Sunrise

I took this picture Thanksgiving 2006 at my aunt's house in Juniata, NE, right off her porch. I profess that I am NOT a landscape photographer and have a lot to learn in this area but hopefully this image will give you a feeling of the beautiful sunrise we experienced that a.m. I love Lincoln. It's not too big and I'm comfortable here, it's been my home since I was 5. But I love rural Nebraksa as well and being on a farm. I remember all the wonderful memories of staying at my grandparent's house on the farm. I think it's great that we still have relatives who live in the "country" that we can visit so our kids can hopefully have some of the same memories. We are heading there on Saturday = )

I really want to share some pics of the birthday extravaganza but haven't had time!! The kids got to bed late on Sunday, Mark started golf league on Monday and left for Texas yesterday for the week. So, it's busy. For now, I'll share some highlights and the pictures will eventually follow. We survived the sleepover! We started the evening at Lost in Fun - a new indoor playland with huge play sets (like you would find outdoors), 3 bouncehouses, basketball, glow in the dark putt-putt, and things for little guys like Eli - ball pit, sand box, little play houses. As we were getting ready they had a really cool bubble machine where bubbles would fall from the ceiling! Kids were dancing in them and trying to catch them or clap them. The owners and staff are wonderful and the food was excellent. We thought for sure this would tire the kids out. Uh, not so much! I had 5 silly, giggly girls in the van with me and Mark had Eli. Once home, we had soccerball cupcakes and opened presents. Then, the real fun began. Getting the girls to get ready for bed, brush teeth, and call parents if necessary (or, 2 of the parents called us = ) Lights were out by 9:00 but not asleep until 10:00! We had one girl who was sad and cried, Madysn. We tried bringing her upstairs, giving her something to cuddle and called her parents for the 2nd time at 9:50 and I honestly didnt' think she would make it. Mack would not stop talking so I told her she could sleep with mommy ;-) Schuyler and her soccer/church bud, Paaka, are 2 peas in a pod! While upstairs with Madysn, I came back down to find them in the bathroom giggling! After re-tucking everybody back in bed I laid with them and they finally all fell asleep. I put Mack in her bed but at 4:40 a.m., Mack and Madysn couldn't sleep so I through them in bed with me and kicked Mark onto the couch. All were up at 7:00 a.m.!

Well, if that wasn't enough excitement we had a little incident with Sadie. The girls had all been picked up, Mark had left to help a friend with a project, and I had just got Eli to nap so it was now time to break into one of the new craft kits Schuyler had received. As we were making crowns I noticed Sadie pawing at the back door. I didn't think anything of it b/c she usually does this, but then I noticed a big mark on her face. Poor Sadie had a nasty cut on her face and I knew it needed to be looked at it. I don't handle these things well and did the best I could to clean it with Mack crying because she didn't want Sadie to die! I assured her that Sadie wasn't dying and she may need stitches. Well, this settled her some but she was still very upset. Luckily, Mark's parents were close and once they got there I took Sadie to the emergency vet hospital. The cut was very superficial and although it was bad, stitches were not required. They shaved some of the fur to verfiy and cleaned her up real well. It still looks yucky and she will have a scar but we are so thankful it's not anything worse!

Sunday, we celebrated with family. Schuyler chose a red and yellow, lemon soccer ball cake. Actually, it turned out more like hot pink and yellow but still very cute. She has been enjoying all her presents. If all this had not been enough, I spaced treats for school. So, Monday night we make some healthy oatmeal cookies and she took those yesterday.

Okay, probably more than you wanted/needed to know. I'll try to follow up with the pictures, which will be much more exciting then just words = )

Preparing...

for a night of fun and total chaos! Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating. Hopefully, it will just be little chaos and not total chaos = ) For Schuyler's 6th bday, we are taking her and 3 of her friends (and her siblings, ofcourse) to and indoor playland called Lost in Fun. Afterwards, we're heading home for the sleepover! I'm excited, she's excited and I just pray that all goes well! Her chosen theme this year is soccer! So, I will be making a soccer ball cake for the family bday party and I saved myself some of the trouble and am having soccer cupcakes made for her friend bday party as well as her soccer team. She really wanted to have her bday party on the soccer field = )

This past week has been TV turn off week. It has been hardest on Mark! The kids are very strict! I attempted to turn on the TV one morning to see what the weather was going to be like but Schuyler would not allow it! "Mom, just put on your shoes and step outside. Then, you can see how many degrees it is." Isnt' she hillarious! I tried to explain that I still needed to know what the forecast for the rest of the day was, like 5 hours from then. Nope! Luckily, Mark had caught the evening news. We have played outside a lot, which is typical, but have also played more games, like dominos and matching games.

