Pictures from Eldora!

I forgot about our trip to Eldora in September! It was nice to get away from reality for a week and Maddie was able to go to her first race the night we got there.

Has it really been 3 months?

Wow! Time flies when you're always on the go, go, go! I can't even remember what's been happening over the past 3 months.

School has started up which means I have a full house pretty much every day now which is nice. The older three all seem to be doing well in school! Lexi's about to send us to the looney bin if she doesn't learn to control her mouth. She definitely says what's on her mind, but she needs to learn to censor herself most of the time. She gets her bottom braces on next week and has been doing a great job of brushing and taking care of them. Kiegan's grades have really been improving which is awesome! His teacher this year is so unbelieveably fantastic that I wish he could just have her every year. The school is looking into purchasing an auditory learning aid for Kiegan to use. It's a device that will help him to block out extra noise in the classroom so he can focus on what Mrs. Robey is teaching. We still go to Blm. 3-4 nights ever week - he has started on the 4th grade reading level so as soon as he gets through that and the 5th grade reading level, we will hopefully be done. It really wears on me being gone so many evenings. I don't know how parents do it that have multiple kids in multiple activities! My house is so unorganized and my countertops look horrendous and I'm falling behind in everything that it drives me bonkers. It probably doesn't help that I always have a house full of kids every day either. Oh well - that's life, right??

And Maddie - oh Miss Maddie - she runs this place! Hard to believe that she will be 2 years old in a couple of months. She tries to repeat most of what we say and sometimes it comes out so funny! She's also quite the dancer which is hilarious. I'm having a heck of a time finding diapers for her though. She's in size 7's which is the biggest they make diaper-wise and I have to order them off the internet b/c stores don't ever carry that size and it takes a week for them to be delivered so I really have to be on the ball about her diaper inventory! BUT even the size 7's are stretched to the max on her so I think I need to buckle down and work with her even more on potty training. She still goes every morning and when she wakes up from her naps, but it would sure be nice for her to go more often than that! Clothes are another story.....she's in 4T's and at first I thought that 3T stretchy pants would be ok and then get 4T in jeans, but that's not so much the case. I think she needs 4T stretchy pants and NO jeans or pants of any kind that snap/buckle at the waist. She's just too big!!

What else....oh yeah - we have a couple of new family members: Joe & Lola our goats! They are SO cool! I love them.....Joe isn't exactly the most friendly, but Lola likes it when you pet her. Travis is talking about getting some more and also a donkey b/c you have to have a donkey when you have goats to keep the coyotes away! It's gonna be Sancken Petting Zoo over here!

We went camping last weekend for probably the last time this camping season. It was ok....it was a large group of us and Friday night all of the adults decided it was a good idea to party all hours of the night between our camper and Pfaff's camper - the two campers that have little ones sleeping! I was NOT a happy Momma. Now I don't have a probably with having a good time, but when Maddie's with me I just can't bring myself to do it. All I think about is how awful I'll feel the next day and how useless I'll be to her AND I think about how much crap I have on my to-do list for that next day and I know none of it will get done if I've drank too much the night before! They all partied it up Saturday night too (minus Travis who was in bed by 8:30), but this time they did it away from our campers. They're all good people and I know they were just having a good time and like Travis says I should probably just toughen up and come out for awhile, but I tend to just avoid it all together (I'm an avoider by nature anyway!).

Halloween is this weekend! We get all the kids this year for trick-or-treating so that should be fun. Maddie is a spider witch or something like that (basically a costume I bought on clearance), Lexi is a ghost, Kiegan is Darth Maul (Star Wars of course!) and Patrick is Popeye (ironic, right?!). The store have the BEST candy this time of year and it is so not good for me to have around the house b/c I snack on it constantly! I tried a Take 5 candy bar - possibly my new favorite......

Kiegan's birthday is coming up here in a couple of weeks - 11 years! A commercial came on for a new Star Wars Wii game so that's what we will probably get for him. Those games are expensive, but the boys play the heck out of them! Next up will be Christmas for all of them - I love to shop for them, but it adds up for sure. Travis already gave me my birthday gift - a chest freezer. I love this thing! Now I don't have to haul myself ALL the way out to the shed to the standup freezer where I can't see what's all in it. This one has dividers in it and sliding racks - it is all so nicely organized! I could just stare at it I think....I'm definitely a wanna-be organized mom.

I'm sure tons more has happened since July, but that's just too much for my old brain to think about. I'll go through and see what pictures I have to put on here in another post....

Things are getting exciting!!

