, just in case. He is 5 hours away during the week and not sure he would make it back in time if I went into labor. Doc says should be fine as long as I'm induce-able.

My mom is coming!!!!! I'm so relieved. She already booked her ticket. She'll be here from Nov 28-Dec 8. There's also a girl from church who may be able to help the week after. I'm gonna really try to not be super mom and do too much. I need help, so I'm gonna take what I can get. I am so blessed....3 gals at church are throwing me a baby shower on Nov 10. I need a carseat and a crib and a changing pad and a bath tub and some other bigger items, so it will be so nice to know I'll be able to get some of that stuff. Kinda kicking myself for getting rid of things. I had some real nice baby stuff. Also, my boss is giving me paid maternity leave for 6 weeks! She is so generous, I am so thankful. God is watching over us.

I have more to say, but need to go to sleep, so will write another day.


Good night!

Labor Day weekend trip

The 3 littles and I drove 5 hours north to visit Kenny at his hotel and see his job site and go to Chicago! Sy & Aiden are in NY at the youth conference, so we decided we needed to do something fun too! We drove up Friday night and will leave tomorrow morning. It has been so fun so far, little kids are much easier to please. They are happy with free hotel breakfast and swimming in a hotel pool. The effects of the Hurricane Isaac didn't hit too bad here. It rained a bit in the afternoon yesterday, so we went shopping. We had authentic Chicago style hot dogs for lunch and then went to several stores.
Jacklin ended up getting some new outfits, she was in desperate need of clothes and shoes. She grew out of all her shoes this summer and even skipped a size. She was being too picky about running shoes tho, so ended up with none. Wow, that girl can get a nasty attitude quick!!
Then we went back to the hotel and had family game night and snacks. And the kids were able to swim in the pool twice yesterday. Today, we went into Chicago and went to the museum of Natural History. It was super expensive but so cool! They have a very extensive Egyptian exhibit and the biggest skeleton of a T. Rex and most complete. Her name is Sue. It is a museum that would take a couple days to visit properly. It has been there for over 100 years and the architecture of the building is incredible. It is located right on Lake Michigan so we also went down to walk along the water front. The lake was angry today and had a lot of waves, wind blowing and low clouds. But we got some good pics.
We drive home tomorrow, because Kenny starts his new job in West Virginia on Tuesday and has to drive 5 hours south from Ohio to get there. Poor guy, he'll have a total of 10 hours of driving tomorrow.


The kids also have Tuesday off, but both Sy and Aiden have soccer games. So we'll be sitting watching games on Tuesday night. It's been challenging so far, they both have 2+ games a week at different locations and some are too late to take the little kids to. But, we enjoy watching so much. They are both really good players. Aiden is a goalie and Sy plays forward and mid-fielder.

That's all I got for now, we're off to eat some authentic Chicago-style pizza!

Schools in, Tuesday....

And tomorrow is open house! Wow, this summer break flew by! We had a good time, though, going to Victory Conference Center a couple weeks ago and to Missouri on the week of July 4th. It feels like we drove around quite a bit.

The weather has been exceptionally beautiful, 70's and low 80's with low humidity. I've been very thankful, even though we still haven't had much rain. I even turned off my A/C which I don't think has ever been done this early on the summer. We could have an Indian Summer, tho and have to turn it back on.

This weekend we did back-to-school shopping. We mostly got shoes and clothes, I already bought school supplies last month. So, the kids are ready to go back in that regard, just not ready for the end of vacation.

Jacklin starts middle school this year so that will be a change for her.
I did get my ultrasound on July 24th and we found out its a boy! We're all so excited so now the shopping for boy stuff has begun. Ken took Jacklin out for a "father/daughter date" when he was home this last week and they did some shopping for little guy, lots of Ohio State gear. He even got a onesie that says "poop on Michigan" for the Ohio State/ Michigan rivalry that my family may not know about.

Sylas has 3 days to finish online school or else...he becomes a Freshamore, and has to drop his fun classes and do the freshman courses over again. It's been a good lesson in "life's not fair", because our flash player wasn't working properly, then the Internet connection was off, then we were out of town...so for 3 weeks nothing got done. Now he has to cram and get 50% of the work done in 3 days. I've been trying to help him when he lets me. And giving him lots of incentives. He is playing soccer this year, a 1st year walk on, so plays JV but is also on Varsity. He is a pretty good player and it's been fun to watch him scrimmage. 1st real game is Tuesday.

