QUAST FAMILY

One week

2012-01-22T20:30:00.000-06:00

I sat down tonight at my computer and took a look at the blog and noticed it has been one week since my last entry. To say that I've been a little "lax" on the entries lately would be dead on. I have lots of reasons though . . . kids, housework, or to put it simply, LIFE! Since the start of the remodel (which was way back on Dec 9th), I feel like our life has been crazy - crazy busy, crazy good, just plain crazy! I can't think of the last weekend where we didn't have something to do (well actually I can, it was last weekend, but even that turned into a busy weekend once it got started). Thinking back to December 9th and through today, here are a list of things that have happened . . . remodel bathroom and closet, paint master bedroom, the flu 3 times (once for me, and twice for Lauren), three Christmas celebrations, a viral infection (Ellie - think lots of nasty diapers), an ear infection (poor Lauren got this too, but if any of our kids can handle it, she can, she is such a tough little lady), New Year's Eve with the Quast side of the family (also served as the third and final Christmas celebration), a girl's weekend (for me, not Trav), Uncle Mike came back home for 5 weeks (unfortunately he leaves to go back to CA tomorrow and we only got to see him a couple of times when he was here, but he's a popular guy so that's to be expected), Aaron and Ann set up TWO cribs in their new "bejeweled" nursery (Lauren of course loves it because the walls are painted purple and the light in the middle of the room has, "real live jewels on it" - I'm guessing Aaron had little to no input on the room), Mom and Dad seem busier than ever trying to get Grandma's house ready to be sold (anyone looking for a nice home in Waseca, give me a call - the craftsmanship and the labor are of the highest quality), and Grandma and Grandpa Quast are busy as usual; Grandpa with work out in Chicago, and Grandma with the move to the lake home and all that goes with it. So there you have it, not only are we busy, but all the people we usually sit around and do nothing with are also busy. That's why Wednesday morning will be such a treat for us. Why you ask . . . MEXICO!! The day is almost here and we are more than ready! With the help of all the people mentioned above (even though I just wrote about how busy they are with their own lives), Trav and I get to jet off and spend a whole week together - no kids, no cleaning, no job, just fun - and know that the kids will be well taken care of. So thanks in advance to everyone who will be "raising" our kids for the next week - clearly the old saying, "it takes a village to raise a kid" was dead on. As I wrap up this post, I'm going to bet that there won't be another one until after the vacation. Tomorrow will be full of last minute cleaning, preparing, and packing (I like to "pre-pack" just to make sure I don't have any surprises come Tuesday night), and Tuesday will be spent doing pretty much the same, but with some extra quality time with the kids before we leave. I don't know that I've been so excited to go on a trip in a long time. That makes me think that this "go, go, go lifestyle" has taken a toll on this old woman (oh yeah, forgot to mention that I also celebrated my 33rd birthday on the 18th - clearly birthdays don't have the same "fun factor" attached to them once you get past 21). I'm signing off now. Until the vacay wraps, this blog is "on vacation!"

Hope the MN weather is nice while we are gone!

Indoor concert

2012-01-15T20:27:00.000-06:00

The kids and I ventured out in the bitter cold on Thursday to check out the "Okee Dokee Brothers" up in Edina. This was my first experience going to one of these Thursday kid's concerts with Lauren, Ellie, and Colton and minus a few meltdowns towards the end, it was fun! We meet up with the neighbor kids and their nanny, had an indoor picnic, then took our places in the second row to get the best view, and access to the dance area so the kids could burn off some energy. Here is a recap of the day in pictures . . . Lauren and Colton danced, Ellie danced like crazy during lunch, but once the actual concert started, she got shy and assumed her position (sucking thumb and twirling her hair) next to me for almost the entire show. It wasn't until the final two songs that she finally got her groove back and did some serious booty shaking (by this time I of course had put my camera away for the day, oh well).

After the show, we packed up and headed home. About five minutes into the drive, all three of the kids were out. And lucky for me, I was able to move them all into their beds/cribs when we got home and they all stayed sleeping - the perfect ending to a fun morning!

After naps, the girls got out some of their dress-up clothes and because Colton is the only boy and is too young to know the difference, he dressed up right along with them (with Lauren's help of course). Here is her first creation . . . it is called, "babies in hats."

And once she was done dressing up the babes, she moved onto the dog - he looks less than thrilled, but was a good sport for the almost five minutes it took to get that hat to stay on Scrappy's head. Watch out world, we've got a mini-fashionista on our hands - who knows what she'll come up with next!

