jan 30+31

On the 30th, we drove our niece home, and it was also our nephew's (niece's little brother) birthday party. The three older kids and I left the party early, because they had another party to go to. A friend of Cal's from the old school invited him to her birthday party. Conveniently enough, two of her little sisters are Maddie and Kaycey's age. They just moved and their new house has an indoor pool!! Apparently this house listed for $1.1 million a few years back. Now it was in foreclosure and they paid $350,000!! The pool area/room seriously looks like it is straight out of some Wisconsin Dells hotel. Upstairs is this huge game room with arcade/video games and an air hockey and pool table! The kids were so amazed at this place! It was very cool.

So of course, it was a pool party theme. Cal has been invited to her party 3 years in a row now, but this time he was the only boy. Usually all her cousins are there (several boys Cal's age). I thought it was a little strange, but no one else seemed to care. Cal was happy to see friends from his old school. Kaycey was frustrated because she had to wear a life jacket. Maddie loved the pool! She was one of the last kids out of the pool. She was in there (with life jacket on!) with a couple of gals Cal's age and they were playing Marco Polo. Except when the big girls would yell, "Marco!" Maddie would yell, "Hoho!" It was HILARIOUS. She is so funny. We came home and everyone was pooped, even though we got home before 8:30.

On the 31st the 3 girls and I went to our neighbor friend's house (her 2 girls are Kaycey and Maddie's age). Mike has been working his tail off, putting in well over 70 hours a week sometimes. Too bad he doesn't get overtime. Argh. Anyhow, Sadie slept the ENTIRE time we were at our friend's house. She didn't wake up until right before we were going to go home. We're talking four hours or so of sleep. Cal went downtown with his friend and his friend's parents to the Brewers On Deck. He got Jeff Suppan's autograph. The mom hasn't emailed the pictures yet, but Cal said she took a bunch.

jan 18 thru jan 29

Long post, but this is my recap of most of the 2nd half of January...

Jan 19--Maddie had an xray to make sure her lungs were clear from the episode of pneumonia earlier in the month (lungs are clear). We stopped by Emma & Papa (my Grandparents) because Maddie requested to go to the "salon". My Grandma has been doing this for as long as I can remember...washing the kids' hair in the kitchen sink (she did it for us growing up, too, and she even did it for my 15 year old cousin when she was in town from up north!!)

We found out 63 out of 350 employees were laid off at Mike's work (15% of the IT dept. got cut).

Jan 20--My poor baby got her 2 month shots : (

Maddie shows off her new headband.

Jan 21--went to my Dad's for dinner. When I walked out the door in the garage to my car, I dropped my pan of veggie enchiladas. Smash. Glass everywhere in the garage. Not happy.

Jan 22--After watching "Word Girl" Maddie says, "Do you know what my favorite word is? Sadie."

Greatest gift ever, I swear. They play with this Calico Critters stuff everyday (even Cal plays with them sometimes)

Jan 23--Cal's team finished the basketball season 2-4. In the last game Cal scored 2 baskets.

Sadie smiles at everything!

Kaycey and Maddie had some play time outside.

I began the tedious task of rearranging basement bins and labeling them.

Jan 24--The Vikings lose in overtime. Unbelievable.

Jan 25--Maddie comes home singing the "P" song...working on the letter "p" this week. "Please pass the peas...put them on my plate 'cause I just can't wait..."

Sadie doesn't sleep, practically up all day. Maddie is finally the one to get her sleep!

first picture of all 4 since ???

Sadie LOVES her giraffe-y

Jan 29--How cute, Maddie still says "amen" at the end of all stories instead of "the end".

I love this picture! And I am loving my new camera, even if I have a long way to go to really know what it can do...

Maddie has been using the footrest from the stroller (I didn't put it on yet, Sadie doesn't need it!) as a pretend snowboard. How does she know what a snowboard is?!?!

We had our niece sleep over (the one Kaycey's age). The girls were like 3 (Maddie, Kaycey, and Julia) peas in a pod. Cal and I went to some school basketball games. I volunteered in the concession stand and Cal had a great time running around with his friends.

more to come....

life with baby + 3 kids

I have posts from in between to catch up with, but more on those later. Thought I'd post this *fun* one.