Aiden is also playing this year and I'm so proud of him for branching out more. He is also taking choir!! He has a beautiful voice and I know the choir teacher will be thrilled to have him. Hardly any boys are in choir anymore.

Well, it's late and this baby mama is tired after a busy weekend. I will blog more faithfully after the kids are in school...I mean what else am I going to do all day???

Summer, swimming, sweating. . .

I haven't posted for over a month, eghads!! Its been busy with the kids home for the summer. Sylas is doing online summer school for 1 full year of world studies and a half year of English. We all want to start 10th grade fresh, and think he'll have a much better year. We had to pay for the online school so he is paying us back for half of it by babysitting twice a week. I'm still working 2 days a week. Ken has been gone during the weeks at his job in Indiana and home weekends so it is challenging at times being a "single parent" again.

We decided since we have a YMCA membership not to get a pool pass at the city pool this summer. So, we've been riding our bikes to the Y and then swimming and riding home again. It has been super hot the past 4 days, so we drove one day. But on the days we ride, I love all the exercise we're getting. It's about 2 miles to the Y. We have an amazing bike path here too, so the girls and I rode 9 miles last week round trip to a place 1/2 way to Springfield called Cedar Bog(Rona made it 7, then Ken had to come pick her up). But I was proud of the girls, it was challenging!

So, the heat wave recently has been oppressive. It has been in the 90's with humidity. We had a wicked wind/thunderstorm on Friday and several in the state lost power. Also many trees went down and large limbs and debris all over the roads. We were some of the only ones that didn't lose our power. We're having another severe thunderstorm tonight. We did need the rain. It has been so dry and I've been watering so much. Almost lost my basil plants, but they've rallied.

We are planning to visit some friends in Missouri for July 4th. Ken has the week off before starting his next project. It will be a long road trip there and back, but they have a boat and we are going out on the lake to watch fire works. It should be a lot of fun; the kids are really excited and Ken is really making an effort to enjoy his least favorite holiday. The family we're visiting are true Ozark people and pretty lively. We laugh a lot with them! Just their accent makes us laugh.

We have a pretty busy month ahead, so not sure how much I'll blog. I have my ultrasound in a couple weeks and we really hope to find out what we're having. Colin's friend Alex, from Connecticut, is coming for a week to hang out. My sister Amy and her hubby Steve are visiting on their road trip across America in about a week. We are really looking forward to them coming. The boys are going on a youth trip to Washington DC on the third weekend of the month and at the end of the month, we will go up north again to our conference center in New York for a couple weeks. I love a busy summer and I love the lazy days in between.

The weather forecast for this week is hot and stormy; it almost always storms on the 4th of July here. I am very, very thankful for central air! Happy Summer all!!!

Ultrasound, yesterday!

Had my first OB appt yesterday. I was in there for 2 hours, ultrasound first which was fun, exam after which was not fun. They are keeping my due date at Dec 5, even tho the ultrasound said Dec 7. Can't see much yet, but I will get another one at 20 weeks. They just want to check baby's size and development at this stage. Was cool to see the little heart beating & see something in there!
This morning I went on a wonderful long bike ride, about 7 miles. It was just so beautiful out! I love my bike! It's a cruiser, so just one speed and back pedal to brake. I felt like a kid again!
We have such a nice bike path in Urbana, it goes south for about 30 miles and they're expanding it north this year at least 20 miles. It also loops through the city park, so that's usually where I walk/run.
The kids have 1 more week of school, we can hardly wait! And it's a long weekend, so actually only 4 days of school. We are going to New York for the weekend, it's the bi-annual soccer tournament/Brunstad feast this weekend. Sy, Aiden, and Jacklin will all play this time. Aiden is turning out to be a pretty decent goalie. The weather is supposed to be nice and pleasant, so it should be a nice weekend. Also, it's the first time of the year that we will see everyone from other churches after a long winter. I'm happy to reconnect with old friends and hopefully we will get some work done on the trailer. It still needs the kitchen re-installed.
And the bead board put up.
Happy Memorial Day all!

