Vacation of 2010

We did it!  We took a vacation.  Starting June 9th, I can't go anywhere.  I am pretty much home bound, which I am kind of a homebody so that will probably be fine.  I found myself wanting to be home this weekend instead of on vacation.  Is that terrible?  Our vacation was small.  It was not too far from home.  And we didn't really rest but that's vacations are, right?

We went to Milwaukee.  I have only been to Miller Park in Milwaukee never anywhere else that I recall.  We took the kids to the Milwaukee Zoo and a Brewer game at Miller Park.  We spent 2 nights in a hotel, Residence Inn Brookfield-Milwaukee. 

At the zoo, we saw many animals and birds and reptiles.  There was a Dino expo that opened that day but the line was a half mile long so we didn't wait for it.  I know Troy would've loved it though.  We walked around the entire zoo.  It was definitely warm.  We sprayed sunscreen on the kids well.  BUT, mommy forgot herself.  I got a little toasty on the arms and my shoulders.  Didn't hurt, just looks pretty red.   At the end, we rode the train.  Troy absolutely loves trains so we knew that was a must.  Turns out that was his favorite part of the zoo as well as Rylee's.  We had 2 sleeping kids when we got to the hotel to check in.  By the way, we the Elmo harness you will see on Troy is one of those things like a leash.  We got one but never used it until this zoo trip.  It worked well.  I hate to think that I hooked Troy on a leash but it was better than losing him at the zoo among the zoo of people.  He was so excited that he didn't want to hold our hands just run onto the next thing to see.  I am extremely glad that we had it.

 Sunday, we went to watch the Brewers.  We ended up leaving after the 6th inning.  It was 95° out according to our car.  It was way to hot for Rylee.  She was starting to act really funny and was barely wetting diapers.  Troy was restless.  Kris took him over to the Kids Corner.  On the way back to our seats, he fell asleep in the stroller.  Kris called me and wanted me to come to meet him.  I did and we decided it was time to leave.  The kids were way to hot and tired.  On the way out to the car, Rylee fell asleep as I carried her.  Back at the hotel.  We changed into cooler clothes.  We left the kids in their diapers to cool down.  Later I ran to Applebee's and got dinner to eat back at our hotel.  While I was gone, Kris gave Troy and Rylee a bubble bath.  They were clean, full and ready for bed by 8.  It didn't take long for everyone to be asleep. 

The kids slept in until 7:30 this morning.  It was wonderful.  We got up at 8 and headed over to the gatehouse for breakfast.  Our hotel had one of the best continental breakfasts.  Sunday morning there was eggs, potatoes, sausage and biscuits and gravy as well as make your own waffles.  There were tons of topping to go on everything.  They also had the standard bread, bagels, danishes, cereal and variety of beverages.  It was nice.  After breakfast, we went back to the room and packed/cleaned up.  We gased up and were on our way home by 9.  We got home at 11:45.  It felt good to be home.

This afternoon, we headed over to my dad's new house and he and Deb watched the kids while Kris and I went to menards.  We were only gone for a half hour.  In that half hour, Troy tired my dad out.  He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.  On the way home, Troy crashed out too.  So my dad wore him out as my he wore my dad out.  All in just a half hour!  We are almost done landscaping the front of our house.  It looks a little gaudy right now because all the plants and garden are out in front.  It's the area for the best sun/shade combo.  We put up the retaining wall around our dogwood shrub and mulched around it, but still need more.  Good thing that stuff is super cheap!  Our garden is blossoming.  I think our radishes will be ready to harvest soon.  We also have a pepper on our pepper plant.  We put up the blue shutters.  There used to be shutters there but the past owners took them down.  I am not sure why because it just looked dumb without them.  And we still need to sand and paint our Adrinodack chairs that we made and trim down that lilac bush (it's more like a tree right now). 