Another fun camping weekend has come to an end! Travis, Kiegan, Maddie & I went back to Hickory Hills for some family time. We left Friday as soon as my last daycare child left and the last few items were put in the camper. It's sooo nice that this place is such a close drive! We just relaxed Friday night and went to bed at a decent time. Saturday it rained off and on, but we were able to get out and about around the campground. We were up at the pool as soon as it opened at 10:00. I had bought a pair of arm floaties for Maddie and also a swimsuit that had float thingies built into the front & back of it. We decided to try the swimsuit thingy first and although it definitely kept her afloat, it rubbed her chin raw and it was difficult to hold her very well! Later on Saturday night, after the rain passed we went back up to the pool again this time with just her regular swimsuit on and the arm floaties. It was amazing watching her in the pool! While Travis & Kiegan horsed around in the pool, Maddie and I hung out in the shallower end and she was a fish! As soon as the floaties were put on her and she was plopped in the water, she took off! I never even had to hold her - she was leaning back and floating, kicking her legs, splashing, leaning forward and floating. It was awesome! And the whole time she never stopped smiling and laughing. So we ended up closing the pool down. Sunday morning we packed up and came home right after breakfast which is so perfect b/c it still leaves plenty of time for me to get my Walmart shopping done and stuff ready for my daycare week. Plus Travis was excited to go check out our new golf cart! I don't have any pictures of it to put on here, but it's a nice one and will be nice to take camping with us so we can buzz around the campground.



I had noticed over the weekend that Maddie kept coming up to me and wanting her diaper changed as soon as she would poop. So I sort of took that as a sign that maybe potty training was just around the corner! Later in the day Sunday, she went over to her "poop corner" and squatted but hopped right back up and came over to me pointing at her diaper. I asked her if she was done pooping and she shook her head no so I wasn't real sure what she was wanting! I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty and she immediately took off towards the bathroom so of course I raced in there with her, put the potty seat on the toilet, pulled down her shorts, ripped off her diaper and plopped her up on the potty. Sure enough I suddenly heard a bunch of "plop, plop, plops" - I couldn't believe it!! I kept telling her "good girl!" and when she was done she screamed! LOL It was a pretty exciting moment!! I was trying not to get too excited b/c she is only 18 months after all and that is pretty early to be potty training, but yesterday during quiet time she wanted to go on the potty and after sitting there for awhile she pee'd! WOO HOO! Even MORE exciting!! And then last night after we got home from Blm. she wanted to sit on the potty and she pee'd AGAIN! So maybe she has thrown herself into this potty training business?? There's definitely no rhyme or reason to when she wants to go, but if she wants to sit on the potty then by all means let's go for it! Goodness knows she sees a lot of potty business going on with all of the daycare children so it might make sense for her to pick up on it somewhat quickly.



In other family news - I was talking with the girl that Kiegan works with in Blm. to see if she still thought he would be done with the program by the time school started. He's been talking about playing basketball this school year and he also wants to join Tae Kwon Do which we think is a great idea! But as long as he's going to Blm., those extra things can't happen. Megan, the girl he works with, wanted to talk with Basha (who owns the Speech & Learning Connections place) about Kiegan b/c he is the first person she's had go through this particular reading program and she wasn't as familiar with it as Basha is. Kiegan is on Level 3 in the reading program and Megan thought that maybe the Level 4 and Level 5 would be above his reading level and he would have to come back in later school years to do those levels. Come to find out, Level 3 is a 3rd grade reading level meaning the Level 4 is 4th grade and Level 5 is 5th grade soooo considering that he's going into 5th grade means that he really needs to do the Level 4 and 5 as well. It wasn't at all what we were hoping to hear b/c it means that he will probably be going for up to another year depending on how quickly he progresses through the levels. BUT it's what he needs and it's obviously working so hard to complain too much! Kiegan was just disappointed about not being able to play basketball or do the Tae Kwon Do (which he was looking forward to the most). I think for the next month to month and a half he's going four days out of the week which the more often we go, the quicker he'll progress and get through the levels.



I received a warning phone call last week that the DCFS "witch" was going to be coming to my house this week. So I had to race around the house to make sure everything was in order and paperwork was ready for her to look at. This lady is new and from what I've heard is MUCH worse than the lady who retired and use to make the home visits. So that makes me nervous - I'm sure I'll get written up for all sorts of stupid stuff. I already know one of the dings I'll get is that my CPR & First Aid certification is expired and is not getting renewed till Thursday night. So she'll write me up for that like she did a friend of mine whose certification is also expired and is not getting renewed till Thursday. YIPPEE!! I'm sure I'll be plenty stressed by the time she leaves. I HATE being treated/talked to like I don't know what I'm doing.



