as promised....

Baseball season is underway for Cal, and school comes to a close tomorrow until August. My friend is here staying with us for 10 days. We had the kids' school musical this past weekend as well as Mike's sister's wedding in Sheboygan. Mike took off yesterday to finish painting and putting the railings back up on the porch. Mike's been talking/looking with his brother for rental properties (Mike & his brother had their own little flipping house business for years through college and after. His brother stuck with it and he has since retired from his other job. He's 37!) I've been eyeing up/researching a new vehicle (I only have 9,000 more miles to go till 70,000! Our deal was I get a new vehicle at 70. Now Mike says I have to wait till 100, haha. He's kidding. He better be.) So, we've been incredibly busy!!! If it's not one thing it's another!! But that's okay.

SIX MONTH comparison

Sadie, 6 1/2 months old

Maddie

Kaycey was about 7 months in this photo, but didn't have much for digital before she was 6 months old.

Cal

Well one thing is true, they all had hair (though you can't see Kaycey's with her hat on!) Wonder if I'd be able to tell who is who 25 years from now??

photo shoot

Here are a couple of my favorites from today.

my baby is six months old!!! I had a mini photo shoot with her outside today, and she sat up the entire time (well, okay, maybe once she flopped over attempting to get the grass in her mouth...but she lasted a long time!!)

coming soon...april/may recap (long overdue...), and a six month comparison amongst the 4 kiddos!

crafty weekend

April 23-25, I went away for my first scrapbook getaway in over a year! I have to admit, I was torn thinking maybe I should just stay one night, or just going for the day Saturday. But 1-I really needed the time away, 2-I didn't want to let my crafty buds down. I am so glad I went, and I can't wait for the next one. It was so much fun, and definitely a much needed getaway. Mike held down the fort and all the duties that go with that (the soccer games, birthday parties, etc.) and he's asking when I'm going away again, too (he really enjoys his alone time with the kids!)

Here are some pages I made on my weekend away.

Cal, June 2003 (paper: october afternoon)

Cal, August 2009 (paper Scenic Route)

Sadie, November 2009 (paper Little Yellow Bicycle)

Sadie, November 2009 (paper Dear Lizzy spring)

Kaycey, June 2003 (paper OLD Creative Imaginations)

Kaycey, 2008 (paper Crate Paper)

Maddie 2009 (paper October Afternoon)

Maddie & cousin Ethan 2007 (paper October Afternoon)

Apparently I love October Afternoon : )

recapping april, 1-14

Okay, so I've been a bad blogger. I have been slacking on keeping my little journal, too. But I figure if I've made it to April, I better keep on chugging along with it!!

APRIL 1

Surgery day. I was SOOOOO nervous. But wow, it was a piece of cake. I don't remember any of it really. I like the whole being put under thing. Apparently I did tell the doctor that I wanted more babies and I hoped the next one was twins. And that she shouldn't tell Mike. But she did, haha : ) Oh and by the way--she found NOTHING wrong with my scar or anything else c-section related. So off to my regular doctor in a few weeks.

I slept all day at the hospital, and we didn't get home till around 7pm. The 3 older kids slept over by my Dad's, and little Sadie spent the day at my Grandma's. We picked her up on the way home. Our neighbor was kind enough to make us dinner and bring it over after the long day.

APRIL 2

I didn't feel great, but Mike went to work. We figured Sadie would nap, so I would nap. But she didn't, and was a little fussy on top of that! So Mike came home from work early, and of course, she was sleeping when he came home!!

My Dad brought the kids home and we went to church that evening. Cal slept over at a friend's, and the rest of us stopped for $1 sundaes at McDonalds.

APRIL 3

Cal went to another friend's house for a few hours. He had a great time! His friend lives on a lake and near some woods, so they had fun doing boy things.

Sadie isn't really enjoying the jenny jump up. She just kind of hangs around.

APRIL 4

Easter Sunday, we went to the late service at church, which I don't think we'll do again. Apparently everyone comes to the earlier services, because we recognized almost no one in church, which is very odd!

Maddie, in her beautiful new dress, said, "I'm the prettiest one in the family!!"

APRIL 5

Mike went to Opening Day, even though he wasn't feeling great. It was super nice outside so the kids and I were outside for quite a while. I can't believe the color in these photos. I am really really loving the new camera.

Sadie tried sweet potatoes...first veggie! She swallowed it, but didn't really seem to like them.

APRIL 6

Kaycey had her first sleepover at a friend's house.

APRIL 8

Kaycey had a blast at her friend's house. The kids and I went to my Great Grandma's/Aunt's house for dinner, the world famous grilled cheeses, haha! The kids love 'em!! We watched baseball, of course.

Aunt Lorie & kids

Great(great) Grandma B& Sadie

Kaycey's new room is pretty well finished. Mike built the loft bed. And I am really happy with the paint colors!! She wanted it to look like sky and grass, so we made "hills" of the green paint.

APRIL 9

My scrapbook night at church was a bust, as only a couple other women showed up. I guess I'll try again next month. But perhaps I'll just stick with scrapbooking with my store girls. I know they are a sure thing :)

Cal went to the Brewer game with Mike and witnessed a horrible performance by Trevor Hoffmann, and it was Cal's first experience at seeing Hoffmann pitch in person.

APRIL 10

Kaycey's first soccer game for Spring season...7-0. They lost.

Kaycey went to a friend's house for the afternoon. Mike and I went to a sock hop that night. We've gone to it before, but this year was awful. There weren't very many people, and on top of that, they didn't even play music you'd think to hear at a sock hop. We stopped at Paulie's after, and it was packed so we went to a little hole-in-the-wall place a block down and had some good laughs. The place was a total dive, but fun nonetheless.