Another wedding weekend up ahead

This weekend some friends of ours are gettin hitched (and I'm not coordinating the event) so we have lots of out of town guests (not staying with us) and I got to go out tonight with some of them! It was so nice to see everyone, some I haven't seen in over a year. Aiden babysat for me, since Sy was too tired and went to bed.
I finally went flower shopping yesterday! I got some really pretty flowers and filled all my pots and still have some left over. I need to branch out more, I realize. I have just done pots for so many years because either I had little kids and couldn't manage beds or I had a dog that chewed and dug everything in the beds, but now I have time and no dog. Ken put in 2 raised beds for me last year for veggies and I love them! I'm still trying to decide what I want to grow in them this year. And I need some help with getting good perennials to put in my beds and make more beds. My neighbor has a gorgeous yard, but that's all she has to do all day, blah! I'm glad it's a chain link fence so I can look through and see all her gorgeous blooms. I'm just thrilled to manage getting the lawn mowed once a week and keep the weeds from taking over. Oh, and I also have an herb garden. I need to replant basil because it doesn't seem to come back. And cilantro. I have oregano, rosemary, and lavender and chives that come back every year.
I've included some pics of my flowers that Sy took with my phone while we were flower shopping.
So now I'm off to Target to try to find something to wear to this wedding tomorrow. I would really love to get a wrap dress. And I'm going to get some storage cabinets for the bathroom. This house has no storage for linens or towels that is built in, so Target has some stuff on sale and I've been needing these for a long time!

Mother's Day love and weekend success

Happy Mother's Day all! I got woken up to a cup of fresh coffee in a new mug made by Colin, and toast courtesy of Jacklin. All the littles had cards, flowers, and lovely hugs for me! I am so blessed with my kids! We told the kids of our impending visitor, baby #6 coming in December. They were all so excited, except for Rona. We knew she would not handle it very well, but we're unprepared for her hysterics. She fell to the floor, bawling about how we wouldn't love her anymore. Then went to her bed, sobbing saying it was a "nightmare, the worst nightmare of my life". It took us an hour to calm her down and assure her that we would love her forever and that being a big sister was very fun and important. Now she's cuddling with me so I think I'm forgiven. She has always loved her baby of the family status. She'll be 7 when the baby is born and she has 6 months to mentally prepare herself
So the wedding was a success! We only had one small glitch with the ceremony, miscommunication between the piano player and myself, but we covered ourselves, sent in the honorary mini bridesmaids & ring bearer off cue and the rest went flawlessly. Everyone was very pleased and happy with everything. The decor was beautiful so I included some photos from the event.

C'est la vie!

This week the weather has been beautiful, 70's mostly, a few rain showers mixed in. I've been able to dry the laundry outside which is good, because the dryer just quit last week. "If it ain't one thing, it's your mother." ~Robin Williams, 'nine months'.
I'm not really sure who follows my blog, probably no one because I haven't updated in a year or more, therefore I will reveal my secret. I'm 10 weeks pregnant with #6!!!!! It came as quite a surprise to both Ken & I. We are tremendously thrilled! We haven't told the kids yet, except for Sylas. I have my first prenatal visit on May 22, when I'm 12 weeks, so I'll get an ultrasound then. We want to find out what it is so we can be prepared. I no longer have any baby stuff, as we thought we were done and Rona is 6.
So, my life will change drastically come December. I have been quite nauseous and trying to hide it, as we don't want to make it public for a couple weeks.
I do volunteer event coordinating for a church fundraiser and I have a wedding event this weekend and I know it will be challenging! We have event set up tomorrow night for a few hours, rehearsal Friday night for a couple hours, and then at least 14 hours on Saturday. So, I know what I'm doing this weekend :-).
I'm really happy because my dad is coming tomorrow night from a business trip in Indiana. He is only staying for about 48 hours but it will be so nice to see him! The kids are really excited to see Grandpa.
Well, that's all for this day.

Summer is here!

Had a lovely day with the littles yesterday. We finally bought a new trampoline so they have been playing on that non-stop. It was a balmy 74 degrees yesterday so we welcomed summer with a fire pit supper of hotdogs, baked beans, chips & lemonade. Of course there were s'mores for dessert too. Ken & I worked on the yard together, I mowed and he trimmed, so it looks lovely. It rained so hard Friday, at least 3 inches and the tornado siren went off, so down to the basement we went for about 20 min. Anyway, all that rain makes the grass grow tremendously.
The big boys are gone this weekend to a youth conference in New York, can't wait to see them tonight!