Oh a happier note! I have a date Friday night with a good friend of mine!! Her two little ones come to my daycare and Travis & I are good friends with them. So we decided that we needed to go have a nice dinner, do a little shopping and hit up Coldstone Creamery before coming home without having little people tugging and pulling on us. We are both looking forward to it so much! In general, this week will be a busy one with Kiegan going to Blm. three days (my mom will be taking him two of the three days b/c I won't be able to), I have a training to go to Wednesday night, CPR & First Aid re-certification Thursday night, date night with my friend Friday night, Aunt Peggy's wedding on Saturday and then Sunday will be spent getting the house back in order and ready for the new week! Oh and Kiegan wants to get his school supplies this weekend - woo hoo! I LOVE shopping for school supplies!!



So busy week ahead, but also lots of exciting things going on!

I think we may have hit the campground jackpot!

So our original plan this weekend was to go camping at Clinton, but apparently the lake is closed because of blue algae (??) so we decided that wasn't the best place to go! Travis went over to the Blaetz's for a "camping meeting" to decide what Plan B was while I was in Bloomington with Kiegan. They decided on Hickory Hills in Secor (just past ElPaso) and it turned out to be THE perfect camping spot for us!! In fact, I think we're going back there this next weekend! It reminded us a lot of the Yogi Bear Campground we went to last time, but MUCH less expensive. We stayed at Hickory Hills the whole weekend for less then one night at Yogi. The camping spots were a tight squeeze for all of us - oh there were four families that ended up going: Us, Blaetz's, Pfaff's and Hogan's - but we were one big happy family! This weekend was their Christmas In July & I think their 50's & 60's weekend (or something like that) so the place was packed, but the people there were very nice. They have a pool, miniature golf, horseshoes, fishing, basketball court, etc. There's plenty of stuff for the kids to do! Now when we go camping and it's time for Maddie to sleep, I tend to stay in the camper with her b/c otherwise I have no clue when she wakes up. I do plan to bring a monitor with me next time (if I remember) so hopefully that will allow me to still be outside with all of our friends while she's resting instead of stuck in the camper by myself. Speaking of being stuck in the camper....Saturday night the campground had a live band playing that was literally right across the road from where our campers were. We all headed that way and as soon as they started playing, it scared the crap out of Maddie b/c it was soooo loud! So the two of us headed back across the road to our campers and she wouldn't even sit outside with me which left us the only option of sitting in the camper. BOO. That basically ended my night for me! I was really super bummed, especially when I learned the next day that the band was GREAT and they even came over and invited our group to an after-hours party. Travis didn't even get back in the camper until the sun was coming up Sunday morning! I so badly wished I could have been a part of the fun. I think every now and then I might think about going camping without Maddie so that I can have some fun with the big people! We will see...we are heading back there again this coming weekend - just our family I think!

I took Maddie to Sears last night to get her pictures taken while Kiegan was at his appt. I also took her last Monday, but she didn't nap all day and was not the most cooperative. Not to mention that I put piggies in her hair and it looked like she had horns in all the pics. So I took her to Audra Bohm - who cuts my hair - and she trimmed away some of the baby fine stuff so that her hair would lay nicely around her face. So I just put a cute little flower barrette in her hair and she looked super cute! The lady got a few cute shots of her last night and I had a coupon for a $7.99 photo package that I had already set my mind on (the hard part was that you could only choose one pose). The lady I was working with was not very happy with me b/c I wasn't buying into her speal of purchasing a $200, $300+ photo package. But I stuck with my plan of using the coupon! Their system was down so I have to call next week to get the code that will allow me to access the photos online so once I get that I will share with everyone. I'm thinking that next time I get the itch to get her pics taken that I will NOT use Sears!

Lexi's been in Georgia for almost 2 weeks now! I guess she's having fun....I keep trying to strike up texting conversations with her and I don't seem to get much more than a "what" or an "ok" from her. She did call me while I was in Walmart at like 8:30 last Thursday night and of course I was in the middle of checking out so I couldn't exactly talk much, but I did get out of her that she met a friend the day before and spent the night at her house and they stayed up all night. I have a BIG problem with the fact that she JUST met this girl and is already spending the night at her house. Does her dad know this girl's parents? If not, then did he talk to them or meet them at all?? But there's just not a whole lot I can do about it from Illinois! Another one of the differences between him and us.....