I uploaded a bunch of pictures to my facebook.  Here's the link: 2010 album 


On other news, my little brother Scott starts his internship tomorrow.  He is going to be living with my aunt Lisa and Uncle Jeff for the summer.  His internship is to strength and condition the UW Badgers football and wrestling teams.  He's going to be so busy.  The experience will be awesome.  I hope he enjoys himself over the next 3 months.  Next fall he'll finish up school with a 5 credit class.  Then onto grad. school maybe.  He'll have to think about his options if he's offered a job at the end of the internship.  Scott is quite the perfectionist so I have no doubt he will make the most of this opportunity.  And thanks to my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jeff he has a place to crash at the end of the day.  He was kind of worried about what he was going to do about a place to live.  It's great that he will be living somewhere comfortable and safe.  

New Love

I love music. Always have and always will. I can't sing worth a hoot. Kristopher can but I can't. I only hope that our kids inherit Kristopher's musical talents. Anyway, Kristopher introduced me to this Youtube protege, Tyler Ward. He covers a bunch of music. I am not a Justin Bieber fan but I like his make of the song "Baby". However, I like Tyler Ward's version better. Justin Bieber - Baby (ft. Ludacris) - (Tyler Ward cover) Go to Youtube and look him up. He's a bunch of his own originals on there.  It's amazing. I envy his talents. And his mom kicks butt on the keyboard! Taio Cruz Ft. Ludacris - Break Your Heart (Tyler Ward cover)

Enjoy!



Taylor Swift - The Way I Loved You (Tyler Ward, Julia Sheer acoustic cover)

Terrible 2s

The last couple of days have been "terrible 2s" days.  I think I am losing my voice from hollaring at Troy.  Yesterday and today, he apparently forgot to turn his ears on.  I am not really sure what his deal is.  But he's hasn't been very well behaved at all.  Yesterday, I thought that I would take them grocery shopping at Walmart.  It was meant to be a quick trip.  I had made up a list before hand and everything.  It was not quick.  I said "No, Troy sit down" a lot.  Upon arriving at the check out, my 2 year old sees the rides and games area and proceeds to start screaming like bloody murder and scrambling to get out of the cart.  I have never been so embarrassed.  I was that parent with the kid that screams and you can hear them across the entire store.  Yup, me.  I had a terrible day at work and then a terrible trip to Walmart.  PLUS, I didn't get half the things on my list so I have to go shopping again.  We are going away for the weekend and I need that stuff to take with us.  LOVELY!  Upon arriving at home, all I did was hollar at him.  He's been having a problem keeping his hands to himself lately.  He thinks he can slid Rylee across the floor or sit on her or hit her or slap her belly. 

Tonight has been a little less than last night but Rylee has screamed out 3 times and Troy has been right next to her, "sssshhh"ing her. 

I decided to let them stay up tonight.  Rylee has been waking up at 5 the last couple mornings and everyone is tired of it.  So, I am going to let her play herself out and see what we get in the morning.  Troy is currently watching one of his favorite shows, Wow Wow Wubbzy, and then it's off to bed for him.  I did finally get my laundry started so I am sure the rest of tonight and all night tomorrow I will be doing laundry.  UGH!  I hate laundry.

On another note, after many many days of projectile vomiting, she puked.  She not only puked but she silently puked in the Kris's car as he was taking her and Troy to the babysitter.  He thought he could smell Chocolate Pediasure.  He pulled over and checked on her.  Sure enough she was covered in it.  She was wearing a dress that she had never worn before.  Tara, the babysitter, washed her up, rubbed her dress out, and put her a clean, dry outfit.  We have a huge bag full of her clothes at our house.  Now I have another outfit to add.  We're really not sure why she pukes.  BUT, she's going to have a swallow study done on June 9 or something like that. 

My buzzer on the dry just roared at me so I guess that means I should go fold some clothes.  Good night all!