APRIL 11

Kaycey had her birthday party with Mike's side of the family. We had a joint party for her and our niece. Their birthdays are 7 weeks apart (both 8 this year). With Mike's sister's wedding and other events surrounding it in April and May, there were very few open weekends for a birthday party for both girls, so we decided on a joint one this time around.

Kaycey&Julia

Kaycey got legos, a couple shirts (a Brewers one and a "soccer is my life" one), a gift card, a furreal cat, and this adorable bedding for her new room--perfect for her animal(and sports, of course) theme & love of cats and dogs!!

Maddie, Isabella, & Grace, all born within 18 months of each other

Norah & Sadie, 4 1/2 months apart

APRIL 12

Sadie grabs everything!!! Even reaches for our food and drinks. Cries when she sees her bottle and tries to reach it. And she is very close to holding it by herself. And, she LOVES green beans!!

APRIL 13

The Target by us must think I'm insane. Not only are we there 3-4 times a week to begin with, on this day I had forgotten my credit card at home, so after all that shopping, had to leave the bags and go home to get my card, and come back to pay for it. Thank goodness Sadie and Maddie were so good!!

APRIL 14

Kaycey had her 6 month oncology appointment. She has now graduated to the "Next Steps" program for cancer survivors. We were there for almost 4 hours as we had to meet with various practitioners--a school teacher, a psychologist, a dietician, a nurse practitioner, doctor. Everything went pretty well. I have a list of unanswered questions for the nurse that I am waiting to hear back about. And also next appt. is in 6 months...see her picture on the board? Right in the middle w/the white hat on?? This board is just photos of surviving kids who have received bone marrow/stem cell transplants. There is also a board being made of kids who are part of the "next steps" clinic.

It was also mismatched day for the preschoolers. Maddie went all out, even wore two different shoes!!

mar 23-mar 31

March 23

I had another dentist appointment. This time I brought my mp3 player and it went pretty well. I had one filling done and got my teeth cleaned. Hooray for good music to serve as a distraction!

March 24

My Grandma and Grandpa showed up at our house unexpectedly and joined us for church.

March 25

Maddie played for a while after gymnastics with her friend, Samantha. My Dad & Maria were over for dinner. After dinner, Mike took Cal to a Model Rocketry meeting for 4H, while the rest of us stopped by school to see the Bible History projects on display. Cal and Kaycey each got a first place ribbon!

Kaycey loves reading to Sadie!

March 26

Maddie, Sadie, and I spent lunch and the afternoon at our neighbor's house. They belong to our church, and relatively recently discovered they live in walking distance. They have 4 kids, including a set of twins that were the due the same time I was due with Sadie (but they were born 3 months early...but they are okay!) The 3 of them will be in class together once they begin school. Their older two are 6 & 4, perfect playmates for Maddie, and also will be classmates with Maddie. And it's official, every woman out here is a nurse or nurse practitioner (including this neighbor!) I am the only stay at home mom in this town, I swear.

I went to work thinking I really need to DO something. I keep saying I want to go back to school, and I talk about it. But I have to DO it.

After work, I went to eat with my Mom. Had some tasty veggie burgers at Ruby Tuesdays!

March 27

I shopped all day. For what? I don't know. I'm so indecisive, and I'm tired of buying stuff just to return it.

For dinner we had spaghetti tacos. Yes, you read that right. The kids got the brilliant idea from iCarly.

The house is a wreck. A total disaster. Oh well. Not feeling great, so the last thing on my to-do list is cleaning it from top to bottom.

March 28

I decided to try to start a scrap night at church. I've heard of quite a few women being scrapbookers, so I thought a good opportunity for a night out. I hope we get a good turnout.

Cal's Sunday school teacher gave all the kids little vials of water from the Jordan River. Cal is really excited about it.

Maddie had a practice for her Spring Fling performance, and afterwards she went to sleep--for hours! All of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, she had a fever (103+). The kids have been coughing all week, except for Kaycey. A trip to the doctor seems to be in the near future!

March 29

Cal (and I) was up literally all night, after 10:30pm. His ears were in alot of pain (kind of out of nowhere). He finally fell asleep around 4am after a dose of tylenol with codeine (he had the prescription last year for a bad cough).

As soon as the doctor's office opened, I called. Made appointments for the 3 kids (Kaycey was at school, perfectly fine!) Cal, as suspected, had a double ear infection. Maddie had pneumonia again. Sadie had an upper resp. infection. And it's supposed to be spring?!?!?

March 30

My poor baby is coughing so hard and loud :(

We colored eggs, too. Nothing fancy, just good ole fashioned egg dye. Next year I would like to try something a little more exciting with them, though.

March 31

I went for a walk with Sadie and the neighbor. It's such a nice day...wish it would stay!

It's also the night before surgery...I'm super nervous!! I had a doctor appointment to discuss some things about the surgery.

Kaycey had her first soccer practice for the spring rec season. How pathetic. One-she is the only second grader on the team. The rest are first graders, most of whom have never played soccer before. Two-she is one of two girls. The boys run around and don't listen to the coach. Three-she doesn't know a single person, even though on the form we fill out the school name and friend's names. We are looking for a new team to put her on. Our rec. program is terrible out here. Besides the fact the price isn't rec department price either. I remember in Milwaukee county, rec department activities/sports were often around $35. Ours out here is $70. I'd rather pay a bit more and put her on a club team where she'll actually learn something from coaches who want to coach and enjoy it.

I overhear Maddie say, "I'm so happy I have a boyfriend. We're married!!"