Sorry I did not get this out yesterday!

Hello and I am sorry that I did not get to this yesterday! I cannot believe how quickly the days go by! I had a doctor appointment in Mason City yesterday and things were just hectic here at home.

Maddie did not have a good experience at the dentist on Tuesday. She cried alot. I guess that Adam and the hygienist had to hold her down so that the dentist could pull the teeth. She would not tell the dentist if she was crying because she was scared or if it was because she was in pain. Adam said the dentist felt awful. Maddie knew when she got home that she had been unfair to the dentist and so last night she asked if she could write a letter to him and tell him she was sorry. I helped her write a letter and I was very proud of her for realizing that she should have just told him that she was really scared. The 3 teeth he pulled were all in front on the top. She looks so different now!

Kinnick is napping and so is Brennan right now. I am going to watch Blues Clues with Carter and I will try and post again later today!

Take care, Steph

Trip to the dentist

Just a quick post to share with all of you that Maddie is going to the dentist this afternoon at 2:30 and she will be having 3 baby teeth pulled. Yes, I said three! They are all on the top of her mouth and her orthodontist wanted them out ASAP. Maddie knows that she is going to the dentist but she does not know why. We did not want to have her get anxious and worry about it. She will find out when she gets there. Adam is taking her to the appointment because I know that I would just cry and she needs someone who can be strong for her at this appointment. She hates hates hates getting shots of novacaine. I just feel awful that there is nothing I can do for her. If I could have teeth pulled in her place I would gladly do so! Well, I will update again later today so you can all hear how she turns out! Love to all, Steph

Video clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WLJuDY6Y2E

Good morning & happy Monday everyone! I had a post all ready to publish last night and for some reason I lost it. I was really frustrated and so I decided to wait until this morning to post again! We had a nice weekend. It went too fast. The kids spent alot of time outside. Adam was working in the yard most of the weekend so he kept an eye on them for me. As you can see we got Maddie's old bike out for Carter to ride. It is pink but Adam already has plans to paint it John Deere green. Not much else happening here. Things are starting to slow down now that school is back in session. Well, Brennan will be arriving soon so I should get this posted before he arrives for the day! Have a super week everyone! Love, Steph

The weekend has arrived!

PHOTO >>>>>>>>
Kinnick after he ate ice cream cake
for my mom's birthday Thursday
night. He liked the cake but when
it was gone he wanted cleaned up
right away!


Well, it is Friday night and here I sit at 9:30 pm with a quiet house. Adam is outside working in the shop and the kids are all in bed. Maddie seems to be enjoying the 3rd grade so far. The bus picks her up here at the house at 7:10 am and she gets dropped off here at home around 4:15 pm. She likes her new bus driver too. They had art class today and she was very proud of what she made. It was a puppet made from a brown paper bag and it was a cow. It really turned out cute and it is now hanging on the fridge. Yesterday she got out of school at 2 pm because of the heat. Today was a lot cooler for the kids so they went the full day. Getting up at 6:30 am is hard for her to do. She was really difficult to wake up this morning. And she was ready to go to bed tonight by 8:30 pm, even though it is the weekend. We don't have much planned this weekend and I am happy about that. I got caught up yesterday on some typing for Ernie (the elderly man who pays me to type for him). Today I got caught up on getting some farm numbers put together so that I could mail them to Adam's dad and he could see where we are sitting year to date for farm expenses. I built several spreadsheets and am happy with how they turned out. Carter and Kinnick played outside for about 2 hours this afternoon. The weather was cool and so we let our dogs out of their kennel. They have really gotten used to the kids and do not jump up on them at all. They really like getting the attention as much as the kids like giving it! I guess that is about it for tonight. I think I am going to head to the couch and watch my soap from today. Talk to you again later this weekend!

Video clips - kids playing outside

Hello! Here are 2 video clips my mom took yesterday when we were gone to Rochester. She watched the kids for us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiY2QQeRDhI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfxZhKYF9JM

ENJOY! Love, Steph

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Grandma Marlys!

Happy Be-lated Birthday Grandma Jayne!

We love you!

Maddie, Carter & Kinncik

First Day of 3rd Grade!