Sundays and I have a love/hate relationship

I love the weekends.  It's the only time during the 7 day week that I get to spend with my husband.  We get to do what we want whether that's a lot or nothing at all.  Saturday night, Kris and I got to watch a movie together.  We watched Lovely Bones.  I read the book years ago during a trip to California to see my brother-in-law graduate Boot Camp.  The book was good from what I remember but I just couldn't handle the movie.  It was actually freaky.  I didn't care much for the movie.  It wasn't my type of movie.  But I got to spend it with my husband and really that is all that matters.  Sunday, we had a bunch of plans.  We got most of them done.  The laundry pile is still calling my name but the chairs are built, the rock retaining wall is put in, as well as the mulch, the lines on the clothesline are changed, the ceiling fan is up and running, my mini roses and sunflower are repotted to bigger pots and the pantry door is on and closes.  We also went to my mother-in-law's quilt show.  I am not a quilt connoisseur or anything, but I love her quilts.  She showed us the fabric that she got to make Troy a 2 year old quilt.  We have a lot of fun pointing out things like cookies and fire trucks on his 1 year old quilt.  So I am excited to see what his 2 year old and Rylee's 1 year old quilts will look like.  Troy was pretty well behaved.  We told him not to touch the quilts and for the most part his listened.  After we walked through the quilts, we were standing and talking to Kris's mom while Troy ran in circles around us.  Then Kris's dad pulled up on his motorcycle.  We pointed him out to Troy and asked who that was.  To which Troy replied with a big grin on his face, "Grandpa".  He loves his Grandpa Klauer or as we call him at our house Grandpa with the trains.  We had a great weekend.  I found out that my friends were having a get together Saturday night on saturday so I unfortunately couldn't go.  I would've loved to but home was where I needed to be.  I will eventually get to hang out with my friends.  Hopefully, before all the babies are born.  I really wanna see Dana and Carolyn's baby bellies.

Tonight, I did something I have never really done before.  I used our grill.  I did it and all by myself.  I haven't had much luck with our grills before, but I did tonight.  I made burgers and a couple hot dogs.  Needless to say, they turned out great!  Enjoy the photos from our weekend!   

 Troy enjoying a icy pop in the 90° weather

 Kris making the Adirondack chairs

Troy enjoying one of the chairs.  They still have to be filled, sanded and painted

Rylee was left inside so she decided to come find us

 One last toothy smile and a wave good night!

The 80's

"The 80's" is a wonderful phrase isn't it?!  I mean I was born in "The 80's" and there was great music made in "The 80's" and the weather is perfect when it's sunny and in "The 80's".  "The 80's" are wonderful for many reasons but mostly the weather.  Yesterday was a perfect day, weather wise.  I was excited for yesterday because the weather was suppose to be so GORGEOUS!  But when I got up, my excitedness wore a little when I saw the dense fog.  We decided that we would pack up the kids and go to Menards.  Today, it's suppose to be a little less gorgeous and a little more HOT!  And this week is suppose to be a scorcher.  We really don't wanna turn the air on yet, will if we have to but don't wanna.  AND, we have been really wanting to switch the kid's bedroom light into a ceiling fan.  We got the perfect sized ceiling fan, light combo for their room.  It's a standard white ceiling fan, nothing fancy for $20.  This will help keep them cooler during slumber.  We also wanted to look at remnant doors.  We got one when we first moved to this house to put on the entryway closet door.  It was "damaged" but we put the damaged part inside.  Well the outside of that hollow door was damaged over the winter.  It cost us $1, 3 years ago so we weren't out much at all.  It's a small door, 24", so we thought we'd take a look to see what they had.  They had a 24" hollow door for $2 that was damaged on one side and did not have a hole drilled for a handle.  There was a solid, 6 panel door for $10.  We're not sure why this door was in the remnant pile.  We couldn't find anything wrong with it.  Plus all the other doors in our house are 6 panel doors AND there was a hole for the handle.  We chose the $10 door. While in the door section, we picked up another spring thingy for our storm door (you know the 1 that the wind keeps catching) and Kristopher is going to try and fix the door.  The old spring thingy busted once from the wind and needed to be replaced.  We also got a door handle set for the garage side door.  One day, Kris went to open the door and all he got was half the door knob in his hand.  Easy fix!  I got a couple tomato plants and a couple pepper plants.  We got the edging stones for around our mulched area and another bag of mulch.

I planted my plants while the kids napped and Kris mowed the grass.  I painted my console table and new door and stained the end table, desk and ladder table.  Kris started to make us an Adirondack chair. The plans were confusing so I had to draw out the cuts on the boards before he cut them.  It should be awesome when it's done. 

