MONDAY again!

Hi. Well is it Monday and we had a super day here. Maddie went to daycamp of course. And Adam sprayed beans again all day. Brennan left to go to his Grandma's house around 3:45 so that allowed some time for Carter and I to sneak outside to swim in the big pool because Kinnick was napping. We went out at 4 and did not come back in until almost 6 when Kinnick woke up from his nap. It was alot of fun to swim with just Carter. I had not done that yet this summer. Maybe I even got a little tan! I am sure the neightbors could see my white white skin from miles away! Adam grilled steak for supper. It was good! We also had sweet corn and then I cut up some oranges too. It was great! Carter and Maddie went to bed at 8 and Kinnick is watching Little Einsteins. He is happy to just play by himself without Carter bothering him. He really entertains himself quite well. After I get Kinnick off to bed I need to start getting lists made and things organized for vacation. We are going to Wichita Kansas to visit Adam's mom. We are leaving this Saturday and will be gone for a week. Adam's mom called tonight to let us know that she got tickets so that we could all go and see The Wiggles live in concert. I am sure the boys will just love it! We plan to do alot of relaxing by the pool when we are there. It will be nice to get away. Even better news, we are borrowing a luggage cover thingy to put on top of the suburban so that we can leave the 3rd seat up for Maddie to sit in all by herself. She is so happy that she does not have to be squeezed between her 2 brothers for 8 plus hours in the car. I am also going to be driving this vacation and Adam is quite nervous. He does not like it when I drive, but I think I am a fine driver. It helps with my car sickness, so he is willing to let me drive. What a sweetheart! Anyway, I suppose I should get Kinnick off to bed now. Love, Steph

A few more video clips....

Kinnick dragging the water jug through the kitchen....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndknjsiTudQ

Swimming at the family reunion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9JIkDvasKA

Family Reunion

Good morning. I apologize for not getting this post done last night. Yesterday was another hot day outside. Adam played in a softball tournament for the KC's and had 2 games yesterday. How they could play softball in that hot weather is beyond me. I could not do that. The kids and I stayed home and just hung out. When Adam got home we all got ready to go to the Pedersen family reunion. My Great Aunt Betty and Great Unlce Eddie Wilcox host the reunion each summer. We go and swim for a few hours at Oak Lake and then we eat lots of yummy food. Adam got in the water with the boys, but not me, I do not like swimming in lakes. After they were done swimming they played on all sorts of John Deere toys. Of course Carter was so impressed with them that he did not even want to stop long enough to eat his supper. At 6:30 we loaded up and headed home. Three hours out in the sun and heat with the kids was enough. Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. We got all 3 of the kids bathed and off to bed by 8:30. We hope that all of you had a super weekend too.

HOT DAY!

Hi. Well, today was Saturday and our day started when Carter decided that it was time to get up at 7:45 a.m. I guess it could have been earlier, but I was really tired because Maddie, Carter and I stayed up late last night watching Shrek 2. We all had breakfast together and then decided to give Carter and Kinnick haircuts. Giving Carter a buzzcut is a piece of cake. He sits so still and just lets Adam get it done. Kinnick is a different story. He cried the whole time. We both felt awful by the time we were done. Next it was upstairs to give the boys a bath. They love to take a bath and it is hard to get them out of the tub. Carter likes to dump water on his head and help wash his own hair, but he also likes to help wash Kinnick's hair and that does not go over so well with Kinnick. Adam got ready to go play in his end of year softball tournament in Algona because his game started at 11 a.m. I kept all the kids here at home with me. It was just too hot to take them over to the game. Maddie was mad that she did not get to go but she got over it and decided that it would be more fun to play her play station 2. When she opened it to put the game in we found 3 DVD's that I thought we had lost somewhere along the way. I guess Carter must have shoved them into the PS2 and never got caught doing it. So he was excited when I showed him that we had found John Deere part 1, Shrek 1, and Baby Galileo. Kinnick took a 3 hour nap while Adam was gone. I guess he needed to catch up on some sleep since Carter woke him up so early this morning. Adam drove through McDonald's and brought lunch home for us. YUCK. I could do without it, but it was almost 1:30 and we needed to eat lunch. After lunch we got ready for church. Carter had not napped and we were going to 4 o'clock mass. He actually did not do too bad. We came home from church and made supper. Adam grilled brats and hot dogs to go along with our sweet corn and grapes. It was good. Kinnick ate 3 ears of corn. After we got the supper mess cleaned up I took the kids outside to swim in our pool. Kinnick is just not sure what to think of the pool. Carter and Maddie would live in it if I would let them. The thermometer said the water temp was 90 degrees. It still felt good. I would rather have it a little warm than too cold. Kinnick got crabby about 7:30 so I brought him inside and got him ready for bed. Have not heard a peep out of him since. Maddie and Carter stayed in the pool until 8:15 when I made them come inside to get ready for bed. They got their PJ's on and are sitting together watching animal planet. I need to get them off to bed so I better go for tonight. Talk to you again tomorrow! Love, Stephanie and family