Good morning! Well today is Maddie's first day in the 3rd grade! Getting up at 6:30 a.m. is obviously not her cup of tea because she was cranky. I am attaching some pictures of her so that you can see just what a "good" mood she was in. The only good part of her morning was that she finally got to wear her new shoes! She has been so excited about that! The bus was here by 7:10 a.m. to get her. Someday she will look back at these photos and maybe she will laugh, who knows? Hopefully tomorrow morning goes better! Adam just came inside from working on the combine and is showering so that we can head up to Rochester. He is getting injections into his neck and spine today for his pain. I have to go along because he cannot drive home when he is done. Sounds like the appointment will take a few hours, so I am taking along my school stuff so that I can work on some of that while I am waiting for him. We will be home later this evening. Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Today was hectic!

Hi! Today was quite a busy day here. I had to be at the dentist this morning at 9 a.m. to get my crown put on. It only took about half an hour but by the time I drove home the novacaine was wearing off and boy did my mouth hurt! It was from all of the pressure from them pushing on the crown to get it into place. Then I also ended up with a headache. Brennan was sleeping and my 3 children were intently watching a movie on TV. I dozed on and off until about 12:30 p.m. when Adam came in to make the kids lunch. He gave me some aleve and within about 45 minutes I was feeling much better! Maddie and I watched animal planet for about 2 hours this afternoon while the boys napped. After Brennan went home tonight I took Maddie to her open house at Seton. We got to meet her teacher and then she got to put her things into her desk and find her locker and all of that fun stuff. She is excited to go back to school and I am happy that she enjoys going to school so much! The bus will be picking her up at 7:10 a.m. this year. That is about 25 minutes earlier than last year, so she will need to get up at 6:30 a.m. We will see how that goes! She is not a morning person. I will take some pictures of her tomorrow and post them for you all to see. Love, Steph

Nighcrawlers

It's a DIRTY JOB, but Maddie's got to do it!

Blueberry pancakes

I LOVE BLUEBERRY PANCAKES!

I am so mad

I just got done typing all about our busy weekend and something happened and I lost all of what I typed. Well, I am sorry but I am not going to type all of that again. I will just post a video clip and some pictures from today. We emptied our swimming pool and the kids had fun playing in the mud and water. There were all sorts of nightcrawlers that came out of the ground and they thought that was pretty cool! Hope you all had a good weekend!

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

Now I am even more upset at this stupid website. I cannot post pictures to it for some reason. I am not getting any type of an error message though, so I do not know what is wrong. I will try again later.

Link to our pictures from vacation in Wichita

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=67wsajuz.6cykhrt7&Uy=-q1blxf&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1

Bear with me because I have not tried this yet so if you cannot get to the photos let me know!

Thanks!
Steph

A Poopy Diaper Story

Okay, I just have to share this story with you and if you are not a parent this will most likely gross you out. Yesterday afternoon when I went upstairs to get Kinnick after he woke from his nap I smelled a poopy diaper. I brought him and Carter downstairs and was getting the diapers and wipes to change their pants. Maddie's friend said to me, "Kinnick pooped". I said I know and as I turned around to go into the living room I opened the baby gate and looked down to see a poopy diaper on the floor, and yes, there was poop that had fallen out of the diaper onto the carpet. I looked at Kinnick and he was running around our living room with his hand on his weiner. Just lovely, he had poop all over his hand. So, I get him all cleaned up and his diaper changed and then I cleaned up the mess on the floor. I took the dirty diaper outside to the trash and when I came back inside the house there was Kinnick running around the living room without his diaper again! He had taken the clean diaper off and was running around grabbing at himself. I guess he is just curious about what he has down there????? So I guess that I will be making sure to always put his shorts or pants back on his as soon as I get done changing his diaper. My boys usually just run around the house in their shirts and diapers. Those days are over! Anyway, I thought that I would share that story with all of you! Have a great FRIDAY!

Video clip of the kids playing outside

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

Thursday already???

Hello everyone! What a busy week it has been and I am sure you all noticed because I have not posted everyday. Sorry about that. My allergies started acting up when we were on vacation and they have been just awful. I swear that the more kids I have the worse my allergies seem to get. I have been pretty miserable this week. I am taking zyrtec and that helps some. This is the time of the year that I start to look forward to the cold weather so things will freeze and alleviate my allergies.