Today, we are going to my mothrt-in-law's quilt show in dubuque.  Then, I am hoping to get the ceiling fan in the kids room, pantry door on, attack my mountain of laundry, get the edging stones in and the extra mulch spread around, plant my rose bush that I got for mother's day (really not sure where that's going yet) and hopefully get the chairs finished so we can just relax outside later.  Lots to do and it's already 74° out at 8:30 am.  Oh well, maybe the door will be on sooner than I thought.  Troy can't keep his pickers out of the pantry.  Kris is moving it through the house right now, he said "this is a heavy door" now Troy is whispering "heavy door, heavy door."  I'll post photos later of our improvements around our home.  It's fun!

Good day all!  Enjoy the weather and catch some sun!

WOOHOO!

Rylee had her appointment with the GI doc at AFCH.  We also seen the dietian, who never did anything she was suppose in the last 4 weeks.  I am not even going to start on how worthless I think the dietian is.  Any how, Rylee's weight today was 15 lb 0.9 oz.  WTH, right? My thoughts exactly.  She has lost 8 oz since April 27.  She did have a few days of the flu but it wasn't terrible.  However, we are going to be trying some new things and avoiding a feeding tube for another month!  We're really trying to make it to the end of summer by "floating" by until Pediasure releases their new product 1.5.  Rylee is on Pediasure 1.0 right now which is 30 k/cal and the 1.5 is 45 k/cal.  So we are going to increase her Protonix to 4mL twice a day instead of once.  We are also going to add this powder called Duocal to her Pediasure.  This increases the amount of calories she receives per ounce since Pediasure's 30 isn't enough.   The only way to get the Duocal is to order it online from a supplier.  I went onto the website that the dietian gave me to order the stuff, no way insurance will pick this up.  I registered as a new customer and immediately received a $20 off coupon in my email.  I did some math to figure out how long a can of Duocal would last us which would be a week.  A case is 6 cans.   So 6 weeks for a case which costs $133.50 and has free shipping.  So that's $22.25 a week plus the cost of the Pediasure which is about $40 a week.  I'll take $60 a week over $165 for the Vital Jr.   But today I used the $20 off coupon so I got the case for $113.50, which is $18.91 a can.  I was happy about that.  That was awesome.  So I ordered it.  It should be here in a week.

As I said before, we don't qualify for WIC because of our income.  However, I have never applied because of this.  I learned today that we may be eligible because of Rylee's special needs.  She is a child with special needs.  WIC covers Pediasure if prescribed which we can easily get the prescription.  The maximum benefit is 18-19 cases per month or 30 oz per day.  This would cover our Pediasure cost or at least some of it.  WIC is a supplemental program not a pay for all program.  I guess we'll find out when I talk the WIC people.  So that's that when it comes to Rylee's appointment today. 

On another note, she puked today at daycare.  She hasn't thrown up since Sunday.  I could easily get used to a  few days of no vomiting! 

I have to go to the doctor tomorrow.  A regular OB checkup.  I was thinking today, how laxed I am this pregnancy.  I mean I don't even know how far along I am unless I counted the weeks on the calendar.  And I have no idea if this kid can hear me talking or react to light.  I have spurts of energy here and there.  For the most part I feel alright.  My right side goes numb a lot.  I get kicked about 90% of the time on the right side.  All my pain is on the right side.  My pubic bone is another story.  I am starting to believe it's fractured or something.  I have never been in so much pain ever.  If I get into bed, 9 times out of 10 I have to have Kris help me get out.  And even then there is a lot of pain.  This pregnancy has definitely hands down been 200 times more difficult than other pregnancies.  It's rather miserable to be honest.  I am looking forward to August when this kid will come out.  And I was watching a newborn baby on TV the other day and got the itch to hold this babe.  BUT, I don't want to hold him/her before 36 weeks!

Weekend?

What the heck happened to the weekend?  It's gone.  It literally disappeared.  And now we don't get another one for 5 days.  **Sigh**  It's been a relaxing weekend but we didn't spend much of it at home.