Aside from our fun Thursday, I also got a chance to have a little fun of my own. This past weekend we had a "girls weekend" with all the old gals from high school. It is amazing to me that we all still get together, and even more amazing that we are still able to keep finding interesting things to talk about for two straight days. Thanks for the fun ladies . . . see you all in June! And I guess I should throw in a shout out to Trav for being "Super Dad" for the weekend. The kids were all fed, bathed, and well-rested when I returned home. And in addition to these basic things, he also took all of the kids out to the Y to swim and even managed to get everyone up and dressed for church and Sunday School today - like I said, "Super Dad!"

A tall, skinny birthday!

2012-01-11T13:33:00.000-06:00

Today is Grandma Donna's birthday so right after breakfast this morning we gave her a call at work to wish her a "Happy Birthday." Lauren, being the oldest (Ryan was already off to school), got to talk first. After saying "happy birthday" to Grandma, she then proceeded to ask Grandma, "are you taller and skinnier than my mom now?" At the time, I just gave her a weird look and told her to pass the phone to Ellie who was getting antsy waiting for her turn to "talk" to Grandma. While Ellie was "talking", it dawned on me why Lauren would ask Grandma is she is getting taller and skinner as she gets older . . . lately whenever I talk about the kids, I'm always saying, "you guys are getting too old, too tall, and too skinny, you have to stop growing!" I of course do this because it is true, the kids are growing like weeds, and the taller they get, the skinnier they get, and the more difficult it is to find pants that stay up on them. Well, as with most stuff I say, Lauren listens and repeats. So with Grandma having a birthday today, it just seems obvious that she would be getting taller and skinnier too. If only that were true (maybe not the getting taller all the time, but the skinnier part would be a treat!). So Happy 25th Birthday Grandma, we love you and your tall, skinny self!

In other news (although along the same lines), Lauren is really on a roll when it comes to repeating more stuff that I'm saying. The other day Colt threw an apple on the floor. Lauren's response, "serious Colt?" I usually say, "seriously Colt", but you get the idea. In addition, she is now repeating (or I guess, actually taking over) the "rules" when we go somewhere with the whole crew (meaning my three kids and Colt). As we drive I usually am reminding everyone of the rules, which include no running, hold hands, and a few other select rules depending on where we're going. Well, now the minute I tell her where we are headed to, she buckles up, and then starts right in with . . . "now, when we get there (insert rules here), and be a good listener." So that pretty much takes care of my job. Clearly she is going to be one good little momma when she grows up (that is assuming she only remembers and carries on the "good" stuff she hears and not the "naughty" stuff - let's not forget the "piss" incident).

Here are a few pictures from the gorgeous day yesterday. We went out three times during the day . . . a walk in the morning which was a little brisk, but not bad; to the park after lunch which was absolutely perfect - sun shining and blue skies; and then after naps which was near perfect at the beginning and got a little chilly right before we went inside for dinner - not a bad little January day in MN! If only all days could be like yesterday (clearly that isn't going to happen though because today is looking nothing like yesterday!).

1 month

2012-01-08T20:31:00.002-06:00

1 month . . . that is roughly how long our bathroom/closet remodel took from start (demo day was Dec 9th) to finish (today, Jan 8th - coincidentally, today is also Ash and Mike's one year anniversary so congrats you two lovebirds!). Other than some final touches such as wall art and a new hamper for the closet, we are DONE! Today we finished up by hanging the second bathroom mirror (the first was way too small for the space, the new one, courtesy of Walmart fits perfect). And one thing I can say for sure through this whole ordeal, the first days were the worst as far as mess is concerned, and they were also the worst as far as stress and swearing is concerned. Today wrapped up with minimal dust (from the screws for the mirrors), and just one f-bomb when Trav couldn't get the level to stay in place - not too bad and maybe, just maybe, we've learned to work together a little better (although I'd love to test out this theory, we are NOT planning any major remodels anytime soon). Enough with the words, here are the pictures to show the old and the new . . . enjoy!

And here are a couple of before and after of the closet (it was pretty much nothing before so when you see the picture of nothing, that's it) . . .

The last picture is to show off Trav's handy work with the floor - he installed it in just 7 short hours (there were a few breaks to swear and regroup, but the end product looks great so that is all that matters!).