See all that dust?? And yes, that's still a Christmas tree up in the house. It's been serving as a great night light when getting up with Sadie.

Oy, and this is my wood floor under the table in the entryway. Ooo, look! A lucky penny.

laundry room overload

But on a happy note, I got these in the mail. Pretty much every possibility in this stack!! Excited to use the 8 1/2 x 11 actually in the kids' albums for stuff, from school.

And I got the laundry folded.

And there's carpet in the bonus room.

Now if only my side was functional, organized, & clean...definitely toward the top of the to do list!! Along with moving all the toys from the playroom into the bonus room. Kaycey is really looking forward to having her own room (she is getting the room that is currently the playroom).

p.s. as soon as I was done taking the photos, I got to work and dusted, vacuumed, and cleaned the floor : )

I had a bad day...

Not sure if you've been able to keep up with my blog-happy self...I think I posted 6 posts in a few days time. Totally not like me!

What a crummy day. First of all, it began at 3am, when Sadie woke up. (which is fine, she doesn't sleep through the night yet anyways). She went back to sleep around 4 (and usually sleeps for 3-4 hours). SHe was up again at 5, before I even fell asleep!! I'm thinking she woke up being cold, since she had kicked her blankies off. All of a sudden, Cal is standing next to me. He tells me it's late. Amazingly, I had fallen back asleep after Sadie got up at 5. Amazingly, she had fallen back asleep, too. I try to look at the clock, without my glasses all I see is a 6 somewhere. Well, it's 7:16. Usually we are up around 6:30 or so. Kaycey and Maddie are still in bed. The bus comes at 7:30. Not a big deal if they miss the bus, but still rush, rush. I race to wake up the 2 girls, make breakfast, get bags packed so they aren't late for school (gotta be there by 8!). We make it, just in time. Sadie and I come home to begin the task of endless laundry. Go to pick up Maddie and she had a terrible bloody nose at school (she's only had one once before). We go to Home Depot, determined to buy something to cover the darn windows in the family room which has been bare since moving in. I find nothing. ARGH. I'm tired of a house that looks like we just moved in, or are about to move out. Then home for lunch, of course I don't even get a chance to eat anything, though. Too busy trying to keep up with the laundry, and filling the dishwasher. I realize that for Kaycey's dr. appointment this afternoon, I have no stroller to push Sadie in (we have 2 strollers sitting in the garage but they won't close, which means I can't get them in my car), cause there is no way I am carrying that seat with her in it through Childrens' Hospital. So while Maddie ate lunch and fed Sadie, I put together our new sit 'n stand stroller (but putting things together and having to read directions gives me a headache.) I cross my fingers that I put it together right, or at least so the wheels don't fall off while we are walking. Off to school to pick the kids up early, Kaycey has an appointment at CHildren's in Urology. I make the mistake of bravely taking all 4 kids with me. Didn't have available sitters, anyhow. Sadie cried most of the time, and Maddie was just plain sassy. After nearly 2 hours, we go home. Maddie attempts to stick her stickers from the hospital on my car window. I stop her just in time. I come in the house and immediately take a 600mg ibuprofen and put my pajamas on (it's 5pm). I walk into the kitchen to find Maddie's stickers on my cabinets. I should've let her put them on my car windows. Dinner tonight will be waffles or cereal. Can't wait for this day to be over.

catch up, part 3

Jamuary 17--Sadie's baptism. Uncle Scott & Aunt Lorie served as witnesses. We've had a baptism in church every week this month!! Lots of little babies Sadie's age!!

The six of us

We had a housefull of relatives over following the baptism at church. I took a photo of all the grandparents with Sadie. And actually there's a Great-Grandma and Step-Great Grandma missing in the photo. That's a lot of grandparents!!!!!!!!!!(Mike's parents and one set of his Grandparents, my Mom, my Dad, my Stepmom, my Grandparents, & my Great-Grandma.)

Five generations