WOW!

It has been quite some time since I have blogged.  Life has sure been fun and crazy!  Here is what is new...

february 13th

Harry has his first dentist appointment.  He did very well. Nervous at first but did great!

february 15th

Lorelai turned 4!  Lorelai and Mommy went shopping for the day, ate lunch out and then came back to the house to get ready for 5 of her little friends to come over for dinner & cake.  

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february 20th

Harry and I bought our very own business.  Yes you read correctly.  We are very excited about this new adventure and having Harry home every night.  I know you are anxiously waiting to hear what it is...we have bought the rights to sell Brownberry Bread products in a specific territory.  What does this mean...well we have a specific territory that we can sell this bread product to any grocery store/gas station/restaurant that will allow us to do so.  So for instance, we have in our possession to start we will have 3 Super Walmarts, Piggly Wigglys, Village Market, Ed's Supermarket, Burnstads, etc.  Harry will deliver in a 150 mile area.  This is a cake walk for him since he is use to over 700 miles in a day and a half.  Basically he will order, deliver, shelf it, and take the old off the shelf.  This is a huge responsibility that he will do well at.  I, of course, am the behind the scenes secretary that am very much looking forward to working with him side by side. I also deliver bread that can not be sold to 2 food pantries in the area weekly.

Remember if you are in the area to support your Brownberry, Thomas, Entenmann's, and Bimbo bread products! (yes I am his free advertising as well).  :)

february 28th

Our first Sock Hop.  I tempted and succeeded after a second try on Lorelai's skirt but we got everyone's skirts done just in time for the Sock Hop at school!  We had so much fun!

march 5th

Lorelai had her 4K screening!  She did great and wow'd the teachers.  What I thought was funny was at the end of the session they take the parents aside to tell them what they observed while playing with your child and the teacher says to me "she's very independent and strong willed." Later she asked if I was surprised by anything I was told...Uh No!

Lorelai is very much ready to go to school and can't wait for September to get here.  Viroqua does things a little different then Kickapoo as she will go 2 full days a week whereas Kickapoo did everyday halfdays.  So it will be different but ok.  

march 10th

Lorelai and Harry had their well-check ups.  All is fine. Lorelai got 2 shots and she took it like a champ!  I was very proud of her.

Weight ~ 33.4 lbs ~ 35%

Height ~ 39 inch ~ 31%

Harry didn't have to have any shots but took in what Lor had to go through.  I think he knows next time is his turn.

Weight ~ 29.10 lbs ~ 16%

Height ~ 36.5 inch ~ 21%

march 26th

My dad's birthday.  Had we tried to plan this we would never have done it but sometimes God just knows.  Dad got to see all his kids and grandkids at some point throughout the day.  Ellaree had a 2 hour late start so we planned on going for breakfast to surprise Grapa.  Grama was in on the surprise and he was thrilled.  Then ironically all 3 boys (my brother Jerod, BIL Nick & Harry) were off and helped him put in new barn beams in their house.  My sister & niece were off of school for spring break and came up.  Jerod's wife and daughter came around lunch time.  Like I said, it never would have happened if we had tried to plan it but it turned out just awesome.  

march 29th

Harry and Lorelai's first time ever bowling!

My Handsome Men!

Ellaree

Harry

Lorelai

april 7-11

Lorelai and Harry had swimming lessons at the hospital.  This was Lor's 2nd time but Harry's first time.  They both did very well, even for being in the same group.  

april 2 - may 7th

Ellaree is in gymnastics every Wednesday night.  She has been loving it.  Dad calls her Thumper as she when she does a cartwheel or something and comes down on the floor so hard all through the house.  :)

on bars here right in front in pink

on the beam

april 20th - Easter

We had Easter dinner at my sisters on Friday night so that everyone could make it due to work schedules.  It was lots of fun with Easter egg hunt, good food and chats!  

Left to Right

Lorelai - 4 years

Kynlee - 10 months

Maddie - 9 years

Ellaree - 6 years

Harry - 3 years

I didn't have much time before Easter service but I got a smile really quick.  They were just handsome and gorgeous in their Easter outfits thanks to Grandmother.  They got many many compliments.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Well Tuesday night Ellaree had P/T Conf.  Everything went very well.  She's at 75% statewide for math, she's at a 3rd grade level for reading and she's rated as Secure on all other subjects.  I think I am safe to say she's doing very well.

Also while there I noticed on her teacher's door a newspaper article of the kids.  Not sure how I missed this in our own paper we receive but she was gracious enough to share with me the article.  I gave you a hint so that you can find Ellaree.  :)

We are very proud of Ellaree as we told her that whatever she gave from her "sharing" piggy bank that we would match it.  She was so excited to give $5 so that in total it was $10.  Ellaree has such a giving and sweet heart!