In other news, we had our second bonfire in the past two weeks (the first was on New Year's Eve night at the lake). The kids were itching to get outside on Saturday so Momma got busy and put together a nice little fire to keep us cozy while the kids rode bikes and played with the neighbors (Trav was in working on the floor the majority of the time). Hard to believe I'm writing about these activities during January in Minnesota - love it! Unfortunately I was too busy watching the kids by the fire to take any pictures, but I did manage to get a couple of them tonight. Ellie was left out though because she is too busy trying to "help" take pictures so she never gets in them (sounds like me).

Days 7, 8, 94, 210 . . .

2012-01-04T14:48:00.000-06:00

So I lost count of what day we are on in the official remodel, so let's just skip the number and show the progress . . . the bathroom is DONE! Well, at least all the "construction" type stuff, there is still plenty of decorating and finishing touches to add, but the big stuff is done and it is functional! I absolutely LOVE the bath and apparently so do the kids - between all of us, someone has been in the bed at least 50% of the last few days. Here is the almost finished product (still deciding on a mirror and shower curtain).

And here is a quick view of the new Elfa closet. Once the floors get put in (hopefully this weekend - hint, hint Travis), then we'll be able to officially start using the closet. Until then, this is what it looks like (we've more than doubled our closet space) . . .

In addition to this stuff, I also painted our bedroom this past Friday so once the floors are done and a new mirror is hung, remodeling at this house is done for a long time!

Christmas!!

2012-01-03T14:48:00.000-06:00

Christmas is finally over for the year. It was long and spread out, but full of fun, family, and lots of presents! Here is how Christmas played out for us . . . Christmas Eve day was spent at Ash and Mike's place with the Loken side of the family. Christmas Day was spent with just the five of us at our house (good thing we didn't go anywhere because Lauren got round 2 of the stomach flu that night). And our final Christmas just wrapped this weekend with a couple of days at "The Quast Resort" (aka Grandpa and Grandma Quast's newly improved and enlarged cabin). All of the celebrations were fun and full of food (not a good thing considering Mexico is happening in less than a month!), and most importantly, all were filled with FAMILY! Until next year . . .

Santa or school?

2011-12-18T20:43:00.001-06:00

On Friday Grandma Donna, Auntie, and I had big plans to take Lauren, Ellie, and Colton to the Macy's Holiday display. But, after thinking about it and realizing that missing one day of 1st grade wouldn't ruin Ryan's whole future, I asked him if he would like to join us. So the question was, Santa or school? Anyone with kids will know the answer to that . . . Santa! With Ryan set to join us, we also had another last minute addition, Ann! So there we were, just the 8 of us ready to see the ""big guy" and check out the Elf display - not a bad little Friday by any standards. The kids did great (well, Ryan and Lauren did great, Colton just seemed overwhelmed by all the sights, and Ellie was terrified - she stuck to whoever was holding her like glue). There was lots to see, but in the eyes of an 18 month old, some of the stuff could have been a bit frightening . . . singing and dancing Christmas trees, animals standing up dressed in clothes, clearly these were not "normal" things. After the display, we jumped in line for the main event . . . visiting with Santa. Ryan helped himself to a knee right away, Lauren took a little longer to warm up, and Ellie once again was terrified! Her bright red face matched Santa's suit, and not because her cheeks were rosy red from being outside. Here are a couple of pictures. I clearly didn't dress to be in the picture, but when Ellie wouldn't release me from her death grip, I had no choice.

And here are some other random shots from the day . . . everything from sending letters to Santa, to checking out the display, to Colt just being Colt with his crazy face!

In addition to our fun Friday, there was also more progress made on the remodel. The tile is now complete in the bathroom and the walls have all been mud and taped - yay!!! As of Friday night, there is no more contractor, no more help, just us (I say "us", but really mean mostly Travis) left to get the job done. And work "we" (again, mostly Trav) did. Over the weekend Travis grouted the tub/shower surround area and also finished up the electrical work in the bathroom while I pitched in by sanding the closet area and doing my usual . . . cleaning! I can almost see the finish line . . . is it a couple of days away or a couple of weeks? To be continued . . .

Day 5 and 6

2011-12-14T20:27:00.000-06:00

The remodel continues and I couldn't be happier with the progress!! Joey and Mike have been crazy busy doing their thing and getting stuff done so I'll just let the pictures do the talking. And as of the end of day 6, I can easily say that I would recommend these guys to anyone. So if anyone out there is looking for a good contractor, call me and we'll get you set up.

