Good morning

Good morning! It is Saturday morning and Kinnick and I are sitting here at the kitchen table - he is eating a donut and I am typing this. Adam just left with Maddie and Carter to go to the fishing tournament in Whittemore at Siems Park. They were pretty excited about going! It goes from 9 until noon. I sent the camera with Adam so hopefully he remembers to take some pictures of the kids. I will post them later if he remembered. Not much going on today. We have to go to Pocahontas tomorrow for Maddie's softball tournament. Other than that there is not much new with us. I need to clean up Kinnick now, I'll try and post again later today. Love, Steph

Yesterday was busy!

Hello! Yesterday sure was a crazy day. It was my day off work so my wonderful hubby let me sleep in until the kids woke up at 9:30! That was so nice of him! We had to go to Mendard's in Spencer to get some things for the privacy fence we are going to build outside for the kids. He went over on Tuesday night but they loaded the wrong fence on his truck and we did not know it until yesterday. He was not really happy about that! I took Carter to his swimming lessons at 11o'clock. Kinnick and I stayed in the truck and I let him watch a Baby Einstein DVD. Carter went off the diving board one time and I took some pictures of him. I will try and post them when I am done typing. After we got home from swimming lessons 2 of Kinnick's teachers came to work with him. He had a really good session. It was naptime after the teachers left. Maddie decided that she wanted to go outside and help my mom fill wagons to haul to the elevator. She was grandma's helper. When they got done hauling grain she went home with grandma and took a shower and got ready for her softball party. We had a cookout for Maddie's softball team last night at the park in Whittemore. It was alot of fun. My mom kept the boys for us so we did not have to chase them all over the park. It was a good way for us to spend some time with Maddie too! When we got home the boys and I spent an hour outside doing all sorts of things. They were not happy when we came inside but it was after 9 o'clock and they needed a bath before they went to bed. Once we got all 3 of them into bed I finished up some paperwork and got some bills written out. I was getting ready to give the dog his antibiotic and for some reason I had a brain fart and took the pill myself. Of course, Adam laughed at me! Oh well! I took that as a sign that it was time for me to go to bed. It had been a long day! Well, I should get this posted so that I can load the dishwasher and do some laundry. Have a super day! Love, Steph

Another weekend over

Here it is Sunday night and I am sitting and enjoying the peace and quiet. Adam is at softball, Maddie is at Bill & Holly's house playing a video game with Steven, and the boys are both sleeping upstairs. Even the dog is asleep. It is so nice when it is quiet and I can get alot accomplished in a short about of time. We had a good weekend. Yesterday we spent time getting odds and ends done around the yard and inside the house. We finally let the kids get in the big pool. Kinnick screamed the whole time and so he did not stay in for long. I think it will just take a few tries with him because it is something new for him and so it will take some time for him to adjust. Here is a picture that I took of Maddie and Carter in the pool...

After we got Kinnick out of the pool and dried off he enjoyed himself by writing with sidewalk chalk and running all over the place, including out of our driveway and onto the gravel road. Adam and I were both outside with the kids but he still managed to get all the way on the road before we caught him. We scolded him numerous times because he kept doing it. Nothing mattered to him. He was determined to play on the road. It is amazing how quickly they can run when you look away for a split second.

Today we all woke up and got ready for church. We were walking in...........WAIT A MINUTE..........I AM WATCHING SOUND OFF WITH KEITH MURPHY AND JUST NOW THEY STARTED PLAYING ELVIRA........I LOVE THAT SONG!!!!! AWESOME!!!! Okay, back to church this morning, we walked in during the first hymn. I guess we were officially late. We walk into church and the first thing Carter says is "Where is Grandma at?" Of course he said this in a loud voice and everyone heard him. He and Kinnick argued pretty much during the whole hour we were there and finally Adam took Kinnick outside because I could not get him to calm down. Carter asked me where he was going and I told him that Kinnick was going out of church because he was being naughty. (Carter knows what happens when you get taken out of church for being naughty because it has happened to him more than once). When Carter realized that Kinnick had been naughty and that he was in trouble he cried and cried and cried saying "I love Kinnick, he is my best brother ever, I don't want Kinnick to be in trouble." It was SO CUTE! When we got home we made lunch and then Kinnick went upstairs for his nap. Shortly after that Carter went up for his nap. He was not happy about taking a nap and made sure that we heard it as he screamed in his bed until he woke up Kinnick. FUN! FUN! FUN! After naptime we let the kids have ice cream cones. What a mess! Kinnick loved it but he decided to eat the bottom of the cone first. Here are some of those pictures.

The kids all played outside while Adam grilled a roast for us to have for supper tonight and I was out with them too. Kinnick made several attempts once again to play on the road rather than in the yard. I did manage to interest him in going down the slide and he stuck with doing that for quite a while. We all came inside and had supper and Carter decided that he wanted to try roast. He loved it! He ate it like a little piggy. When we were done with supper I decided to cut Carter's hair. He likes getting his hair cut and sat like a good boy while I clipped it. Here is his after picture.

Carter was not the only one who got....WAIT A MINUTE....THEY ARE PLAYING ELVIRA AGAIN! FUNNY STUFF! Anyway, Wrigley got a haircut too. Here is his picture.