TGIF

Well it is Friday night and I am sitting here at 8:22 pm typing this for you all to read. Not much happening here today. It was VERY hot outside so we stayed in all day long. It makes the kids a little crabby to be cooped up all day, but I did not want them getting overheated outside. Once I let them out it is near impossible to get them to come back in. Brennan's mom picked him up around 2 or 2:30 this afternoon and so the boys and I went over to Algona at 4 pm to pick Maddie up at daycamp. We came home and I made homemade pizza for them. They did not like it, so there I was with a whole pizza just for me. Kinnick wanted to go to bed a little after 7 tonight and he went right to sleep. I took Carter and Maddie up at 8:15 and Carter decided to be noisy and wake up his little brother. What a stinker! Now I have two little boys upstairs crying for me. FUN! Adam is in the field again...spraying beans!!! It does not appear that Carter is going to stop crying so I better go up and try to calm him down. Have a super weekend everyone! Stay COOL!

It is almost FRIDAY!

Hello. Today was a pretty ordinary day. Maddie was supposed to have a picnic at daycamp, but they decided to wait until tomorrow I think. It was really hot out today. They went to the pool swimming this afternoon and she loved that. She is sooooooooo tan! I used to get tan like that when I was a little girl too. She had swimming lessons at 5 pm and then Carter had them at 5:30 pm. We do not think that we will take Carter to them tomorrow night as he just does not have any interest in doing the games and stuff. He is not afraid of water so I am not too worried about it.

Adam worked in the yard most of the day and then after the kids got done with swimming lessons he went out to spray beans again. I just got the kitchen cleaned up from supper and spent some time playing with Kinnick doing a shape sorter toy he has. He really likes it alot. Carter always tries to take it away from him so we try and get it out when Carter is sleeping.

Carter got in trouble today for giving Kinnick a goose egg on the side of his forehead. I am not sure how it happened because I was in the kitchen when I heard Kinnick start crying very loudly. When I went to see what was going on Carter was standing next to Kinnick with a toy hammer in his hand. He would not look at me when I asked him what happened. He just looked at the floor and sighed. So, I am pretty certain that he hit Kinnick with the hammer, but what I do not know is if Kinnick did something to provoke Carter in the first place.

CRAZY around here sometimes.

Well I should get some anatomy and physiology studied before bed so I will chat with you again tomorrow!

Love, Steph

Video Clip

Here is a clip of Maddie making Kinnick giggle. It is just so cute to hear him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB4Lm4_TqCE

Wednesday night

Hi again! It is Wednesday night at 9 pm and I just got the last of my 3 children to bed. I had a nice day off. I got to see 5 gals that I used to work with and I went only expecting to see 2 of them! So that was really nice to chat with all of them! After lunch I ran some errands before I had to go to the dentist. It was nice to get all of my running taken care of without children along. My mom and dad watched Carter and Kinnick for me since Adam was spraying beans again. I had a lovely time at the dentist. I was there for an hour and a half getting the prep work done for my crown. I have a temporary one they made and put on it today and will go back in 3 weeks to get the permanent one on. I also got to chat with another gal I used to work with because she was the dental assistant for my appointment. At 4 pm I went to pick up Maddie at the YMCA and then we went to my mom's to get Carter and Kinnick. We got home and were so hot that we just stayed inside the house and played in the living room. We were watching some programs we had TiVo'd and all of a sudden Adam came in the house and told me to come outside with him. He had been at one of our fields where the elevator has a test plot and there was a supper and meeting there tonight. He said that while they were sitting there eating supper they saw 4 funnell clouds drop down from the sky and then go back up. He also heard that a tornado had touched down over by Spencer and so he came home to secure everything in the yard and park the vehicles in the garage. We stood outside and watched the weather for quite a while. It rained and that was it so we were lucky. Not too much else going on here. Adam is cleaning some sweet corn at the sink here in the kitchen and we are trying to decide if we should cook some to eat before we go to bed.....sounds good to me! All I had for supper was a bowl of cereal because my mouth was pretty sore from the work I had done this afternoon. I am posting a few pictures I tried to take of Carter and Kinnick today in their matching t-shirts, but they were not the most cooperative. The shirts say "I have the coolest Grandpa, I know cuz he told me! Mackinac City Michigan". That is where mom and dad went this summer for vacation. Enjoy the pictures! Love, Steph

Wednesday

Sorry that I did not get this done yesterday. The day just went by too quickly! Brennan, Carter and Kinnick required alot of my time and by the time I got around to wanting to do a post it was 10:30 pm and I decided to head off to bed. Maddie went to daycamp yesterday. My sister picked her up from camp and brought her to Whittemore for me. Bless her heart! Maddie was going to walk from my sister's house over to the swimming pool for her lessons at 5 pm but they got cancelled due to rain. Maddie hung out and played with Jordan for a while and then my sister brought her home for me. Bless her heart again! After Brennan went home I fixed the kids some supper. They wanted buttered noodles and applesauce, so that was easy to take care of. After supper we all watched Madagascar together. Adam got home from Rochester around 8 pm and
helped me get the kids off to bed. He had an appointment at the pain clinic yesterday with a new doctor that he has not seen up there. This doctor seems to have some new ideas about what they can try as far as injections go and seems pretty confident that these will work. We go back up on August 23rd for the injections. The neurologist he sees wanted to give him botox injections, but even with a letter of recommendation our insurance company would not pay for them and they are expensive. So this is our next step in trying to alleviate the neck pain Adam has each day. Adam was hungry for some sweet corn when he got home so he boiled some for the 2 of us. It was GOOD! Even if it was 10 pm when I was eating it! Well, today is my day off and I plan to go to Algona for lunch and meet with 2 of my friends. It should be lots of fun to catch up with them. After lunch I have to go to the dentist and get the first part of my crown taken care of. Then I will pick Maddie up at daycamp and take her to an appointment at 4:15. What a busy day! Hope you all have a great Wednesday! Love to all, Steph