Day 5 . . . tile is cut and set around the tub (the last part at the top will be finished once the tapping and mudding of the walls and ceiling is done on Thursday).

Day 6 . . . the floor tile is cut and set in place along with finishing the rest of the sheet rock, moving the closet vanity up about 4 inches, and officially closing the doorway from the bedroom to the closet (see picture below).

Tomorrow another guy is coming to tape and mud the sheet rock and then Joey and Mike will come back on Friday to finish a few things up before Travis is left to wrap the project up on his own (hopefully this weekend, but it will more than likely be done in parts while he is on vacation through the end of the year). This has by far been the easiest (meaning we, and by "we", I mean Trav and his dad, didn't have to become "weekend warriors" for an entire month because we opted to pay someone instead) project we have done to the house. Trav even commented tonight that at the beginning he had plans to do a lot of this by himself, but the more progress he sees and the less he is involved, the more he is okay with it - funny how that works! I don't want him to get too comfortable though, Momma still needs a free handyman at her disposal!

Excited to see how the next few days come together!

You can't make this sh** up!

2011-12-13T13:55:00.000-06:00

As some of you may or may not know, we have officially started the remodel of our bathroom and master closet!! Now, this sounds fun and exciting (and it is), but it has also been crazy, tiring, and humorous. So let's get started . . .

The beginning took place last Friday. Our contractor, Joey and his buddy Mike arrived bright and early ready to get started - the plan for the day . . . demo! And demo they did. They managed to get the ugly bathroom from this . . .

to this . . .

And the master closet (with the ugly arch) from this . . .

to this in just 1 short day! Now that is progress!

And in addition to getting all the demo done in one day, I walked in around 4:15pm Friday night to see Mike (yes people, Mike is a he) down on all fours vacuuming my carpet with his huge shop vac - I almost fell over. Who knew a man could clean up after himself (please take notes Travis)!! So all in all Friday was a huge success and everything went just the way (or better than expected) we had planned - off to a good start! That is where the "good" and "easy" talk ends. Fast forward to Friday night around 10:00pm. Trav and I are laying in bed when I feel my stomach starting to get a little crampy (is that a word?) and bloated. I jokingly roll over and say to Trav, "watch, now that we have no bathroom up here I'll probably get my period" - we laugh and go to bed. And wouldn't you know it, about 3:00am, I wake up with some more cramps and instantly I know, it is "period time!" Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen for another week and a half, but of course, nothing every goes as planned. So I whip on my bathrobe and head downstairs to take care of business - you never realize the "small" conveniences you have until they are gone (and just for the record, it's been 4 days/nights of this tramping up and down stairs - it's getting old!). The whole period thing should have been a sign of things to come, but because I was hoping against all odds that everything would go perfectly, I put it out of my mind. So Saturday rolls around. Grandpa Doug is driving home from Chicago to help Trav with a few things that absolutely need to get done by Monday so Joey and Mike can come back and continue on with their stuff. So what needs to get done you ask? Well, plumbing, installing a huge tub, electrical, and a few other various things. Now this would be hard on a full 2 day schedule, but because Doug is driving home from Chicago and then driving back on Sunday, the 2 days are actually more like 1 or 1and 1/2 - this could get hairy! When Doug does finally arrive around 1:00pm Saturday, the guys get right to work. Somewhere during their work, Trav thought it would be a great idea to add another light in the bar area downstairs because apparently, "it will be REALLY easy with the bathroom floor opened up." For the record, anytime Trav says something is going to be easy or simple, we should just know that it won't be. By the end of the day Saturday, it was close to 11:00pm before some of the "must haves" were crossed off the list. The big item completed for the day . . . the plumbing and installation of the new tub. Let's just say it's done, but it wasn't pretty. I heard more "f-bombs", "god damn its", and a whole slew of other "choice" words while that thing was being put it. Actually (and I know the guys probably wouldn't agree with this because after all, they were the ones working while I was just sitting around), it was almost comical listening as the guys told the tub "f-you" or when I saw them sawing away at a piece of misplaced wood while screaming the words, "f-ing wood" - hey, whatever gets the job done! And to Doug, thank you for all of your help - without you we would never be able to do half the "projects" we've done in our house. And just so you know, every time I sit in my 6 foot, 17" soaker tub, I'll think of you and all you hard work, then I'll laugh as I remember how you were flailing that saw around trying blindly to cut the "f-ing wood" - ahh, the memories!!! And here is a picture of that wonderful tub in it's new home at the end of day 2.