Daycare is doing ok - I have a few busy days here and there, but mostly light ones. I suppose I should appreciate them since once school starts back up I won't have ANY light days! Today I only have four girls so we'll see how well they get along with each other. :o) I did have one day last week where I felt very appreciated for what I'm doing. I have one mom whose two little girls come here and when she came to pick them up she said that she noticed that morning that when she drops her girls off that she doesn't have a single concern for them and what a great feeling that was. She said that with their old sitter, she knew they were taken care of but she never felt 100% comfortable leaving them and always wanted to give them "just one more hug or kiss" before leaving them for work. That same day I had both of my new baby boys that will be coming with their big sister's in the fall (their mom's are teachers) and the one mom posted the following on Facebook: "I am thankful for my top notch daycare provider...while it sucked leaving my baby (and Kate too) today I knew they were well cared for...she is great. Thanks for making something difficult easier - I REALLY appreciate it!" Days like that make all the rough ones worth dealing with!

Now I'm not one to get all sappy and talk about personal stuff b/c that usually just makes me want to gag, but I've had a bit of a revelation here recently. I really LOVE my husband and I really LOVE my kids! I've even gone to adding a signature on emails I send that says "Wife to Travis, Mom to Lexi, Kiegan, Patrick and Maddie" b/c I want to show everyone my love for them. It's easy to show your kids how much you love them, but sometimes our husbands get pushed to the side or get the brunt of our grumpy days. Now this is not to say that I am a fantastic wife b/c I know I'm not. I know that I sometimes get irritated at him over silly things or if I'm having a bad day that I sometimes take it out on him. I also know that since John passed away our lives have become very different - Travis has taken on A LOT as well as Trevor and sometimes I feel very alone and I don't always handle it the way I should. The funny thing is that it doesn't bother me a bit when he's doing stuff for the farm. I know that's his dream and that the boys were basically thrown into that responsibility. I tell him all the time that I am his biggest supporter and will back up any and all decisions that he makes. Sometimes I wish I was able to actually DO more to help him out, but I know that being home and taking care of the house and the kids IS helping him. I think sometimes I get irritated when the few moments of free time is spent with friends instead of us. I know he needs his down time just as much as I do and I have to remind myself of that sometimes! I think 90% of the time Travis has NO idea that I'm upset. I know he's got a lot on his mind and it makes him feel bad to know that I'm upset so I make sure to not make snide remarks at him or put him down in any way. I'm also thankful for a wonderful sister-in-law that lets me talk to her about all of this! That helps tremendously...... Anyway, I've just decided that I want to be an even BETTER wife to him. I had a long talk with someone recently about what it means to be a wife in a marriage. I'll admit that I do a lot for Travis that most wives probably would probably roll their eyes at - I set his clothes out for him the night before, I make his lunch every day, I make his favorite breakfast every Sunday morning, I make sure that I have food/snacks around the house that I know he likes, I try to make a homemade dinner every night (if time allows - kinda hard on our Blm. nights to do that). I like doing all these things for him. I like that I can help to make his day easier by getting these small tasks taken care of for him. Isn't that why I married him? Because I love him and WANT to make him happy?? The biggest payoff is that what goes around comes around - the more I give to Travis, the more he gives to me. I know I don't ask a lot of him b/c I don't need a lot to keep me happy, but those rare times that I do need something from him I know he will not hesitate to do whatever he needs to in order to keep me happy. That's what marriage is - it's two people coming together to become a team, to support one another in their every day tasks, to do whatever needs to be done to make that other person happy and to show that other person how much you love and appreciate them. It's too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks of getting through life, especially when there are kids involved so I am determined to find that extra time to do the small things that mean so much to my husband because I love him. There....I'm off my soap box now...I hope I didn't make you all throw up in your mouths or anything. :o)

Monday, Monday....

This past weekend went a lot better than I thought it would considering that Lexi left for a month! Friday night Travis went & stayed in the camper at the race track so I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity for Lexi & I to head out to dinner and get our nails done. My mom was taking Kiegan to Blm. for me and went ahead and took Maddie with her too. I told Lexi she could pick anywhere in town to eat (hoping that she wouldn't pick a fast-food joint) and she chose Bernardi's - perfect! It was pretty packed when we got there around 5:30-ish or so, but we didn't have to wait for a seat so that was nice. After dinner, Lexi was wanting to get her nails done. Now I'll admit that I'm not one that enjoys that kind of stuff as much as most girls do, especially when I can't understand what the person is saying that's doing my nails. That makes me SUPER uncomfortable! But I told myself to toughen up and we hit up the nail place....we were able to get right in and I just had them do a simple polish on me, but Lexi of course wanted a French manicure and then a design on her nails. They turned out SOOO cute! I let the older two stay up a bit later than usual since I knew Lexi was leaving sometime Saturday and apparently sometime in the night, Lexi went into Kiegan's room and climbed in bed with him. Warms my heart to see that considering the fact that they are fighting 95% of the time!