3 & 4 Year Old Pictures

I did take Harry's 3 year old pictures around his birthday but just getting around to getting them posted.  We just got done with Lorelai's pictures which this year did not take that long to get a good one.  I think she is finally coming out of her shell and loving dressing up.  My how they have changed and not changed in looks.  My babies are growing up!

Harry 2 Years Old

Harry 3 Years Old

Lorelai 3 Years

Lorelai 4 Years

What Is New

I can not believe how time flies anymore.  So much is new and so much has happened and I am just now having time to sit down and take a moment to reflect it all.

CHURCH CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Ellaree & Lorelai were angels

All the kids lined up and ready to walk down

Harry was Joseph and his friend Faith was Mary

As you can see Harry would not put on his costume and he was not happy about being up front.  He had this poor little pitiful pout/cry he did. 

And the pitiful pout continued throughout the whole thing

And it only got worse and worse as the story of Jesus was told

And at the end Mom had to carry him away - I was very proud as there is not picture of it but Ellaree and Lorelai were playing drums on their cheeks during Harry having his pouting time.  I am very proud of my children.  Everyone else thought it was cute...I (as a mother) was mortified!

CHRISTMAS AT THE FARM

Christmas at the farm was so nice as we got to see Uncle Greg, Aunt Alissa and Uncle Luke.  It was a snowy day but had lots of fun sledding, opening gifts, building Ginger Bread houses and relaxing. 

Also Ellaree got to learn how to shoot a gun for the first time.  We were scared at first but in the end she tried it and was very proud of her.

PARENT TEA AT ELLAREE'S SCHOOL

This was a fun afternoon with Ellaree as her and her classmates read poems, sang Christmas songs and at the end had a little snack.  Then we got to visit and find all her Christmas decorations to bring home.  It was a lot of fun.

Here is Ellaree's small group for her poem

CHRISTMAS EVE

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Kids in their new jammies from Grandmother ready to open gifts

HARRY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY

Yes my baby boy is 3!  (sad music queued here)

Harry's new bike from Mom & Dad...since it was so very cold outside and it was his birthday he got to ride his bike in the house only for that day...then it had to go outside.

INDOOR WATER PARK

On New Years Day the kids and I ventured out on our own (as Daddy was driving for Kwik Trip) to Des Moines, IA.  The plan was that we would meet Daddy at his hotel were there was an indoor waterpark.  Note that this was the very first time I had went this far by myself with all the kids so it was a little intense not to mention the fact that it was snowing and Iowa doesn't necessarily feel it is a concern to have the roads completely plowed at all times.  So there was a lot of white knuckle driving, along with lots of "mommy can't get that for you right now, I am driving" and reminding the kids that I was not stopping every 10 minutes for something or the bathroom.  Yup it was a little crazy.  

We couldn't check into the hotel until 4 therefore we made plans to stop at Uncle Greg & Aunt Alissa's house on the way and say hi.  We would only have a 45 minute drive from there to the hotel.  

Here is where the Lord shows he is faithful and watches over you always...we were about a mile from Greg's house when the "check tire pressure" light came on.  As this has happened before I figured it was just because it was so cold out and kept on going.  When I opened the door I immediately heard the "pppssshhhh" sound.  Oh no!  Yup my rear passenger tire had ruptured and by the time I got the kids in the house came back outside it was completely flat.  

Greg tried and tried for a quite a while to get the spare out but it was frozen and couldn't get it.  He called AAA and they came out with no help either.  So on New Years Day the only place that is open is Walmart Tire so he took the flat off, took it to Walmart and had them patch it. He brought it back and within 15 minutes had the tire back on and the kids and I were back on the road.  Through all this of course Harry is at the hotel, out of drive hours and pacing the floor as he couldn't do anything to help.  We arrived safe 3 hours later then anticipated.  Harry had pizza ordered and in the room when we got there.  And headed straight for the waterpark! 

We headed back home the next morning to meet Daddy for breakfast and he went back on his route while we headed back home with no issues....until we hit Coon Valley (which is about 40 minutes from our house) and all the codes started dinging in my Tahoe.  I called Harry and asked me if it was still running down the road.  I said yes and he said just get it home and parked before anything else happens.  haha  

What an adventure but God is good and watched over us through the whole trip.

1ST ANNUAL SLEDDING PARTY

Our friends invited us over for a sledding party and how much fun we had that day. I took over 200 pictures of the day and Dad took the kids down the hills and we all had a blast hanging with friends.

Lil Harry is on the sled as well but kind of hard to see him except his boots

me with my dear friend Jenny