Day 3 was Sunday. Doug and Trav got up early and started right in. There was still a lot of electrical to do (remember that "easy" light that they were going to install downstairs - yeah, it was turing into a real headache!), and in addition to that, there was still some electric issues in the bathroom and master closet plus a few smaller plumbing projects to do. Throw in the fact that this all had to be done by roughly 2:00pm (Doug still had a 7-8 hr drive back to Chicago that day), and the kids had their Christmas program at church which we all planned to attend, and things weren't looking so great. And just to make matters worse, when I attempted to do some laundry that morning, the washing machine decided not to work - just great! When this happened, I was a little hesitant to tell Trav or Doug especially based on their previous day and all the vulgarities I heard come out of their mouths, but in the end, I decided to throw it out there as I was getting ready to leave with the kids for church (I figured that way I miss out on all the "fun" stuff). Well, 2 days later, the washing machine still doesn't work "all the way" (the warm/cold and cold/cold settings work, just not the hot/cold), but I am still able to wash clothes, so we're just going to go with it. Like I've said in the past, it always feels like once you decide to do a major remodel and spend some money that you've been saving, something else always breaks or comes up and then all of our savings and planning just go out the door! Here's hoping that "door" stays shut awhile because I am in no mood to purchase a new washing machine anytime soon! By 2:00pm Sunday, Trav and Doug managed to get all the "major" stuff accomplished (along with attending the church Christmas program and shoveling a small amount of food into their mouths for lunch) so when Doug left, Trav still had a few things to wrap up, but they were all things he was capable of doing on his own - guess he's kind of turning into my very own handyman! Thanks again Doug for everything you do and have done for us - hope you enjoyed your "sleepover" at our place for the weekend, we enjoyed having you.

Day 4 - Monday. Joey and Mike were back at it. Pleased with the progress over the weekend, they picked right back up and installed all the sheetrock and durock, and finished off some of the minor plumbing that still needed to be corrected. With that they called it a day and left one bit of homework for Trav . . . Red Guard the shower/tub area so that's what he did. Here is the end of day 4. Tile will start being set tomorrow!!

And here is where we have another "unexpected" pop up. By the end of day 4 (Monday night), I was downstairs getting the kids ready for bed when I noticed a few ants. I thought this was weird considering I've never seen ants in the middle of winter, some I grabbed a tissue and picked up the 4 or 5 ants I saw and left it at that. Well, once the kids were down, I decided to go back to the same area and see if anymore ants were crawling around and to my utter dismay, there were another 4 or 5 scurrying across the tile. By now I was annoyed so I jumped in the car and headed out to buy some ants traps. When I got home, I put out 4 or 5 "baits" in the area and went back upstairs to watch some tv before going to bed. But because I can never leave things alone, I went back downstairs about 20 minutes later to find dozens of ants in my "baits" - what the hell! So now I'm crazy mad about these ants so I put out another 10 or so baits and wait to see what happens. During this time, Trav is finishing the Red Guard and I'm starting to notice the house stinks (think really bad fumes). So I decide to put towels in front of the girls' bedroom doors and in front of the bathroom. This is when Trav and I decide that it is best not to sleep in our bedroom (which is completely open to the bathroom at this point) so we decide he'll sleep down in Ryan's bed while I'll crash on the couch just to make sure no one is breathing in toxic fumes all night. So off we head to bed, but not before I check on the ants once again. By now, there is an ant village in our basement - the little suckers are everywhere (and I am completely disgusted)! Knowing there is nothing I can do about it other then wait, I finally make myself go to sleep on the couch. And I'll tell you right now, it's not easy falling asleep when all you can think about is a million little ants crawling everywhere, but I managed. Then 3:00 am rolled around and as usual when I have my "time of the month", I woke up and headed downstairs to take care of business and check on the ants. I almost didn't want to look because I knew it wouldn't be good, but I did, and of course, it was worse! There were ants as far as the eye could see (okay, maybe that's a stretch, but you get the idea, there were a LOT of ants). So I put out some more baits (by now there had to be close to 20) and made myself go back to sleep. The sleep was short lived because it took forever to fall back asleep (think crawling ants again), and the morning came too soon. The first thing I did was the "ant inventory", then I started making some calls. Twenty minutes later I had the Orkin man scheduled to get out here and kill these ants! As it turns out, these ants are usually dormant during the winter (but they are still in your house - gross), but because of the remodel, the poor little ants might have been "aggravated" by all the disturbances - like I care, I just want them gone. So now I'm on the Orkin quarterly plan to keep this house ant free - wasn't planning on paying someone money to spray my house for ants (especially not in the winter), but desperate times call for desperate measures! Game on ants - this is our house, time for you to leave (and yes, Queen Ant, I mean you!).