More tomorrow

I have had an awful headache since about 3 this afternoon and although it has dulled I just want to go lie down and sleep, so that is what I am going to do. I will post more tomorrow.

Steph

The weekend is almost over

Well it is Sunday night and I am wiped out. Today we started cleaning our basement. It needed it really bad! We could not even walk through the basement without stepping on something. We are cleaning out alot of stuff and will likely have a BIG FIRE when it is all done. Finally time to say goodbye to stuff that we just do not need or use anymore. I did not get any argument from Adam about keeping the baby clothes, so maybe there is hope of talking him into having 1 or 2 more! We came across some toys that I thought the boys would like to play with and brought them upstairs. Carter is having a blast with them! He has been entertained all night! My mom and dad kept all 3 kids for us while we cleaned. It was easier than having to chase Carter around the basement all afternoon. They were happy to go see mom and dad because they just got home from vacation on Friday. They went to Michigan with my mom's sisters and spouses. We had frozen pizza for supper and then Adam left to go play softball. He had a game at 7 and one at 9 tonight. It was too hot to send any of the kids along so we all stayed home and he went over himself. The 9 o'clock games can get to be pretty "buggy". This week will be busy for us because Maddie has daycamp Monday through Friday, plus she is taking swim lessons at the pool in Whittemore at 5 pm and Carter is taking them at 5:30 pm each night. Oh and I get to go to the dentist on Wednesday and have the first part of my crown done. YEAH! Hope that you all stayed cool and had a great weekend!

Love to all, Stephanie and family

Hi to all! Well it is Saturday and I got to sleep in this morning! It was great. Adam got up with the kids and let me sleep until 9:30. We all ate breakfast as a family, it was just cold cereal, but it was still nice to all sit down together. After we were done eating we all got dressed and ready for the day! After we ate lunch we went over to Algona and picked up a few things we needed. We went to Shopper's Supply first because we needed to get new knobs for the lamps we have in our living room. Carter thinks it is fun to screw them off and then we cannot find them when we want to turn the lights on. He can be such a stinker sometimes. After we left Shopper's Supply we went to K-Mart. Maddie wanted to look at backpacks for school before they got too picked over. She found one she liked and it was 25% off so that was good. Of course she chose one that is green camoflauge. I could not talk her into the pink one but I did try. I think that I will go alone to get the rest of her supplies because it is just too much with the whole family along. After K-Mart we went to get some groceries at Hy-Vee. The boys were getting tired and I knew that it was not going to be alot of fun. They decided that they wanted to ride in one of those carts that is like a police car. They are nice for the kids but you can't get alot of groceries in them. So I sanitized the cart before they got in and off we went. After the first aisle Carter was ready to get out of the cart and wanted to walk. We talked him into riding in the regular cart that I was pushing and had Maddie get in with Kinnick because he was falling asleep and could not keep from falling over. After about 2 more aisles Carter started crying that he wanted out of the cart and wanted to walk. Of course we tell him no and then he screams and people look at us as though we are beating him or something. So, I gave into him and let him out of the cart to walk. Well he does not walk he decides to run. Someone I know who works at Hy-Vee came up to me and asked if I wanted her to tell Carter that it was against the rules to run in the store and that he needed to stop it. So I told her to give it a try. You should have seen the look on his face. He was scared. But as soon as she walked away he started to run again. What a fun time! My children just turn into little monsters when we go into a store and the people just watch us in disbelief as we shop. It is now 5 pm and Adam is getting some steaks on the grill and some sweet corn boiling for supper. I should go and get some laundry in the washer before we eat. I think we might go over to the Wild Rose Casino tonight for a few hours. Should be a good time. We both need to get out of the house and do something as a couple. Talk to you all again tomorrow! Love, Stephanie and family

FRIDAY!

Good morning!

Well, it is a dreary day outside, yuck. I guess that means we won't be going outside. Adam left this morning to go to see his neurologist in Rochester.

Maddie went to daycamp and today they are going swimming at the Spencer YMCA. She was a little apprehensive about going this morning because she did not feel like riding on a bus for an hour to get there. We told her that she did not have to go if she did not want to, but she decided at the last minute to go. We told the staff at the YMCA that if she changed her mind they could call us. I am sure that this all stems back to the bus accidents again. She won't come out and say it, but we are pretty sure that is it. I dread when it is time for school to start. We will have to see what happens when that time comes.