So, there you have it, the details of our weekend!

Weekend

It has been a busy week!!!!! Maddie went to daycamp everyday except for Tuesday. She played 2 softball games, one on Tuesday night in Gilmore City and one on Thursday night in Fenton. She made a double play on Tuesday night. She was playing 3rd base and she caught the ball to get the batter out and then tagged the base to get another player out. She was really proud of herself! Kinnick had 3 sessions with his teachers from AEA. One on Monday, one Wednesday and one on Thursday. The weather was beautiful and we spent alot of time outside. The kids got a slip n slide and so we got it out this week and Maddie and Carter had a BLAST! Kinnick was not so sure what to think. He did decide to play in the sprinkler though and he really liked that. Make sure you look at my myspace page to see video clips and pictures from the week! Have a super weekend. We do not have plans this weekend so it will be just hanging out together for us!!!!

GREAT WEATHER!

Hello! What a great weekend! The weather has been HOT and the kids and I have been spending lots of time outside. The boys love being outside and the heat does not seem to bother them at all. Maddie had a friend stay overnight last night so the kids all played outside in the water. Carter discovered that it is more fun to squirt others with water guns than to be the one getting squirted. Same thing with water balloons. Nothing seems to phase Kinnick, he loves the water and it is hard to drag him away from it.

Tomorrow is Father's Day and we don't have any plans that I know of. Just hang out together. We hope that everyone has a great weekend! Love, Steph

Cut me some slack...still recooping from the weekend

Hi and I want to say that I am sorry it has been so long since I posted. Now that the Walk for Autism is complete and I have all of the paperwork and stuff completed I will have more time to post and get pics on here of the kids. We had a great time in Des Moines last weekend and got to spend some time with some family and friends while we were there. The weather was fantastic! Our team raised over $4000.00 for autism research! We are already looking forward to going back next year. The summer is just flying by! Maddie is staying busy with softball. The boys enjoy spending time outside. We spent over 3 hours outside today and they loved every minute of it! They playing in the pool, blew bubbles, drew with sidewalk chalk, ate popsicles, played on the swingset and all kinds of fun things! I got a little bit of sun and so that was great. I need to get a tan! Please check my BLOG because I plan to post a few times a week now that things have "slowed down". Love, Steph

I missed yesterday

Hi! Thought I would post about what happened yesterday at our house. It was just the boys and I yesterday because I do not babysit for Brennan on Wednesdays and Maddie was at daycamp at the YMCA. Adam went to physical therapy first thing in the morning. It was cruddy outside and really windy. We had some heavy rain, thunder, lightening and hail. Yes, HAIL! It was enough to cover the road and our grass. The pieces were bigger than pea size. It lasted just a short time and then the sun came out. The rest of the day was nice, but quite windy.

The boys both napped most of the afternoon and I began getting all of the paperwork together for the Autism Walk on Saturday. We will leave tomorrow evening for Des Moines.

At 5:30 the boys and I went to Algona to get Maddie at the YMCA. The kids were hungry so I took them to Subway. Carter wanted to go inside Subway with me so I let him and as I was ordering he blurted out reall loud, "Mom, I just peed in my diaper". (Great, thanks for sharing that with everone Carter). As we were leaving Algona we had to stop and wait for an ambulance to go through a busy intersection. Do you ever get that feeling in your stomach that something just isn't right? Well, I did when I saw that ambulance. When we got to Whittemore we stopped at Pitchers and wished my Aunt and Uncle happy birthday. A bunch of our family was there to help them celebrate. It was then that I heard who was in the ambulance that we saw, my godfather, Ralph Koppen. This morning my mom called to tell us that he had passed away.

I am posting a video that I took last night of Kinnick playing with his trains. If you listen you can hear him say choo choo and chug chug.
Choo Choo

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Well, I need to get back to my Autsim Walk paperwork now. Love, Steph

I am getting really bad at this!

I am so mad! I just typed a post and then lost it. Suck! I am watching a baby einstein DVD with Kinnick, Brennan is napping and Carter is talking to my mom on the phone. I need to go make lunch now. Carter decided he wants me to make bowtie pasta. We get it from the Schwans man and he really likes it alot! I have been awful at posting and so I thought I better get one done so that you could all know what is happening with us.

We go to Des Moines this weekend for the Autism Speaks event. We have raised just over $3600.00. There are 90 plus teams participating and we are in 2nd place right now. Our local newpaper came to the house yesterday and interviewed us about the walk. I was really happy that they wanted to do an article about Autism because it really helps shed a light on what Autism is and how it can impact a family.

Please visit Kinnick’s web page at: http://www.autismwalk.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1520&px=1981649

Please visit our team web page at: http://www.autismwalk.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=1520&team_id=116640

Maddie has been busy with coach pitch softball. She plays for Whittemore. Adam is one of her coaches. She plays twice a week and then there is a tournament on July 1st. She is also attending day camp at the YMCA every other week all summer long. That way she is able to spend time with kids her own age and go do fun things like swim, hike, etc....

I became an aunt again last week. My sister Nicole had a baby girl. Her name is Kayla. I have put some pictures of her on my myspace page. You can see the pictures by visiting www.myspace.com/bighawkeyefans

Well, I need to get lunch on the table so bye for now!