That's all for now. Updates on days 5 - whenever coming soon (let's hope for a small number). And hopefully no more updates on ants - they just need to go away forever!

Dear famule,

2011-12-07T23:50:00.000-06:00

Ryan's class has been writing letters all year long, here is one he wrote the other day at school . . .

If you can't decipher his writing, here is what the letter says:

Dear family,

Is Lauren better so anyways we made a elf you are the best family.

From

Ryan

I absolutely love it! Simple, short, and sweet. I just love seeing how his little mind works. He shows his concern for his sister (who was sick in bed at the time), tells a little about his day, then let's us know we are the best - how could it get any better than that! I hope someday when he's older that he'll enjoy reading his letters as much as I do - this one is going in the "keepsake" box for sure.

Outside, inside, out

2011-12-06T13:48:00.000-06:00

Today was a fun filled, action packed day. Why? I don't really know other than to say the sun was shining and I was motivated - those two always make for a good combo. We started out the morning with a walk around the neighborhood while Lauren and Ryan were at school. The huge, fluffy snowflakes that were falling from the sky were enough to keep the babies entertained for the entire walk so instead of taking my shortcut, we made the entire 1 mile walk (I know this doesn't sound like a lot, but when your pushing two bundled up babies and walking a dog at the same time, getting to go the whole route is a HUGE deal). And after finishing the walk and pulling out the five pounds of blankets and forty pounds of kids in the stroller, I'm starting to realize that this might be the last winter I can bundle both Ellie and Colt up and still manage to squeeze them in the stroller - we'll see. With the walk done, the babies went down for their morning naps and I caught up on a few last details before our big remodel starts (the madness begins this Friday - I'm hoping for a quick and easy job that takes less than 5 days, but am envisioning a long, drawn out process that wraps up right before the New Year - either way, I'm excited to get going). By the time I finished up, Lauren was just getting home from school. And when she gets home, everyone knows it! So within 5 minutes of her entering the house, the babies were up and at 'em (she still doesn't know how to use her "inside" voice, in fact, I'm started to think she might have been born without an "inside" voice) and we were off to our next adventure . . . the pet store. I needed to get some more dog food so I figured today was a great day to go and make a "field trip" out of it. Nothing makes the kids happier than seeing a store filled with playful puppies so every time we go there, they think of it as a "special treat" (visiting the puppies at the pet store also used to be my way of justifying never having to have dog of our own - clearly that plan did not work out). Anyway, as usual, the pet store was a hit. I had my camera along, but between trying to contain the three kids and trying to keep the puppy from nipping or peeing on any of them, taking pictures became less of a priority. So you'll just have to take my word on it, the kids loved it, and so did the puppies! When we finished up with the puppies, Lauren went over to the "small animal" area and met a new friend, Wesley. Wesley and his mom were at the pet store doing the same thing we were . . . visiting the animals and killing time - nice to know I'm not the only one who does this! After playing (by the end, the kids were getting kind of crazy rolling cat balls to each other down the aisle) and chatting (always nice to have another adult to talk with), we decided it was time for everyone to leave so Wesley and his mom headed out, and so did we (field trip time: 1 hour and 15 minutes - not to shabby for three kids who were all stating to get hungry). When we got home, we had an early lunch courtesy of the Dairy Queen and then headed out for out last adventure of the morning . . . playing in the snow! I wasn't too sure how this would end up, but with about an hour left before nap time and bellies full, I figured we'd give it a shot. And after fifteen minutes of bundling everyone up, we finally got to the snow. Lauren loved it as usual, Ellie was beyond amazed and didn't stop walking or running the whole time we were out there, and then there's Colt (or should I say, "Colie" - that was his girl name we gave him for the day considering he was dressed in some of Ellie's extra snow gear from head to toe). He was two steps into the fun when he lost his footing and went face first into the snow - not a great start, but once I got the snow off his face and warmed him up a bit, he seemed to enjoy himself. After 20 minutes or so of running, throwing, and falling, everyone was ready to get inside and warm up. And after another 20 minutes and some warm milk for the babies and one warm cocoa for Lauren, all three are sound asleep - the ultimate reward for me after a morning full of fun!