Friday night, Troy, Rylee and I went to eat at Uno's with my brothers and sisters and their families.  Then we stopped at home to pick up some things and change into jammies and headed over to my sister, Carmen's house where everyone was meeting to hang out.  I put a pair of velcro sandals on Troy.  He took them off twice before we left home to go over.  I had to stop and get some gas.  When I got back in the car his sandals were off and laying on the floor.  Our conversations went like this:

Me: "Troy, who took your sandals off?"
T: shrugs "don't know"
Me: "Someone did it, I think Troy did."
T: quiet for a minute "NO, Dad did it"

Well you see the problem with this is, dad was at work 15 miles away from us.  I couldn't even scold him for lying because I was laughing too hard.  He was serious too.  At Carmen's house, he played hard.  We didn't head home until after 11 and once home, I turned on Sesame Street hoping he would calm down and go to sleep.  Rylee and Troy just sat talking to each other and giggling and kicking/hitting eachother.   Rylee finally gave in and fell asleep at 11:30.  I followed suit shortly there after.  Kris said that Sesame street was still playing on the tv when he got home but we were all asleep at 12:18.  Troy couldn't have been asleep for more than 20 minutes.  Amazing how he could stay awake that long.

Saturday we got up and cleaned out the Jeep.  We wiped down the inside which needed it something awful.  While we were doing that we decided that it was a great day to go look at vehicles.  Our Jeep seats 5.  However, there is no way we're going to be able to fit 3 carseats in our car.  So we looked online before we went.  We're looking for something that we can have for a while therefore, low miles and able to accommodate 5 people and stuff.  Kristopher and I are not van people.  We never ever have wanted a van, desired to drive a van, look at a van.  However, we decided to look in the price range we thought would be the best for us.  Our goal is to lower our current payment by $100.  We have a hefty monthly Jeep payment.  At the time we bought the Jeep, we didn't have kids and could easily afford it.  Now, an extra $100 a month would be nice.  So we decided to look at vans and SUVs.  A lot of SUV aren't 3rd row and those that are are out of the price range.  We came across a van.  We decided we would not go lower than 2007 (which our Jeep is) or go for more miles (our Jeep has quite a few miles).  We also decided that the frills that the Jeep has (which aren't many...heated seats, power sunroof...) were not necessary.  We just needed a vehicle to get us from point A to B.  We came across a Chevy Uplander.  It was a 2006 but had less miles than our Jeep and it had a DVD player in it.  The DVD player we could live without but we actually didn't mind the look of the vehicle.  The milage was still high but we decided we could look at that one.  Then we came across another Uplander, I don't remember the year 2008 I think, with less than 20K miles, a DVD player, E85 capable and we liked the color.  It cost a little more than the other Uplander but was still in our range.  We decided to test drive that one.  It was a very nice vehicle.  It drove well and the inside was great.   I am a huge cupholder fan.  I am not kidding you, the front seats had 6 cupholders, the middle 2 seats had 4 cupholders and the way back had 2 cupholders.  12 cupholders for a vehicles that's meant to fit 6 people.  AMAZING!  It was a nice vehicle.  We had the guy run the numbers for us.  He low balled us on our trade.  We actually owe $800 more than the trade would be.  So we're going to keep looking.  We have all summer to look. 

Then we used a gift certificate we had to go to Huhot.  It was good!  Then headed to Menards to look at grills.  Our grill which we keep covered in the garage at all times rusted out.  I am not sure how it happened.  We looked online to see if we could get the replacement parts for it.  It would cost us over $150 for the parts.  So we decided to look at grills and if we didn't find anything for less than we would have to get the parts.  That grill was rather large for us.  We got it at the end of the summer when they had it marked way down on sale a few years ago.  I looked at Walmart last time that I was there and found a different brand grill for $94.  We looked at Menards and found a better grill for $99.  It's only 2 burners and the sides fold down, leaving us with much more room in the garage to store it.  The old grill took up way too much room.  It was huge.  So we got it. It nice and it will work for us.  The brand is a better quality. 

Today, we got up at 7 which is sleeping in for us.  Kristopher made breakfast of eggs, bacon and hashbrowns.  Then we got dressed and headed towards Cassville to visit Kristopher's parents.  We were going to be early and they wouldn't have been home.  So when we were going through Platteville, I called my dad and we stopped and visited with them.  My dad and his fiance Deb got home Saturday from a trip to Florida with her granddaughter Kristin and we wanted to see how their trip was.  Then we headed to Cassville.  We had lunch with Kris's parents and hung out playing hard all afternoon.  It was a good time.