Kinnick is up taking a nap and Carter is watching a show in his toyroom and most likely is also going to fall asleep. They both got up too early this morning. Brennan is also napping right now. It sure is quiet.

Last night Adam mowed the lawn and Carter drove his gator around the yard pretending to mow like Daddy was. Kinnick and Maddie bounced in the trampoline for quite a long time. Maddie learned how to do a flip and so now she loves to show off for me.

Next week the kids will have swim lessons at the Whittemore pool. I am not sure if Kinnick will go or not, I think it would be good for him.

Have a great weekend everyone! Love to all, Steph and family

Thursday morning!

Good morning everyone! Just a quick update on yesterday. It was a pretty uneventful day. I had the day off from babysitting so it was just the boys and I. Maddie went to daycamp. Adam mowed lawn and worked some at the bodyshop. It was windy outside but I did let the boys go out and play for awhile. We had some sweetcorn ready so we ate that for supper. Carter helped me husk it and then he put it in his tonka truck and pushed it around outside until Adam got home to cook it. Kinnick thought it would be fun to eat it before we cooked it, but he realized that was not a good idea and spit it out right away. Carter also wanted to eat it before we cooked it. He helped me set the table for supper and put an uncooked ear of corn on each plate. It was funny. Kinnick figured out how to eat sweet corn and he ate 1 1/2 ears of it. Carter polished off 3 ears. Even Maddie ate 2 ears. We had beer-butt chicken with the corn and that was good too! After supper it was straight to the bath tub for Carter and Kinnick. It took me a long time to scrub up all of the corn that ended up on the floor. What a mess. I sweep and scrub 2 times a day at least. I complained to Adam that it was getting hot in the house, and sure enough our air conditioner froze up on us. It took him forever to get it thawed out. I guess there is something broken so we have someone coming today to look at it for us. FUN! I am attaching some pictures from yesterday for you all to see. Have a great day! Love, Stephanie

Good Morning!

Kinnick eating the watering can and then crying when the watering can pinched him.

TUESDAY

It is Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. and I am wiped out from today. My children have been ornery today. I am not sure what it is that causes them to act this way, but I am sure glad that it does not happen often. Kinnick went to bed tonight at 7 p.m. because I just could not make him happy no matter what I did. Carter will be going to bed soon because he keeps arguing with his sister. Everything she does he wants to do and then she gets frustrated with him. Right now the two of them are in the living room trying to use a laundry basket to make a shuttle. It's not going very well because they both want to be in the shuttle at the same time but they do not fit. Our day was pretty uneventful. We stayed indoors until 6 p.m. because of the heat and then by that time the kids were cranky and did not play well together when we were outside.

Some sad news that I heard about yesterday....a little boy from Whittemore started getting sick on July 5th and after several trips to our local clinic and ER was finally taken to Mason City and then on to DesMoines because his condition had gotten so much worse. This little boy has to be between 12 and 18 months old. He has a brain tumor that is affecting his brain stem and he is in a coma. The doctors have told his mom and dad that the outlook is not very promising. There is a web page that has been set up where people can sign his guestbook and read the journal that his mom is keeping each day. The web address is as follows www.caringbridge.org/visit/calvinmiller It is so sad. I do not know these people, but still am very touched by what is happening to them. It makes me realize that even when my kids are cranky I should be happy that they are healthy. I guess that I sometimes take that for granted. You never know what is going to happen. One day this little boy was fine and now 2 weeks later things have changed so much. I pray for him and his family and ask that you will to. I do believe in miracles and nothing is more powerful than the power of prayer.

I am hoping that after I get Maddie and Carter off to bed that I can work on more medical terminology assignments before I go to bed. Adam is spraying beans again. They are calling for a 50% chance of rain tomorrow so he is pushing hard today to get through as much as he can.

Banana Bread

Tonight I decided to ask Carter if he would like to help me make banana bread and he was so excited that he came running into the kitchen and hopped right up on the chair. This was the first time I had ever asked if he wanted to help me bake. I had no idea what a fun time it would be for Carter. He had a blast. The pictures I am attaching will show you how much fun he had. His favorite part was mashing up the bananas with his hands. The mess was huge when we were done, but we ended up with 4 small loaves and 2 big loaves of yummy banana bread to eat!

The weekend

Sorry that I did not get a post done yesterday. Adam sprayed most of the day and I worked on my school stuff. Kinnick was quite cranky and running a low grade temp most of the day. Maddie and Carter argued almost all day long. Carter just wants to spend every moment with his big sister and she is quite annoyed by his "love" for her. Plus, he is stronger than she is for the most part. We stayed in the house most of the day because it was just so hot outside. Maddie and Carter did swim for a little while in our pool. It is nice that the two of them can go out together and I don't have to worry about watching them every minute. Carter can touch in the pool, so he just walks aruond and that makes him happy. Adam grilled steaks for supper and in the middle of grilling our tank ran out of gas. He ended up using the broiler to finish them, and he had never used one before, so he learned something new. After supper we hung out as a family and watched some TV. It was a relaxing night for us. We had planned to go to 10 am mass this morning but Kinnick woke up still running a temp and just wanted me to hold him. Adam decided to run him over to the ER because we wanted to make sure he did not have ear infection. He doesn't have ear infection, he has a virus. His throat is red, but he does not have strep. The doctor told Adam that as long as his temp was below 102.5 we should just let it be and not give him tylenol. That way his body will fight off the virus. We have not had to give him tylenol, so that is good. The last few hours he has gotten up and played with toys and watched some movies, so I think that we are going to be feeling better by the time we wake up tomorrow....at least I hope so. He had this same thing at the beginning of June and it lasted 2 or 3 days. I spent my afternoon holding him while he napped and Adam worked on some landscaping around our pool outside while Carter and Maddie were swimming. Adam is getting supper ready now and then he has a softball game in Algona at 8 pm. So that is about it for our weekend. Pretty exciting huh? Have a great week everyone! Love to all, Steph and family

