Pool is up!

Well we got the pool up this weekend. Nick brought home the skid loader, dug out the black dirt, hauled In the sand, put up the granite block border and finally set up the pool!
I am so thankful that I have a handy husband. He can be a perfectionist sometimes but everything always turns out so nice:-)
On Sunday it was a warm one here at 91* and even though the pool was only 66* the kids just had to go in. They played in most of the afternoon until the rain started. I am thankful that it cooled down a bit because the heat of the weekend was enough for this momma:) I felt a bit icky this weekend and I'm sure it had to do with the heat. I a definitely glad the pool is up especially for the upcoming summer months.
We started VBS this week and the kids are so excited to see there friend and learn some new songs! They had a great day and are already trying to figure out a way to spend some more time with their friends:)

Pool time!

It is officially pool season here! We will hopefully have the big pool up this weekend but for now the kiddy pool will do:)
The sun is shining and Audrey just can't get enough of the water even of it is freezing. She had the pool to herself for a little bit while the older kids were biking. Who needs a swimming suit when your this cute?:)

Our addition...continued

And here is the mostly finished product :)

We are still waiting on trim and currently just have rugs down as floor covering because of our basement door being in the floor.

Of course there is really no cleaning this room due to the amount of coats and shoes we have:)

I love it!

Our addition

This past Thanksgiving we added an addition to our house.... a mud room! I never did upload pictures so I just thought that I would.

Before we started

The walls are up

Yay!

The room is Tyveked and window and doors are in

and there is the hubby working hard:)

Somewhat done...

I will have to add the finished pictures later because I didn't realize that I didn't have them-oops!

Busy days

It has been crazy busy around here. I had my second delivery this weekend! It was very exciting!! I love birth! God is so amazing! I got the call on Saturday night at 12:22 am from the mother-to-be and by 1:48 pm her and her husband had a beautiful healthy baby boy:) Amazing!

We also were given almost new(5 year old windows) from a guy who decided not to remodel but build a new house. We had to go and take them out of the old farm house that they were in because it is being taken down this week. They are much newer than our 100 year old single pane windows. We are extremely grateful. Now I just can't wait to get them all put in:) He had exactly 13 windows and we need exactly 13 windows- God works in mysterious ways!

Only 5 more weeks of school!! Both I and the kids are excited. Summer is a long awaited break for us all :)

Anne and the other children in her First Communion class

Anne and her godparents

Anne also received her First Holy Communion on Saturday April 15th~ she was so excited to receive Jesus! It was a wonderful day with family and friend and she was beautiful!

My sister Angela has been living in Florida for the past 9 months and she is coming home to visit this week. The kids are all excited to see her, as am I :)

Got to love this face~ always getting into something:)

Any this usualy means some sort of trouble :)

The princess on her special day(couldn't get the picture to flip)

Rebecca always has her own sense of fashion

Charlotte hard at work :)

Well there is our little update :)

Happy belated Easter to all!

It has been a crazy month here. I haven't had much time to sit still. We had a wonderfully blessed Holy Week. I attended my first birth as a doula on Good Friday and it was amazing! The momma did a fabulous job and delivered a very healthy and beautiful baby!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter! We enjoyed the wonderful day with our families. The kids had multiple Easter egg hunts, too much candy, and lots of laughter.

We also were able to announce that we are expecting again!

We are so excite, as are the kids!

Wednesday

Oh what a crazy busy Wednesday and it's not even over yet!

Sore neck

I had my thyroid biopsy/cyst drainage today. Let's just say that having a needle stuck into your neck multiple times is not a situation I care to go through again. I will have a nice black and blue mark on my neck by morning and it is currently very sore. It was numb but there is no more numbness and now it just hurts. I am hoping that the cyst doesn't come back and that the biopsy is normal:)
On a side note I met a very nice ultrasound tech that I had a lot in common with. She made me feel very comfortable with what they were doing and afterwards we had a nice discussion about essential oils and what not. Nick sat patiently for an hour and a half until it was done- even though he wasn't allowed back. I could have gone myself but he wanted to be there and that was nice knowing and having him there.
Thank you Lord for the wonderful people you have put in my life.

Update

The little girl is doing great! She is home with her family and they say that she could be up and walking within 2 weeks. Mom is doing better today. She was kind of in a state of shock but today was a good day. Praise God and thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful St Patricks Day! We did with a parade and visiting with some friends. The kids had a blast rolling down the holland climbing back up it. On the way home we stopped for pizza and a DQ treat(daddy's idea, as if they hadn't eaten enough junk for the day:)!
All in all a lovely day...

Prayers...

A little girl that my sister takes care of was accidentally run over by her mom this morning. She has a shattered femur and a pocket of air by her lungs. She has already had surgery and is doing well but I think mom needs lots of prayers right now.... Thanks & God bless!

Happy birthday!