And now it's quarter to 7.  Dinner is done.  We have 2 kids to bathe, one that just sliced his lip open from falling into a bucket of toys, and then bedtime.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommy's.  In my personal opinion, being a mommy is wonderful.  It doesn't matter if you're a mommy to a human child, dog, fish, cat (ahem, not a cat lover myself but there are those out there that do love those creatures).  I am lucky enough to be the mommy of 2 human children, 1 mildly active fetus, 3 angel babies and 2 hounds.  Kris and I lent my brother my camera for spring break, well he still has it.  The thing was a Kodak piece of garbage.  It ate batteries like crazy.  The amount of money that we have spent on batteries for that camera alone could've bought a brand new one!  The camera we had before was a Sony Cybershot.  We loved it.  It worked wonderfully.  But we got the Kodak right before Troy was born because we'd had the Sony for a long time and it was outdated.  So, Kris and I decided that instead of getting each other something useless or something we didn't want, we decided that our Mother's, Father's and Anniversary gift to each other and from the kids would be a new camera.  And there were the best sales on those this weekend.  So together we picked out a new one.  Another Sony Cybershot.  It's nothing spectacular.  We just want to take pictures of our family so it will serve it's purpose.  We didn't need the video capability because Rylee got a Flip from her godparents for her Baptism.  And let me tell you, you need a Flip.  I don't care who you are, where you live, what you do...you need a Flip.  Those are amazing little pieces of art!  And our daughter has one.  For example,   because of the Flip I was able to get Rylee clapping for the first time on camera.  I got a video of Troy talking to me.  Which leads me to another very interesting topic...2 year old brains and communication.  Troy has shown quite a bit of interest in the potty.  We've jumped on that bandwagon, but he just can't figure out that he needs to tell us that he needs to go potty before  he goes.  He tells us as he goes.  Work in progress...anyway, he always says "I'm pooped I'm pooped Momma" when he really means he just piddled and his diaper is wet and he wants a new clean dry one.  However, the last couple of days, he has decided that he can remove his diaper on his own.  He simply takes it off, leaves it and walks around in the buff.  He enjoys being naked to an almost unhealthy degree (well, not really but I can imagine him taking his honeymoon or vacation to a Hedonism Resort in Jamaica or somewhere like that).  Today, we asked him if he was "stinky".  He said no and then not 10 minutes later comes out to the living room, infront of Kris and I, says "I pooped" and takes his messy diaper off.  Thankfully, it didn't make a mess all over.  But that's just 1 example.  He also has taken off in his speech.  It's amazing what a 2 year old thinks of.  He talks a lot about "jew bock" which is a juice box.  He also has conversations with us.  It's nice!  He knows his manners.  He burped not once, not twice but three times at the dinner table tonight right in a row and said excuse me when he was done and covered his mouth.  He will say "please" and "thank you" and "your welcome" when prompted.   It's fun being a mommy!

Take a look at my Mother's Days!

Mother's Day 2007

Mother's Day 2008

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day 2010

My niece, Jalyn, turns 7 today.  Happy Happy Birthday Jalyn.  Enjoy a couple of my favorite pics of her!

It's been one of those days

Yesterday, I got a call at work from Tara our babysitter.  Rylee threw up and was running a temp of 101.  So 30 minutes early, I left work to pick them up and take them home to nurse Rylee back to health.  Today, she was still running a temp.  Troy started running a temp.  Troy has had an upset tummy this afternoon.  And Rylee has thrown up twice since 3 o'clock this afternoon.  She is getting worse instead of better.  She can't keep the tylenol down now.  We have a temporal infrared thermometer.  It's been saying that her temp has been 104 all afternoon.  Right now she is flush with fever and very warm.  She just threw up in my bed so I stripped her clothes and am letting her laying in a diaper to cool her down a little.  She is having some labored breathing which could be due to her stuffy nose.  However, her spirit is true to Rylee.  She is happy and talking to me about her "dadda dadda dddaddddaaa"  while smiling and playing with a purple soothie.  Diapers continue to be wet.  No stools yet today.  I am afraid there probably won't be any #2s from her without a little coaxing.  It's been a couple days since she has had any vomiting.  so I hate to see it come back.  However, I am fairly certain that a stomach bug is making it's way through our house.  At about 7:30 I started feeling really yucky and have tossed my supper twice already since.  It's amazing how kids share everything with each other and their mom.  Next week is finals week for Kristopher so if this could bypass him that would super!  It's 8:46 pm, Troy has been asleep for an hour, Rylee is all cleaned up from her vomiting (which included her latest dose of tylenol) and currently rubbing her eyes vigorously.  So her and I are going to close our eyes and hope/pray for an uneventful night!