Happy Friday Everyone!

Well, it is finally Friday night and all of my kids are in bed and my hubby is out in the field spraying beans. Maddie had daycamp today and they went fishing, swimming and canoeing at Smith Lake. She said that it was lots of fun. Next week they are scheduled to do all sorts of water activities because they are having "Wacky Water Week" at the YMCA. Hopefully the weather stays like it has the last few days for them...hot, very hot. Today it was so hot that I tried to take the boys outside so they could play for a little bit, but after half an hour we were back in the house because they got too hot outside. We spent the afternoon watching several Baby Einstein DVD's and playing with legos. Carter learned how to do a somersault on his own and he is very proud. He spent alot of time tonight doing them on the living room rug. Maddie is trying to show him how to do cartwheels but it is not going well. Carter got to ride with Adam tonight for about an hour and he was in heaven. He has been asking and asking all week long to ride with his dad. I am attaching several pictures from today for you to look at. You might notice that Maddie has a bruise next to her eye - that is because someone jumped off the board at the pool yesterday and him knee caught her eye. There is a tiny cut on it and it is really tender, but she said that she was fine. I guess she also ended up getting a bloody nose too. She is a tough girl and said that she did not even cry. In the pictures I took of her she is showing off the bracelet and necklace she made at daycamp. They do such fun things with the kids and I am so happy that she likes to go. Well, I need to get a load of laundry folded before I head off to my bed. I am not sure how long Adam will be spraying but I am sure I will be snoring by the time he gets home. Have a great weekend! Love, Steph

Hello from the Sullivan's

Well, today is Thursday and we had quite a normal day. Maddie went to daycamp. Brennan was here. He was a happy little guy all day. Carter and Kinnick were good too. Wait, I take that back because Carter was very naughty, oh wait, so was Kinnick. This morning they wanted a snack so I gave each of them some cereal in a bowl and let them sit on my rug in the living room to eat it (NO MILK OF COURSE). What a mistake that was! I went in the kitchen to unload the dishwasher and when I peeked in to check on them there was cereal everywhere. And Kinnick was having a blast walking on it and hearing it crunch into little pieces. Since Brennan was napping I decided that I would wait to vacuum the mess. About an hour later the boys wanted another snack, of course they did, I am sure that they were hungry since they did not eat the cereal I had given to them. This time Carter asked for popcorn puffers, so I let the boys have some. There was not alot left in the bag, so I told Carter to sit in the rocking chair and eat them and also to give some to Kinnick. Well, he gave some to Kinnick alright, he dumped the bag of puffers all over the living room floor. The two of them proceeded to smash them into the rug, yes, the same rug that had cereal all over it. When I discovered what they had done Carter did the cutest thing. He went into the toyroom and brought out his little vacuum and told me that he would clean it all up. It was so cute, how could I get angry? So, he "cleaned" with his vacuum and I got mine out too. It took a long time to vacuum all of that up. Carter's mischevious behavior doesn't stop there, at lunch time he ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some pringles, and some fresh strawberries. After he ate that he was still hungry and asked for a bowl of fruity pebbles. I gave them to him and then went to take Kinnick up for a nap and when I came back downstairs there was cereal and milk all over the table, the floor, and all over Carter of course. He had dumped it out and then taken his hands and smeared it all over the table. When I asked him what he was doing he told me that he was making circles. And he was. It is amazing how far fruity pebbles can fly when someone is making "circles". What a mess that was to clean up. All three boys napped after lunch and I had the chance to work on some school stuff. When Maddie got home from daycamp we had supper and shortly after that Kinnick went to bed. Carter and Maddie are driving me crazy so I am headed upstairs to put them to bed now. Talk to you all again tomorrow!