Happy 6th birthday Rebecca!!
I can't believe that she is already six! I remember the day I went to the hospital to have her because my cousin Sara was there having her little girl(both our 3rd girl) too! Emma was born on the 27th and Rebecca was born on the 28th! We had a wonderful nurse and I remember the lights were low and dim and once I was dialated she came quick! I remember the nurse saying-'Ok don't push I have to get a doctor!' I also remember not having a name for her because I wanted Zoey and Nick didn't :) She was born the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and I remember somebody bringing us fish sandwiches from McDonalds.
She was very excited for her birthday present...she got an American Girl doll Josephina( thanks to One of Nick's cousins who's daughters out grew their dolls we were blessed with 3 of the book dolls and 6 of the itty bitty babies plus a ton of extras!!) They are nice dolls but I personally can't justify the money.
I am blessed this day and everyday with this beautiful little lady that God has given to us!
Happy birthday!!

Oh Monday's.....

The beginning of the school week, the return to reality, the long wait until the next weekend, the return to order and schedule..... it really does have it's pro's and con's. I feel like I was able to accomplish very little this weekend for some odd reason but it was a good weekend!

Friday I woke up nauseous and sick. I'm not sure why but I ended the day with a fever, some chill's, body aches, and a good dose of remedies and oils and by Saturday morning I felt great :) We made a quick trip to Treasure Chest to drop off some donations and then off to the library for some new books. Jo made some friends....

Audrey explored...

and tried to make a few of her own new friends too! There was a little boy she kept giving her ball too :)

 I finished a couple of things around the house and Nick and Charlotte were in the garage welding and cutting stuff for the farm truck.

We made it to Mass at 4:00 and had an anniversary party for his cousin later that night.
Nick zipping up Audrey after Mass :)

Anne and Audrey playing with dad's hat while he tried on boots

Sunday was nice day of hanging out with dad and buying him new "good" boots.  These are the ones that he picked out(I like them too:)!

Charlotte was disappointed she didn't get a pair but they are more than I typically spend on kids shoes so she would have had to use her birthday money to buy them and she didn't want to.

We had an early supper, then visited with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of hours and home to bed with the kids by 7:00!
Nick and I were able to sit down and watch the movie 'Courageous'. It was a great movie with an amazing message. Here is the trailer if you are interested~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i9VT_NBIVfs If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it! The acting had a few cheesy parts but the message was powerful. I will say that I cried more than once :)

Now I'm off to start school......

Have a blessed week!

The beginning of lent

It has been a busy week. We have been busy trying to de-clutter and start a new chore list. I love it! We are still tweaking and working out the bugs but it has been a much better week!

We have also started a new way of discipline so to speak, every time the kids are misbehaving or doing something that they aren't suppose to be doing, they get a mark by their name. The mark means they have to be in bed 5 minutes earlier than there bedtime(which is 7:30). We will see if this helps, it's a work in  progress.

Lent has begun and we have(or should I say "I") decided that there will be no TV before 7:00. We don't watch TV during the day but the kids have a tendency to turn the TV on when I have to feed or put the baby to bed, or in the morning before I get up. It just seems like it causes more problems then it is worth. The girls were not happy about it but I am hoping and praying that it helps.

We had a vet appointment for Jack today.

He had to get his rabies booster and we found out that he is 130 pounds!! He is 'overweight" and the vet would like to see him loose 20-30 pounds. We are switching his food and we will try to get him to be more active. It looks like Charlotte will be taking him for a few more walks :) He and Sadie are also no longer afraid to get in the car. I came back outside to find this...

 I had to laugh!

On a lighter note, I was blessed with a fun morning of bowling with the home school group. The girls had a blast!!

Sunday's ....

I love Sunday's.

I love looking at this chubby little cloth diaper butt!

'Do you want a drink of water?'

Since we decided to go to Mass at 10:00, Audrey had time to take a quick morning nap and this is how we found her... :) to cute!

We had a busy day doing some odd jobs around the house and then taking the girls out for their free birthday meals at Hardees!

Hope you all had a blessed and wonderful Sunday!

Wonderfully busy day

We had our usual chaos around here but with a better note.

After taking a walk yesterday with the kids and my sister.

Then taking the kids to see all the cool(but seriously overpriced) campers at the camper show in town. We had an easy bedtime and finally some down time for Nick and I to just sit, relax and watch some TV. It was sooo nice.

Today there was no school but the girls all had some overdue lessons to catch up on so they worked on that while I got lunch and super in the crock and got everything ready to go so that we could visit with my other sister and her kids for a couple of hours. The kids had a blast playing and we talked.

Then we rushed home for nap time and I got to sit and talk (almost) completely uninterrupted with a like-minded friend about homeschooling, chiropractics, doulas, midwifes, oils, herbs, homeopathy and natural living for a little over 2 hours! Lots of new information and fun discussion, thanks Jennifer!

As for my afternoon, there was a little fighting, some tears but overall a good afternoon. The girls finished up(and helped each other finish up) their school work, cleaned the kitchen and living room up and are now quietly playing with play dough while mommy reads blogs and blogs herself.

All that I really have left for today is to put my order in at Sam's Club for the click n' pull and get the shopping list made....oh and I guess fold about 4 loads of laundry and diapers that are patiently waiting for me on the couch.....

My morning blessing was the beautiful sun and snow which I forgot to snap a picture of and a delicious smoothie that I was able to share with my hubby before he left for work!