We are also making a conscious effort to recycle. Schuyler is very good about bringing home yogurt containers and fruit cup containers and both of the girls know where our recycle bin is in the garage. We are also going to try and bring a bag for grocery shopping and errands. As long as I can keep organized, I think it should be successful. Instead of taking Schuyler to dance on Tuesday, we rode our bikes. Well, I pulled Mack and Eli, and Schuyler rode beside me. Unfortunately, Mack lost another chunk of hair to her brother! He REALLY does NOT like bike rides!!

To my dear bday girl Schuyler, who LOVES the color yellow, this should be your theme song... "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you, so please don't take my sunshine away..." or, however that song goes. It's so her!

Mackie is graduating from the tricycle to the little bicycle. But, not with out incident (as shown below). Oh, and how do you like the outfits! Yup, chosen by completely by themselves. Can you say colorful! Here's hoping we get rid of the 30 degree weather and welcome back the 60's!

Mr. J - a sneak peak

Here is a sneak peak of Mr. J. He is a buddy of Eli's and typically a very smiley little boy. However, today he had other things in mind like chewing his gums and blowing bubbles - very typical of a 7 month old. Even his older sister who can typically make him laugh was out of luck. Well, smiles or no smiles, I still got some great epxressions from him!!

We had a great weekend. Mark was able to play his first official round of golf. Mean while, the kids and I partook in the Husker baseball game at the Salt Dog Stadium. We joined my friend and her 18 month old twins as her husband was hunting and another lady, who was also a hunting widow, and her 2 boys. So, 7 kids and 3 adults. It was a little chaotic at times but so much fun sitting in the suite. Schuyler was very interested in learning the game and had lots of questions. Baseball, next to football, is one of the hardest sports to explain and understand. She was also our little announcer, running into the suite any time the Husker's scored. Eli and the twins managed to sit and watch a little and would clap when everyone else was clapping. I think Mack most enjoyed the social aspect. We did witness a grand slam, which is pretty unheard of these days.

Sunday was another busy day with church, lunch, haircuts, soccer game, and papa's bday. Schuyler's team played the only team that beat them last year - the Jaguars. However, this time it was a different outcome with Schuyler's team winning. It was 3-1 (I think), or 4-1 according to Schuyler. She may be correct. Depending on which score you use, she either had 2 or 3 girls. The girls played amazing and had only 1 sub! It is so amazing how far this little teams has come and what a great bunch of girls and parents we have.

Dad - I hope you had a good bday and the kids had a great time!

Now, we are preparing the house (and ourselves) for Schuyler's first mini-sleepover for her 6th bday! I would bet $ you will see her in a post later this week, as well as updates.

He steals my heart...

Look at this little guy! He steals my heart at least once a day! Even when he's grumpy, has a fever, doesn't feel good, and is throwing a tantrum (yes, he does on occassion). Our Eli ... I love him to pieces! He started coming down with low grade fever, runny nose, watery eyes, a cough and not sleeping last week. I ended up taking him to the Dr. on Sunday - just b/c he was not doing well and with Mark's pneumonia, I wanted some reassurance. Luckily, it's a nasty cold! I did take him back to the Dr. on Wed for his 15m appt! He is a healthy little boy. Eli is "long and lean" in the words of our Dr. 90% for height and 40% for weight. The Dr. would like to see him start using more words, which I hope he will do soon. I think a lot of his outbursts; hitting, biting, throwing, etc.., are a result of not being able to communicate. 3-6 words is standard for his age and that's where Eli is at. Ma, Dad, and his most favorite, ball. Eli has been having some fun with his sisters' rain boots. They seem to make for great entertainment.

I was able to make the girls' school conferences last week. It just amazes me how much they are learning. Schuyler will be graduating from Kindergarten May 30th! To see where she started the school year and where she is ending is truly amazing. She read a 64 page book by herself last week. The pages had 4-9 sentences per page. Mr. Tim said it was very fitting as the story was about a little boy who kept trying to hit a baseball. Kind of like Schuyler who is a determined little girl intent on reading. Schuyler has evolved into one of the leaders of the community and is respected by all her classmates. She has socially evoloved as well. She is my child who has a small group of close friends and is very sensitive. Earlier in the school year, it would hurt her feelings if someone said something mean to her and would visibly effect her for the rest of the day. Now, she voices her feelings and is done with the situation. They keep journals at school and I got to read some of it. What a great memory this will be from her Kindergarten year. It is free form so the teacher's do little, if any, corrections. The top portion is a picture drawn by the child and the bottom is usually words to illustrate the picture.