Our Wednesday

Well, I had alot of plans to get alot of things done today, but that did not happen. I woke up this morning with another one of my awful headaches. The kind where I don't even open the curtains to let sunlight in. I spent most of the morning on the couch watching TV with the boys. I TiVo alot of programs for them and then we watch them over and over and over. Carter's favorite is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Kinnick's favorite is Little Einsteins. They are both educational so I don't mind letting them watch those programs. By lunch time my headache was much better so I let the boys play outside for a little bit so that I could re-pot some flowers. They both decided they wanted to help me. Kinnick was eating the soil and Carter was using his shovel and dirt was going everywhere. It was quite the project. After we got done doing that it started to smell like pigs so we came back in the house. After both of them napped we planned to go get some groceries at Fareway and then go pick up Maddie at daycamp. My wonderful mother offered to watch one of the boys for me while I went to Algona, so that helped alot! It is so much work taking both of them shopping for groceries. They always want to ride in one of those carts that looks like a firetruck or police car, but then I never have enough room to get my groceries in those carts. And by the time we get to the checkout one of my boys is trying to push the other one out of the cart. Oh the joys of grocery shopping! Kinnick stayed at my mom and dad's house because he needed a nap and Carter wanted to go with me anyway. He was quite the handful at the store. He did not want to ride in the cart, he wanted to walk like a "big boy". Well, we did not get far and he ended up getting put into the cart against his will. We were in the produce section and he was trying to grab everything he saw. He wanted to eat the grapes, then he wanted to eat a banana, and finally while I was getting kiwi he decided to try and eat through the plastic bag to get a bite of an apple. We managed to leave the store spending under $200 so I was happy about that. I even bought alot of meat and pop this time too. When we got to the YMCA to pick up Maddie she was just starting to play racquetball with one of her friends. She was bummed that we had to leave, but I could barely keep ahold of Carter because he wanted to get down and play. Plus we had groceries in the car and needed to get going. We went and picked Kinnick up at mom and dad's and then we came home and the kids played outside while I carried in groceries and put them away. They came in and we had supper and then we watched a movie and played in their toyroom. Carter was ready for bed by 7:30 and Kinnick followed shortly after. Maddie is just getting ready to head up to her bed now. I plan to do some school work and then relax and watch my soap opera from today that I TiVo'd. Talk to you all again tomorrow. Love, Stephanie and family

BLOGGING by Kinnick

Heddo evweebuddy. Dis is Kinnick and my mommy said dat I could send dis BLOG to all of you today. We weally had a good day. Sissy went to da daycamp dis morning, daddy took her to it at 8:00. Den he went to da elevator to get some chemicalsso dat he could spway da beans. Carder was mad dat he did not get to go wiff daddy. Bwennen was here today too. He was a good boy. Sometimes I get mad when my mommy is holding him and not me, bus mommy always wets me sit on da couch next to dem and I wike dat alot. We got to go over to John Deere dis afternoon so dat daddy could bwing home da tractor dat was done getting fixed. Mommy dwove us over to Algona and da backseat of da suburban was full. Bwennan was in his carseat between me and Carder. When we got to John Deere Carder got weally excited. He just luvs dat place. Daddy decided to let Carder wide home in da tractor wiff him. Carder got a lellow balloon when he was at John Deere too. He was weally proud of it when he got home in da tractor. Afder we dwopped daddy and Carder off at John Deere we went to get sissy at daycamp. By da time we got back home it was almost 5:30. Daddy decided he was going to start spwaying da beans so he made himself a PB and J sandwich for supper. Mommy started to make banana bwead after Bwennan left wiff his mommy. Da bwead smelled weally good. Mommy let us have a piece of it. It was still warm and it was weally yummy. Den we all went outside to play for a little bit. Mommy took lots of pictures of us when we were outside. Madster and Carder decided to pwetend dat day were building a house, so dey got out a dumptwuck and some tools to work wiff. I was just happy to be outside and run around. I did manage to get into some mud and got a wittle dirty. Mommy said dat me and Carder will get to take baths in da morning. I hope dat da weather is nice so dat we can play outside again tomorrow. Mommy does not have to babysit for Bwennan since it is Wednesday so maybe we can go swimming in our pool. Dat would be alot of fun. I think dat it is supposed to be weally hot outside. I think dat mommy wants to use da compuder now so dat she can reconcile da bank statement. I need to go to bed anyway cuz I am weally tired.

Wuv, Kinnick

P.S. Here is a video clip of us playing inside tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3mx6iwfRJU

My boys each learned something new today....

Well, it is Monday night at 7:30 and my children are being rotten. It is time to pick up toys and Carter and Maddie are both whining. They are both over tired because they were up too late last night. What fun! It has been quite a day, first Kinnick learned how to crawl up onto the couch and he runs from one end to the other and I am just waiting for him to fall and get hurt. Then, Carter learned how to open the baby gate and get into the kitchen. That is big TROUBLE! He gets into everything in the kitchen! He even managed to sneak upstairs and I found him spraying Febreeze all over Maddie's bedroom. It was really hot out today so we stayed inside all day long. Maddie went to daycamp and got to go swimming at the Algona pool. She loves swimming there. She missed going to daycamp last week with being out of town and also because of the holiday. She has alot of friends there and likes to hang out with them. Not much else happening here with us. Adam plays softball at 9 tonight in Algona so I imagine that I will be asleep before he gets home from doing that. I am tired and could go to bed now, but that is not going to happen. I still need to study and then unlaod the dishwasher. Have a great week everyone!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Can the weekend be over already? Where does the time go? It was really hot here today so Maddie and Carter spent some time swimming in their pool. I kept Kinnick inside most of the day because it was just so hot. I did alot of laundry today. That is just so much fun! We had a wonderful supper that Adam made. It was grilled chicken breasts and scalloped corn and some fresh fruit. As you will see in the attached video clip and pictures, Kinnick really likes the corn and he got quite messy eating it. Not too much else happening here except me doing alot of school work. I am to the really tough part of my classes now where I am learning medical terminology and human anatomy, etc.... I don't know how people make it though med school, there is just so much to learn! Have a great week everyone! Love, Steph

P.S. Cindy if you are reading this, Happy Birthday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDet9yjZjXU

Video Clip

Here is Maddie, Carter and Adam swimming yesterday afternoon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fWHojMwIcY

Maddie's back from fishing!