The death of the 10 day old planter

The wind has been terrible here all day!  Our front storm door has been the victim of the wind of few times before therefore it doesn't close properly anymore.  Well the wind caught it while I was out watering my plants and garden.  That darn wind broke my planter that I got 10 days ago. See?

That darn wind is also reeking havoc on my garden.  See?

However, our gigantic lilac bush is taking it just fine!

And our red twigged dogwood

And Troy likes it too (see what I mean by big area to fill, hopefully that dogwood does the trick!)

When I picked up Troy and Rylee today, I noticed Rylee wearing a pink dress.  I thought, I know she has worn this dress before but when...

This is Rylee today (I was doing laundry, don't worry I don't let my kids play on dirty clothes all the time!)

This is Rylee last August at a high school/college friend's wedding.  She still fits!

She has the same smile!  Now her hair is longer.  That's probably all that has really changed!

hmmm...

It's been a great weekend!  Friday night, it was just the kids and I because Kris had to work.  Kris has had to work 32 hour weeks for the last year and then April came...boom...40 hours weeks are back (at least for the month of April).  That means work is picking up!  That's awesome. 

Saturday, we headed got early thanks to Rylee and Kris went out to the garage to work on his dad's birthday gift (which I don't have a photo of).  At 9:30, we headed to Cassville to celebrate his dad's birthday on his actual birthday!  Kris had cut the pieces of his dad's gift at home and together they assembled it.  We Kris gave him a big kid's sized picnic table.  We racked our brains trying to come up with something for him.  I suggested the picnic table.  It was something practical and with 5 soon to be 6 grandchildren, it'll get it's use.  And if our family, Kris' brother and his family and Kris's parents are all there, 6 adults and soon to be 6 kids, we don't all fit around their outside table.  Now, the kids (at least 4 will fit at anytime) at the new picnic table.  Fill the holes, sand and seal, and presto, an outdoor picnic table.  It's made of 2x4s and 2x6s so I imagine that thing it on the heftier side.  Well his dad sat down at it and opened his gifts of chocolates and a grandpa pen from Kris's brother's family.  Kris's brother, Nick, had drill this weekend so he missed out on the festivities.  Their kids, Isaac, Noah, and Adam had fun I think.  Adam was smiley most of the day.  Isaac, Noah and Troy all took to wearing out pig piling on Kris.  I have a video.

Troy absolutely would not take a nap.  He was more interested in playing and what everyone else was doing.  So by 3, we knew if that child didn't get a nap, there would be hell to pay.  He was asleep before we got out of Cassville.  We made a Menards stop of the way home.  We needed to get potting and garden soil for our garden, a bush or perennel of some kind for the bare spot in the front of our house and some mulch to put around it.  Once home, Kristopher built our raised garden.  We decided to raise it completely off the ground because it's my garden and since I pregnant with a child who likes to crush nerves going from right hip down to my right foot, immobilizing my hip, butt and leg most of the time, raised worked better for me.  And, after the wind blew the lid off our sandbox and the neighborhood stray cats decided to shit in it, raised off the ground would be easier to keep them out of.  Those damn cat makes life a little harder.  (And we have called animal control before, the neighbor who feeds them just said they're not his cats, he just feeds them and so they set up traps only catching 1 cat and 1 pregnant opossum (which babies while in the cage with it's mouth stuck open in the opening of the wire cage (and Kristopher being so animal friendly put on his boots and popped it's mouth free))).