Maddie decided to stay home from daycamp since it is dreary outside she did not think they would do any type of outdoor activities. She picked a good day to stay home because a friend called and asked if she could play and of course she said yes! Her friend will be coming here to our house to play so that will be fun for both of them. Plus that will keep Carter happy too since Maddie will be around here.

Brennan and Kinnick are both napping right now so I am getting some bills paid and working on some school stuff too. Oh, and there is laundry, and dishes, and vaccuming and all that fun stuff to do. I am washing bedding today. What fun!

Not much else happening here with us. Have a great day! Love, Steph

Back from VACATION!

Heddo everybuddy. Dis is Kinnick and I am going to dell all of you about our bacation to visit my Gwandma Jayne and Papa Doug wast week. We weft home on Saturday, August 5th. Mommy and Daddy wanted to leave first ding in da morning, but we did not leave until eleven thirdy dat morning. Mommy started out dwiving and she got us all da way to da north side of Kansas City. We got out of da car for a wittle bit at somefing called a west stop. We did not stay too wong, but it was nice to get out and wun around a wittle bit. Daddy dwove us through Kansas City and all da way to a town called Emporia. When we got to dis place we stopped again to get out of da car. Mommy decided dat she wanted to dwive again so Daddy said she could. We got to Wichita Kansas at eight thirdy at night. Mommy and Daddy said dat we were weally good in da car. Dey said dat we dwove through 3 states, Iowa, Missourri, and Kansas. Dat must be a long way because it took us a long time to get there. Gwandma Jayne, Papa Doug, Collin, and Chelsea were all waiting to see us when we got there. Daddy carried in all of our bags and stuff and den Gwandma ordered some pizza for us to eat. It was yuumy.

We got to do wots of fun dings when we were visiting. We did some shopping, mostly for Maddie's back to school stuff. Gwandma Jayne has a swimming pool in da residential area where she lives so we got to go swimming a lot. Carder was not sure what he thought of da water at first, but he finally learned to wike it and even jumped into da pool wiff his lifejacket on. Mommy and Daddy twied putting one of dose on me but I did not wike it at all. I wuv da water, but not in a lifejacket! Da weather was between 105 degrees and 110 degrees every single day we were there! It was WEALLY hot! Da pool felt good!

On Tuesday Gwandma Jayne took us to da Kansas Coliseum to see da Wiggles Live. Maddie did not think dat she was going to wike it, but she did. We all had alot of fun. We got to see Waggs da dog, Dorothy da dinosaur, and all of da Wiggles. Dey sang songs dat we could sing along wiff and it was fun. I am weally glad we got to do dat.

Gwandma Jayne's air conditioner quit working when we were there and it took almost 2 days to get it fixed. Talk about hot. We moved all of our stuff to da basement so dat we could try and stay cool. It was wonderful when Papa Doug got it fixed for us!

Gwandma and Papa have 2 dogs in da house. Huck and Holly. Maddie weally wiked dem alot. Carder was not so sure about dem. Dey always came into da kitchen when I was eating and licked up all of da crumbs I spilled on da floor. I am a pretty messy eater so dey liked it when I was eating. Gwandma cooked weally good food for us when we were at her house.

On Sunday, August 13th, we got ready to come home. It was our plan to leave by nine thirdy, but of course we were running late and did not leave until one thirdy. Daddy dwove us all da way back to Iowa because when we got to Kansas City we ran into some yucky storms. It was really windy and we saw a semi truck dat got blown off of da interstate. Da rain was really heavy too and dat made it hard to see da road. All of us kids got weally cwabby in da car. Mommy and Daddy could not wait to get home. It was almost ten o'cwock when we pulled into da dwiveway.

We were all tired and went to bed when we got home. It was a fun twip and we had a good time visiting Gwandma Jayne and Papa Doug. Mommy will try and get some picdures posted tomorrow sometime dat we took on our twip.