Saturday was Maddie's last Kindermusik class - she did great! I think I've decided to not sign her up for the fall session....I could change my mind by that time, but as of now I'm not going to. After her class was over, I dropped Lexi off with her dad who got to Pontiac sometime Friday. I took Kiegan to Family Video so he could rent some Wii games and then we headed home. I think Kiegan is already enjoying his Lexi-free time! Travis was spending the afternoon/evening at the race track for Summer Nationals so when supper time came around, I got to thinking how much I missed Joe's Stationhouse breadsticks. We don't usually order from there b/c Travis doesn't like them much and I'm all about keeping my hubby happy!! So I took advantage of the situation and ordered us some Joe's. It was sooooo good, but it irritated the heck out of me when I opened the box of breadsticks and half of them slid out onto the floor!! For some reason I couldn't get myself to go to bed that night - I was working on my Circle Time plans for the week so it was about 11:30 or so when I finally went upstairs. Then about half an hour later I received a text message on my phone from Lexi that they were leaving for Georgia. At midnight?! So then I couldn't sleep at all knowing she was on the road and not knowing if her dad was driving on zero sleep or what the deal was. So Sunday came too soon.....BUT I got sooo much done on Sunday! Travis came home with the camper around 9:00-ish or so and I cooked him some breakfast. Then he had to get ready and head to Champaign to help his Aunt Peggy move some stuff from her old house to her new house and to my surprise, he was taking Maddie with him! I wasn't so sure what to think about it at first b/c I knew he was going to be busy moving stuff, but I wasn't about to tell him 'no' either. As bad as it probably sounds, it was nice to have that time without her b/c I was able to get so many things accomplished! I love days when I am able to check lots of stuff off of my to-do list. Of course I was happy to see them come back home. :o) I missed Travis all weekend but I know how much he loves his races and was glad to see that he had such a great time at the track! I had been texting Lexi off/on all day and they did finally make it to Georgia around 5:30 Sunday evening.

Now we're onto a new week.....I started this post on Monday and now it's Tuesday! Kiegan has to go to Blm. four nights this week and I decided to take Maddie to the Sears Portrait Studio last night for 18-month pics (b/c I'm TERRIBLE at getting pictures of my kids taken). Well, of course Maddie didn't take a nap all day so she fell asleep right away in the van and was not a very fun person when we got to Sears. The lady trying to take her picture was nice, but kept trying to move Maddie into certain positions and Maddie wanted no part of this stranger touching her. So I tried moving her around, but when I'd get up to walk away she'd come running over to me! We got a couple of cute smiles out of her, but her hair wasn't cooperating. She has yet to have her first haircut so I just put to piggies in, but when the lady would take her picture all you could see was one piggy so it looked like she had a horn sticking out of her head! The lady was nice enough to let us come back next Monday to try again. I think I'm going to try to get Maddie's hair cut - at least around her face - before Monday rolls around so that I hopefully don't have to worry about piggies at all! Travis is not so hip on the haircut idea though...so we'll see!

It sounds like we're going camping this weekend at Clinton Lake with the Blaetz's so I need to get meals and stuff planned for that. I love going camping with good friends!! They're laid back like we are so it always makes for a good time. :o)

Believe it or not.....I'm NOT glad it's Friday!

That probably sounds odd and makes you wonder what the heck is wrong with me, but Lexi leaves this weekend to go to Georgia with her dad for four weeks. BOOOO. Although the two of us could probably use a break from each (we are too much alike and don't always see eye-to-eye), I don't necessarily want a FOUR WEEK break from her! Travis, on the other hand, is probably looking forward to it - dad's just don't have the patience that mom's do for pre-teens I believe. Not that my level of patience with her is all that great either, but I still think I tolerate more than he does!

Now keep in mind that down in Georgia it is HOT - like 100+ degrees every day hot - and also keep in mind that Lexi tends to be like her mother (who is a wonderful person) and prefers to wear jeans/capris over shorts! I told her that anything long is the LAST thing she's going to want to wear so off to my favorite store we went! Walmart had quite a selection of shorts, but most of them were soooo short - not my idea of what I want my 12-year old wearing. We finally found some Faded Glory Bermuda shorts for her that were $10 - perfect! Then we came across a table of tank tops for $3.50 - right on!! I told her to just pack enough clothes for two weeks because surely her step-mom would be willing to wash her clothes (????).