Hello! Well, Maddie and Adam got home today from their fishing trip to Alexandria Minnesota. Maddie said she had a great time. She fished yesterday morning, went mini golfing and go cart racing in the afternoon, went out for supper (and she ate ALLIGATOR), and then went fishing again. Carter and Kinnick were happy to see her this afternoon when she got home. Carter really missed her alot! We all decided to hop into the pool before supper and the kids loved it. Kinnick was napping, but Carter and Maddie had a blast. It is nice to have Adam and Maddie back home tonight. It is late and I am going to bed and will post more tomorrow! Love to all, Steph

Ever watched the Boobahs?

I am all about letting my children watch TV programs that are educational, and I always thought that PBS Sprout provided educational programming but I was wrong. I watched the Boobahs with Carter and Kinnick this morning. What a strange show. I am not really sure what that show is supposed to teach children. I think I might just do some research on the internet and see what the point of the show is supposed to be. As I type this Carter and Kinnick are watching the episode I recorded for the 3rd time. Just wanted to let all of you know that, I am sure that you do not really care, but does anyone else let their children watch the Boobahs?????

Wish I would have had my digital camera today!

It's FRIDAY! I sure wish that I would have had the digital camera today, but Adam and Maddie have it in Minnesota. My 2 little boys created alot of "Kodak" moments today. Brennan slept for most of the morning and so did Kinnick, so that gave Carter and I the opportunity to go outside and play. Carter found that Grandma was out in the garden so he decided that he would help her. She uprooted a big plant that grew voluntarily and so Carter decided that it would be fun to put it in the back of his gator and get rid of it. He thought that was really neat. It was a little prickly so it was nice not to have to carry it over to the tall grass and get rid of it. Carter wiped out on the sidewalk and really cut up his knee and both of his feet. He cried and cried and cried, but he kept telling me to leave him alone. He would not even let me look at his knee. I knew it was bad because I could see the blood. He has so many scrapes, cuts and bruises on his legs and feet that people probably think I never watch him.

We spent most of the afternoon inside playing tractors. When Brennan went home the boys wanted to go outside and play, so I thought that would be a great idea so that I could sit in the swing on the deck and work on some school stuff. I heard a loud scream from Kinnick and I looked up to see Carter spraying him with the hose. He hated it. I told Carter that he could not spray his little brother anymore, but like any 2 year old, he did not listen to me. It was quiet and I knew that could only mean double trouble. I was right. Carter was holding the hose close to the grass and making a big muddy mess. Then he was digging it up with his gardening tools and trying to dump it on Kinnick. They were both very dirty. Kinnick also must have decided to eat some dirt because it was all over his mouth and chin. Just as the 2 of them were getting in trouble for the mess they made my mom and dad were pulling into the yard. They had come out to do some work in the shop. Of course, Carter wanted to help, so we walked to the shop to see what they were going to do. Carter ran over to the Cub Cadet and hopped on. He was in heaven. I spent the whole time chasing Kinnick around and taking things out of his mouth (he tries to eat everything!)

Kinnick was so tired when we got back up to the house that I just wiped him down with baby wipes and put him to bed for the night. Once he was asleep I took Carter upstairs to take a bath. He is watching "A Pup Named Scooby Doo" on the couch and I think he may have fallen asleep...it sure is quiet in there. Once I get him up to bed I plan to work on more school stuff.

Adam and Maddie will not be home until either tomorrow or Sunday. They went fishing again this morning and then went mini golfing and go cart racing this afternoon. She should be calling me before she goes to bed to fill me in on all the details.

Love,
Stephanie

Fun day!

Hi everyone! Well, Maddie and Adam took off about 10:30 this morning to head up north fishing with Adam's dad. Maddie was pretty excited about going fishing on a boat because she has never done that before. She called me tonight to let me know that she caught the most fish, about 15 or 16. She caught 2 big catfish and then the rest were mostly sunfish. She was really excited when she called so she must be having lots of fun. That leaves me at home with my 2 little boys. They played outside for a while this afternoon and then after we got done eating supper we went to my mom and dad's house to deliver a plate of cookies that Maddie baked yesterday. I took along the clipper set that we bought at K-Mart to cut the boy's hair. Carter was very cooperative and let me cut his hair. It is short. Really short. I decided to be brave and cut Kinnick's hair too. He was not as happy about it as Carter was. In fact he cried the whole time. My mom held onto him while I used the clippers and managed to get it all cut. His is short too! It will be much cooler for them in this heat. Since they were such good boys Grandma let them eat popsicles on the deck. Needless to say, when we got home they needed a bath because they were hairy and sticky! The video clip I have attached is one my mom took after the haircuts. It turned out really good! Well, I am going to head to bed for the night. Talk to you all tomorrow! Love, Steph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVO6piq3u90