Wuv, Kinnick and family

Thursday was CRAZY

Hi everyone! Sorry that I did not get this done last night but yesterday was crazy. Adam was gone yesterday morning working on our suburban before we leave for vacation and so I had to get myself and all 3 kids bathed and ready for family pictures. Of course just as we were ready to go out the door both Carter and Kinnick pooped in their diapers. I changed them quick and off we went. I watched Brennan yesterday so he got to go along with us to Algona. He was better than my boys for sure! Talk about difficult...getting two toddlers to sit still for a family picture is really hard work. Carter did better than I thought he would. Kinnick was awful! He was not one bit cooperative. After we got done with pictures we took Carter and Adam to John Deere so that they could drive our combine home. Carter was REALLY excited about that. Maddie, Brennan, Kinnick and I had to stop at K-Mart quickly to pick up a few things for vacation. They were all good in K-Mart except for Kinnick. He does not like to sit in the cart now that he can walk, or should I say run. It is a good thing I had Maddie with me to help out. Maddie finished up with her swimming lessons last night so she was happy about that. After she got home we had a quick supper so that I could get the kids cleaned up before the elderly man that I do typing for came over. He needed to proofread something I had typed and ended up being here for 2 hours. Maddie once again did a great job of entertaining her brothers for me. Bless her heart! After Adam got home from going to Algona we all sat down in the living room and played tractors. All 5 of us. It was fun. The kids did not get to bed as early as they should have, but that's what happens sometimes. None of them were crabby this morning for me. I have spent today doing laundry for vacation. Adam is mowing lawn and taking care of outdoor things before we leave tomorrow morning. I plan to do some posting while we are on our vacation as I should be able to get access to a computer. I will try and get some new pictures posted. My digital camera is getting charged as we speak. Well, I guess that is about it for now. Have a great weekend everyone! Love, Steph

A busy day!

Hello. We escaped the really bad weather last night, but still got some much needed rain. We got at least 5 inches because our rain gauge was full to the top. The winds that went through really blew over some of the corn in the fields. It finally cooled off today and only got up to about 75 degrees.

This morning Adam and I took Maddie to see the orthodontist in Spencer for a consultation. They took a panoramic x-ray of her teeth so that they could better determine what we need to do and when we need to do it. Her teeth are crowding alot and most likely will all come in quite crooked. They want to see her back sometime in January to see how things look then and we can look at what treatment options we have. Of course, braces are going to be a must! We have to take her to our family dentist and have him pull 3 of her baby teeth as soon as we can get that done. She was almost in tears this morning because she is just scared of dentists due to the amount of dental work she has had done this past year. We feel so bad for her because all we can do is tell her that it will all be okay and we will be there with her every step of the way.

Carter and Kinnick went to my mom and dad's house while we went to the dentist with Maddie, so we picked them up and came home for lunch. After lunch Adam went into the bodyshop with our suburban because he needed to get an order placed for new brakes so that he can get them put on before we leave on Saturday for Wichita. He talked to the dealership where we bought it and they plan to pay for some of the cost since we have not had it that long. So that was nice.

After Adam got done with that he headed over to Algona to help my aunt and uncle haul stuff out of their basement. It got over a foot of sewer water in it with the rain last night. Talk about a mess!

At 3:30 I headed over to Algona with the kids to meet Adam and have him watch them while I went to get my hair done. It was a relaxing 3 hours away from the kids. Adam fed them all supper for me before I got home from Algona. That was awesome!

He headed back to Algona so that he could help my aunt and uncle some more in their basement. That is where he is now and I am sitting here with 3 wound up kids that do not want to go to bed. Maddie and Carter are pretending to "camp out" in the living. They are giggling because Maddie keeps saying "Do I have time for a smoke and a pancake or what?" (from Austin Powers) and Carter just keeps saying pancake and laughing like crazy. It is cute!

Well I do need to get some laundry done yet tonight so that I can start getting things ready to pack for vacation.

Love,
Stephanie

BAD WEATHER

Hello. It is 9:24 pm and we are getting ready for the bad weather to roll through. It is on it's way. We are under a severe thunderstorm warning and also a tornado watch. Oh and a flash flood watch too. FUN! My husband, Mr Meteorologist, is watching the weather closely just like he always does. So I will be shutting down my computer now. I will write more tomorrow.

Love,
Steph