Her dad initially wanted her to fly BY HERSELF to Georgia and back......ummm no. Then he wanted us to drive half of the 14-hour drive to meet him.....ummmm no. Then he started to get nasty which means my lawyer gets involved! So after he was reminded that HE was the one that moved out of state, it was then explained to him that it was on his dime and his time to do the traveling and she would absolutely NOT be flying by herself. So he is now driving up here to get her and then driving her back down there. His wife's family is coming to visit that first week of August so she will then ride back home with them.

Another crazy thing is that school will be starting like a week and a half after she gets home - this summer has flown by! So we will be zipping to Walmart the week after she gets home to get school supplies (which I so LOVE shopping for!) and getting ourselves organized for the new school year. I'm hoping Lexi gets her act together for 7th grade - my sanity can't handle another year of unorganized, irresponsible, negative attitude-filled school fun! I don't understand it, I don't want to understand it - the girl NEEDS to get her act together, especially since I recently learned from a good friend of mine whose son is starting high school that by the time you hit 8th grade and you go for Freshman Orientation (or whatever it's called) that you need to have a general idea of what you would like to do with your life! That's how they decide what path you need to head down during your high school years. Lexi has been planning on being a vet and opening her own vet clinic - which is fantastic! I'm just not sure if she realizes how much schooling she'll need for that career???

I've also been in a hurry to get Lexi over her swimmer's ear before she leaves! I think we finally have it conquered after 2 rounds of the Z-Pack, numbing ear drops and medicated ear drops plus lots of Tylenol at bedtime. She had quite a time with it and it's apparently pretty painful too! I took her with me to Maddie's 18-month appt. so that Doc could check things out and he said her eardrum AND her ear canal were very infected. He had her ear irrigated which got some chunks out and unplugged it for her, but it was still very painful. From now on, she has to make sure that she dries her ear out with a blow dryer after swimming or showering.

Speaking of Maddie's 18-month appt. It went well as usual, especially since there were no shots involved! I thought for sure that she wouldn't have much of a gain - particularly in her height - from her 15-month appt. I mean seriously - wearing 4T clothes at 18 months is PLENTY big!! I was wrong though - she was 30 lbs. 13 1/4 oz. & 33 1/2 inches tall at her 15-month and three months later she's measuring in at 34 lbs. and 36 inches tall! Gee - who is she taking after?? LOL Doc also thinks I'm nuts b/c by 18-months she can do so much and I know he's always asking what she's doing now and stuff so a week before her appt. I started making a list of the sign language signs that she knows, the words that she says or tries to say and some other random stuff that she's doing. So when he asked, I warned him that he was going to think I was NUTS and proceeded to hand him this printed out list....he started cracking up and said that he was either going to give me an A+ for the day or put me in a special home! LOL Boy did he get a kick out of it - he said he's never in all his years received such a list. I told him that these days I can't rely on my brain anymore to remember things so lists are the way to go!!

Maddie has her last Kindermusik session on Saturday morning. As cute and fun as it was for her, I'm not sure I'll be signing her up for the next session. Most of what they do is what I do with the daycare kids during music time! I'd maybe consider it if it wasn't so stinkin' expensive, but I can't justify paying over $100 for a class that lasts less than a grand total of 5 hours. There will be plenty of other stuff that she can do as she gets a little older!

Kiegan is still rockin' through his sessions in Bloomington! He did finally hit a rough spot one day last week, but now this week he's been zipping right through it. So maybe he just wasn't feeling it that day. In the waiting room at Speech & Learning Connections, they have a list tacked up of suggested books to read and one of them was "Like Sound Through Water: A Mother's Journey Through Auditory Processing Disorder" so I went home and checked on Amazon.com to see if I could get it on my Kindle and sure enough I could! So I ordered it and read through it in no time - I could relate SO MUCH to what the mother was dealing with. The trouble the schools were giving her, the speech issues her son had, his learning issues, etc. I learned a lot from the book as well and by the end of it, I had a lot of hope for Kiegan and his future! So after reading something so serious and heavy, I'm now onto something more light-hearted from Jodi Picoult. Well, I guess I shouldn't say light-hearted considering that her topics are pretty heavy, but let's say it's something not so taxing on my ol' brain! I would recommend all of her books so far (she's the author of "My Sister's Keeper") - they are easy reads and always interesting!