Today, bright and early we were up and outside.  Kris and sometimes Troy dug up the sod and weeds in the area that the Red Twigged Dogwood flowering shrub.  We had a 10' wide, 4-5' high area we wanted to fill.  So we got that.  The shrub we got will fill most of that area.  We also have a couple hostas planting next to our house in a rather odd place so we are going to move those and put them around this shrub.  We chose a red mulch to cover the ground underneath.  It looks good.  I would go outside and take a photo but it's pouring rain so maybe next time.



That red twigged dogwood will look like this in the winter.  Lovely with the snow (which I am so so happy to have a few months break from!)  I think that looks neat.  But right now, it's small and needs time to grow. 










Last Saturday, I planted seeds in pellets in a little greenhouse.  Today, the beans were so high they lifted the lid off of it.  So, I planted them.  It's a little early to go planting a garden, I know, but I felt good, it was great weather today and we had all the necessities to do it.  Later this summer, we will have beans, peas, carrots, onions and beets and by the end of the month, radishes.  We will do tomatoes and bell peppers in a bigger container to accommodate the cages.  And, we'll buy those plants since we waited too long to get the seeds going.  I would take a picture of the raised garden but again, it's pouring.

We also went to Dubuque today.  I wanted to get Troy some sandals and Rylee a walker and some good produce from HyVee so we went to Dubuque.  We stopped at the Little Folks Trading Post to look for the things for the kids.  We got Troy a few second hand pairs of sandals, a nice leather pair and a pair of Adidas that he trudge through mud in.  I also picked myself up a couple pairs of maternity pants (which I am was in dire need of) and 1 top.  However, they didn't have any walkers.  Next weekend is Platteville's city wide garage sales, so it's my mission to go out searching for one (or rope one of my coworkers into picking me up one while they're out).  We stopped at Target to get some diapers.  If you bought 2 boxes of Pampers, you would get a $10 gift card.  I also had a $2 target coupon and a couple manufacture coupons.  As it turned out, the only boxes that we included in the $10 deal were the new Pampers Dry Max.  These are supposedly suppose to hold more and be thinner.  They are thinner but definitely don't hold as much.  Rylee fits better in Huggies while Troy can only wear Pampers because he has sensitive skin and breaks out in diaper rash in other diapers.  I was not going to spend $30 for 56 size 5 diapers for Troy.  That's just crazy.  So we held off on those.  We have enough for him to get us by for a little while yet.  Rylee fits well in a size 2 in the Huggies brand but size 2 in Pampers still need to be folded over because they are too big but 1s are too small. 

**Side note, it's 8:22 and I am the only one awake in this house.  Rylee's been asleep for an hour, Troy for 2 hours and Kris for at least a half an hour.  I have a feeling morning is going to come early tomorrow! How come this doesn't happen on weeknights when I am completely worn out from working all day and have to fight with Troy until 10-11 pm for sleep! Amazing what a ton of fresh air does on a person!**

We stopped at HyVee and got a few things like milk, eggs, produce and cheese.  Then home we went.  Kris mowed our grass.  It was the first time for our backyard, second for the front.  Now we just got a ton of rain and it's suppose to be sunny tomorrow.  It'll need mowing by Tuesday again!  I built a little something that I just HAD TO HAVE!!  I think it cost us $5-10 to make where as Pottery Barns sells the exact same thing for $70.  I need to fill, sand and stain it but it had the most perfect area in my house.  Troy has already tried to climb on it so a plant or pictures need to be placed on it, quick!  This picture is from Pottery Barn Kids.  I got the plans from Knock Off Wood.  I am not going to paint mine, I am going to stain it.

I did it mostly by myself.  Kris helped me put the bottom shelf on at the end.  BUT, I cut all the pieces, even the angled legs.  I absolutely had to have this stand.  I had the most perfect corner of it.  And, I even tested out it's strength and sat on it, not even so much a wobble.  And I saved $60 in the end!  That is the best part!

At around 5, Troy decided to go in the house.  Only to come out seconds later, chocolate donut with chocolate frosting in hand (which he stole out of the box on the table).  Needless to say that once he finished that which was at the same time we finished the stool, he went straight in the house for a bath.  Worked out well because then it started pouring rain, thundering and lightning.  We've been lazy the rest of the time. Now, everyone, but me, is asleep and I think I may join them all!  Good night