McKenzie, too, is doing well. Being our social child, she is now less distracted by her friends and able to choose work independently and concentrate on it without disruptions, or disrupting others. Her writing skills are very good as this is something she enjoys and one of her strengths. She is able to write her name and has began to write colors. She is also enjoys the animal flash cards and creates books from these. Just the other day, she brought home a clam book, turtle book, and one other, all one's she made by coloring the body part, writing the body part, and stapling the whole thing together.

Mark is slowly but surely coming around. Last Friday, I joined him for his Dr. appt and he had only made slight improvements. His oxygen count on Wed had been 93%. If it had been 92% or below, he would have been hospitalized. Friday, it was 94%. During the weekend he seemed to be coming around so when he went to the Dr. on Monday he was expecting good results. He was still only 94% oxygen. They added yet another medication and he truly seems to be recovering. He is back at work and able to do mild housework/yardwork.

The rest of us managed to get yucky, coughs/colds but we are thankful it is not worse. After the rain we have been having, we are looking foward to a sunny, spring weekend = )

Pneumonia and 10 goals!

Yes, I know, interesting title. But, it sums up the low and high of the past week. I'll start with the good. Schuyler's soccer game went well and the main coach was there = ) Now, if he is gone for future games, I'll be much more confident. Just walking through with hime was very helpful. The girls played great. The final score was 10-4. Most of the scoring ocurred in the 2nd half, as prior to this it was 2-2. Ms. Schuyler had a stellar game. She scored all 10 goals or 9 of them ( I lost track) = ) It kind of became a little joke on the side line. "Oh, she's got the ball, here she goes again". I promise we do not drill her 24/7 at home. She just really enjoys playing.

Now, for the bad news. Yesterday, Mark was diagnosed with pneumonia. Yuck! Right now, we are treating him at home. He goes back in tomorrow and hopefully he will have made progress so he won't be hospitalized. It all happened very fast. He had a low grade fever on Monday but felt good enough to make it through the day. Tuesday, he still did not feel well and went into the Dr. before work. They told him it was the respitory flu and gave him cough medicing with codein. He continued to get worse and that's when he went to the Dr. yesterday. We are trying to mend him = )

As for other happenings, I took all 3 kiddos on a bike ride last Friday. Schuyler rode on her own and Eli and Mack were in the bike trailer. Eli is my only child who does NOT like bike rides? He fussed the whole time and managed to pull out a CHUNK of Mack's hair! He even had a ball, keys, and my cell to entertain him. I really feel for Mack sometimes, she get's bossed around by her big sis and bullied by her little brother. Definitely a middle child.

As for Eli, we are working on a few things with him. We stayed at Schuyler's dance the other day. Mack was an angel and was completely enthralled with watching them dance. Eli, well, shall we say he was not an angel. There was a little girl the exact same age and he purposely went up to her 3 times and pushed her down = ( I was even monitoring him! I know part of his behavior is due to his last molar coming in but we did have a little time-out session.

One other comment about little Ms. Mack. She has become very opionated about what is bootiful and what is not bootiful. It seems over half her wardrobe is unacceptable to her! Her concoction the other day was a dress, a skirt and leggings! I'm not sure how that passed as bootiful but at least she was dressed!

Tonight is conferences for the girls. I will try and remember to give an update next week. There is a possibility of snow tonight!! Seriously, when will spring be here for good!!!

My coaching debut...

Well, I got a call from Schuyler's head soccer coach last night. He said he had some good news and some bad news. The bad news is he may not be able to make their first game on Sunday. The good news is they have me as their assistant coach. He went over the drills I should run, who to pair together and who not to pair together, and some general rules. I hope I'm up for this. At work, we call this baptism by fire. Schuyler is ultra excited!

Eli is finally startint to enjoy books. Up to this point he has showed little interest in sitting down and reading before bed time (or really, anytime). He will sit with the other 2 kids at his daycare but not too much at home. Now, he will. One of my favorite things at this age is to rock my babe in the recliner with their snack and sippee of milk and read. For Eli, at least for now, the books have to be interactive, like a touch and feel book. Although, he is starting to come around on the other books too!

Schuyler has a top tooth that is loose. It is barely loose but she is still very proud of it!

Here's a candid of Eli...