Travis has his guy's night tomorrow night at the races (at first I typed "boy's night", but I guess he's more of a guy than a boy) and I plan to spend time this weekend with Lexi before she leaves. I am determined to do a better job of planning our lunches and dinners over the weekends plus get my Circle Time stuff ready for upcoming week. I have the month of July pretty much all planned out, but I still have to get stuff photocopied and ready to go.

I forgot to talk about our 4th of July weekend!! Besides Maddie's checkup Friday afternoon, we also went down to the Masching's for a cookout. I made a super yummy Ham Pasta Salad to take. The Blaetz's also joined us all because they just can't seem to get enough of us! It was so nice to relax and let the kids play....I ended up leaving early b/c Maddie was ready for bed. Saturday morning the girls & I took Joanne to pick up her motorcycle. Travis was going to bail hay and then we had plans to take the camper over to the race track, but by the time he was done it was too late so we just hooked up and took it over to the Pfaff's since were heading over there Sunday for the Pfaffapalooza. I helped Amanda get stuff ready for the party which included making some Jell-o shots! Now by the time we got set up and helped them get some stuff done around their house, we all decided to relax under the awning. After a few drinks, Amanda thought we should try the Jell-o shots to make sure they tasted ok. We ended up going through all of them!! Then Amanda started pulling out the Blue U/V Vodka or whatever it's called and making some mixed drinks with lemonade. We had so much fun and have never laughed so hard!!! Next thing we know it's 1:30 in the morning!! Sunday was spent at my aunt's house in Towanda and then back to the Pfaff's for the Pfaffapalooza. It was a good time, but nowhere near as fun as Saturday night! Monday was spent recovering and getting ready for the week.

I think that's all I've got for now! Enjoy your weekend everybody!!

Pictures from our camping weekend

Maddie in the camper saying "Cheeeese!" with her rockin' hair!



Patrick and his little tiny wave....



Lexi and her medium wave.....



Kiegan and his MONSTER WAVE!



Our little hillbilly!! Don't even ask how she got the beads....you don't wanna know what kinds of things she was up to!

Jellystone Park was a success!!

Last weekend we took all of the kids camping at Jellystone Park in Amboy with our friends, the Blaetz's and their kids. It was a success!! I think that will be a place that we will be camping at many, many times. It wasn't anything fancy, but it had MORE than enough to keep the kids busy. And the best part? We didn't have to constantly follow them around! Our camping spot was absolutely perfect....we were within walking distance of the water slides, one of the pools, the playground, the outdoor movie theatre, the arcade and the arts & crafts center. What more could we ask for? The kids had some pretty late nights, but got along fantastically! We usually bring a Pack 'n' Play for Maddie to sleep in when camping, but this time we decided to pull out the couch that has the air mattress in it to see how that would work out for her and I'm so glad we did!! She slept GREAT both nights and I was able to climb in bed with her when a certain someone was snoring too loudly for my liking. :o)

My only complaint about the weekend was the rain! Friday night - I'm not sure what time - it started storming and when the wind started to pick up, I had to wake up Travis to see if the awning on the camper needed to be put up. I had a hard time getting him to wake up until he heard the arms of the awning bank up and then back down again - that got him up!! And wouldn't you know, we JUST put some outdoor lights up that night on the awning! So he was out in the storm trying to take the lights down while I stood slightly panicked in the doorway of the camper watching. Then he was like "Roll the awning up! Roll the awning up!!" so then I'm panicking trying to find the button to do that in the dark camper, but we got it done and all was well. So then really early Sunday morning there was a total downpour going on plus some thunder & lightning!! And this was the kind of of storm where there's no time between the lightning and the thunder - the thunder was SO LOUD!! In fact, Matt Blaetz had his hand on the handle of their camper door when a major bolt of lightning came down and he got zapped! So instead of being able to let the kids enjoy the last day there, we all had to quickly pack up the campers between downpours and get them hooked up and pulled out. Travis was afraid we would be stuck in the huge puddles of water, but we were able to get out ok. It was kind of nice to be home at a decent time b/c we had plenty of the day left to clean out the camper and get stuff done around here before Monday rolled around.

The weather this week has been absolutely PERFECT! I love having the windows open!! I haven't even bothered with crafts or anything b/c we've been trying to spend as much time outside as we can before it starts to get super hot again. I do need to find some time to get stuff planned for the month of July. Hard to believe that school will be starting up again in about 6 1/2 weeks!