Fourth of July 2006

Hi! Just a quick post with some pictures from last night at fireworks. Our day was pretty uneventful yesterday. I did not feel the best and so I laid around on the couch most of the day. Adam spent the afternoon in the back yard filling wagons to be hauled to the elevator today. Then he worked on cleaning the big pool. He grilled roast for supper and also made acorn squash for us. It was yummy. Maddie wanted us to take her to the fireworks in Algona so we dropped Kinnick off at my mom and dad's house and took Maddie and Carter to see the fireworks. We had never been to see fireworks in Algona, and we were very impressed. The show was awesome! Carter was not sure about the noise, but he liked to watch them. I plugged his ears most of the time. It was 11 p.m. by the time we got home and so we all went to bed and decided that we would save sparklers for tonight. Hope you all had a great 4th of July! Love, Steph

WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

Hi everybody! Well, we are back home after a wonderful weekend in Carroll! It was great to see so many of Adam's relatives. We left home on Saturday morning about 10:30 and got into Carroll at noon. We went to Aunt Ruth's house for lunch. The boys were a little unsure when we walked in and there were so many people in the kitchen, but once they warmed up to everyone it was nice. After lunch we all went outside and sat on lawn chairs in the shade and the kids played.

They started to get cranky so we decided to take them to Grandpa Mike's house and let them nap in their pack and plays. When they got up they were in great moods and were ready to play with Maddie, Blake and Katie. They went outside and across the street from Grandpa Mike's house is a large lot where there is not a house, so it makes for a great spot to throw the football, play frisbee, play softball and all of that sort of stuff. We had a huge supper with lots of great food! The kids got to eat corn on the cob and Carter had 2 ears that he absoultely cleaned every kernel off of. Kinnick went to bed by 6:30 p.m. and we did not hear from him until 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning! I guess he needed his sleep! When it got dark outside we headed out to let the kids do some sparklers. Carter was quite impressed with them. He took turns sitting on laps and had a blast! Aunt Betty taught him to sing "Hooray for the red white and blue!" It was so cute to hear him!

On Sunday we got up and had doughnuts for breakfast because Grandpa Mike decided to go and get some for us at Hy-Vee. We all got showered and dressed for the day and said goodbye to "Papa Gene" because he had to head back home to Minnesota because of work. After he left Carter wanted to play in the garage on the lawnmower. He sure loves that John Deere mower alot! We spent most of the day in the garage and outside. It was really hot out! Katie and Blake took Maddie and Carter to see the movie "Cars". They had alot of fun!

Carter got the chance to wear lipstick for the first time thanks to Aunt Betty. Although it really was not her fault because she was only putting lipstick on herself and Carter walked up and asked for some. He thought it was really neat when we had him give kisses and he could see the lip prints he left. Of course, when we took him out to the garage to show his dad, Adam was not really pleased about the whole deal. It was lots of FUN!

Maddie complained that she did not feel good. She started to complain of a tummy ache and then she really started to cry because she had an awful headache. I really got worried because I had not seen her so upset about a headache before. She finally ended up getting sick to her stomach and then she laid down on the couch and slept for about 2 1/2 hours. When I started to think about it, I realized that she had complained to me several times earlier that she was really hot and could not cool down. We think that she most likely had heat sickness. Once she woke up from sleeping she felt fine and went with us out to Aunt Ruth's house to watch the fireworks. It was great to see her feeling better!
Carter was not sure about the fireworks, at first the noise scared him, but once he got used to it he was fine. Kinnick was just crabby and tired, but who can sleep when there are fireworks going on? He managed to stay awake the whole time. Maddie liked the fireworks but was mad that we would not let her help Uncle Tim and cousin Blake set them off.


We got up this morning and packed up our stuff to head back home. What an ordeal! We have to take so much stuff when we travel. Amazing how the little boys require so much! We had breakfast with Grandpa Mike and then headed over to visit Grandpa Adkins. I felt awful because our kids were rotten when we were there. They were tired and cranky, so we did not stay long. Adam and I will have to make a trip down to visit without the kids so we can sit and visit with Grandpa more. He seemed to be doing pretty good. We wanted to take him out for lunch but it was too hot and humid for him to be out (since he only has one lung). Maybe we can take him out to eat next time we are in Carroll.

It is always nice to come back home. The kids can get back to their routines and sleep in their own beds and all of that good stuff. Tomorrow is the 4th of July and I do not think we are going anywhere. It will be nice to stay at home and just hang out as a family. There are fireworks in Algona tomorrow night and I am not sure if we will go over to them or not. We have some sparklers left and will do those once it starts to get dark.

It was wonderful to see you Grandpa Mike, Grandma Jo, Papa Gene, Uncle Tim, Aunt Betty, Katie, Blake, Uncle Gene, Aunt Ruth, Aunt JoJo, Uncle Jeff and Dianne!

Love, Adam, Stephanie, Maddie, Carter & Kinnick