We've got a busy weekend coming up - Maddie has her 18-month check-up Friday afternoon, a cookout down at the Masching's Friday night, Maddie's Kindermusik Saturday morning, Travis has to bail hay Saturday afternoon, races Saturday night if Travis gets done bailing soon enough otherwise camping over at the Pfaff's Saturday night, head to Towanda late Sunday morning to my aunt's house and then the Pfaffapalooza Sunday night! Thank goodness I have Monday off to relax & recover!!

I do have a few pictures from the weekend at Jellystone that I'll post!

Pictures

I thought the daycare kids would like to watch the process of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly so I ordered some larvae:



Within about 5 days, they grew really big!



Then they all crawled to the top and formed cocoons around themselves!



Now I've moved them into the butterfly net where the kids come and check on them every day!



Oh Maddie! She has learned that there's a ledge behind the bookshelf so that's where she likes to stand to look out the window!

Is it time to leave yet?

IS IT FRIDAY YET???? We are taking the kids to a Jellystone Park in Amboy this weekend with another couple that we are friends with - the Blaetz's. We are sooooo looking forward to it! My understanding is that the kids can be free to go where they please and do what they want except for the water slides - an adult has to be there to watch them. The swimming pools and water slides are just a few feet away from where our camper will be! I, of course, waited until the last minute to get our meals figured out and planned on running to a grocery store while Kiegan was at his session in Blm. tonight. After talking to Travis and one of my daycare parents, I figured it was probably best to reschedule because I am the LAST person that should be out driving in bad weather! So the girls & I ran into town as soon as the last daycare girl left to get the groceries and got home JUST IN TIME! I think I was in the house for maybe five minutes when all of a sudden the sky looked SUPER scary and the wind was CRAZY. I didn't know where Travis was, but I sent him a message letting him know that it was time to come home. I hate being home along with the kids in bad weather! Thankfully, it seemed to just pass and hopefully there's no more coming as the night goes on. So anyway, we are ready to get away this weekend!

This past weekend was BUSY! Friday night Joanne took the boys to a baseball game in Blm. Travis was at the same game, but his cousin was able to get tickets up in the VIP box so he was sittin' pretty while watching the game! The girls & I had the night to ourselves and of course some AWESOME weather came through so there was some quiet panicking on my end for awhile. Maddie had Kindermusik Saturday morning and then my mom brought the boys to me when it was over. She took Maddie and I took the older three to Blm. to see Toy Story 3 in 3D - I LOVE 3D movies!! I have to admit that at one point in the movie, I was getting a bit teary-eyed which is odd to do while watching a cartoon movie. Travis had a golf outing and then he went to the races while Lexi spent the night at my mom's after the movie. Sunday morning there was a 9:00 Mass for John, then breakfast with the whole family which we quickly ate and left so that a little girl could get home and take a nap - she was a real treat that morning! Later on we went down to Joanne's for dinner. Travis & the kids all rode their 4-wheelers/go-carts down there while Maddie & I came in the van. After we ate, our crew rode around Joanne's yard and Maddie rode with Travis on his 4-wheeler and then with Lexi on her go-cart for the longest time. She LOVES going for rides! Travis then showed me the fork lift so I took it out for a cruise - it's pretty fun to drive! Then next thing we know it's Monday again.....

Lexi was suppose to get the next step of her braces this past Tuesday, but the dentist's office called and rescheduled it....again. So now she doesn't go back until July 20th!! Does anybody want to break this news to my ex-husband for me??? He is going to be THRILLED to hear this and I'm sure he'll assume that for whatever crazy reason I'm rescheduling her appt. on purpose.

Maddie at Kindermusik & with her new sand/water table

Playing in her new sand/water table!



See the nice umbrella there?? Well, after the storms that went through this morning, it no longer exists!

Shakin' her shakers!

We play with lots of different musical instruments!

Maddie REALLY liked the hoola-hoop - so much so that she became very irritated when it was time to put it away!

Dancing in a circle!

Clapping our hands to the song!

Close-up!

Marching in a circle!

Pictures - some old & some new!

Maddie wants to eat everything out of a bowl now - she's such a big girl!

Sorry for the sideways pictures, but Maddie thought getting in the jumper would be fun! You should have seen me trying to pull her out of it....it was quite a task!

I believe we were on our way to Grand Bear Lodge....

The short-lived days of our swimming pool....

Bruiser when he was just a little squirt!

Our home-made sled (I believe it's the hood of a car?)

One of my favorite pictures of the three!