My wish for this winter . . . that everyday could be just like today - we'll see if my wish comes true! I'll leave with a couple of pictures of the kids playing in the snow.

Piss . . .

2011-12-03T15:05:00.000-06:00

I've learned over the past month or so that the kids REALLY do listen to everything we say, and not always in a good way. The dog (I refuse to call him by name until he straightens out) has had a few accidents in the house lately and when that happens, "Mad Mommy" really comes out. Words like "god damn it", "stupid dog", and my favorite (judging how many times the kids have repeated this word) . . . "piss." This is how things usually play out . . . the dog pees, I inevitably step in it, and all hell breaks lose. I grab the dog, rub his face in the pee (a tactic that is supposed to deter him from more peeing but clearly isn't working), and throw him outside all while saying, "god damn dog pissed on my floor again!" Well, the other day while we were visiting my parents, the topic of the dog not being with us was brought up. Ryan calmly replied, "Scrappy pissed on the floor and Mom wasn't happy so he had to stay home." Funny yes, but not great language for a 6 year old. Then today while we were sitting downstairs (the dog's favorite peeing spot), Ryan says, "it smells like pee." Lauren (while playing with her dolls does not stop or even turn towards Ryan), replies, "yeah, Scrappy pissed there." I couldn't help but laugh especially at how "normal" that replied seemed for her. A six year old saying piss - not good. A four year old saying piss, even worse! Clearly I need to work on some language skills or people are going to start to think I'm raising some trash-talking kids from the hood and once that happens, we can kiss play dates goodbye for sure!

On a side note . . . I dare say that the sickness that has consumed our house for what seems like an eternity (having sick kids and being sick yourself makes things seem like forever) might have finally left. Lauren was laid up in bed for four days with everything from vomiting, diarrhea, and a temp while Ryan got off "easy" with just one terrible night of diarrhea followed by a day of taking it easy. Ellie and Trav have somehow managed to escape relatively unscathed. Yes, they both have bad coughs and some runny noses, but nothing has projected out of their mouths (or other areas) so we'll take it. Wishful thinking has me hoping that this is our one and only bout with the stomach flu this winter, but the realistic side of me tells me that this is probably just the first of a winter dotted with colds and flus - oh what fun that will be!

Lauren is 4!!!

2011-11-28T23:03:00.000-06:00

Our first baby girl turned 4 today - obviously she isn't a baby anymore! It's hard to believe we now have a 6 1/2 yr old, a 4 yr old, and 1 1/2 yr old - what happened to our babies? In four short years Lauren has definitely made her mark on our family. She is, and always has been, the most stubborn member of this family (although her Daddy is a very close second, if not the winner sometimes in this category), but at the same time, she is also the most loving and fun little girl! She'll beat you down with her constant questions and never ending stories, but the minute you need someone to pick you up and make you smile, she is the go to girl. Sweet and polite with a dash (a rather large dash) or sassiness - that's our girl. In order to celebrate her big day, we did a few little "celebrations." The first came over the Thanksgiving holiday with Trav and the Quast family (I was home sick in bed so I missed out on the fun). She received lots of great gifts and had fun on what she called, "her fake birthday" - thanks to all for the generous gifts - she loves them and couldn't stop telling me all about them. After that, Trav, myself, and the kids had a small "party" on Sunday night to celebrate. We brought out the ice cream cake Grandma Donna had bought for Lauren's other party that didn't happen on Friday (again, because I was sick), and had a little celebration complete with candles and singing. She loved the gawdy, sprinkle filled, purple covered, Princess ice cream cake so thanks for that Grandma - sorry you couldn't be here to celebrate with us. After cake eating, Lauren opened her gift from us, a purple bathrobe just like mine (well almost, mine is pink and doesn't have a monkey on it, but otherwise they are pretty similar). She loved it the minute she saw it, but just couldn't remember what it was called. She referred to it as, "the thing Mom wears in the morning and after showers - you know." Yes Lauren, I do know, and I can only hope you love your robe as much as I love mine! With the cake and presents done, the Sunday portion of her celebrations wrapped up, but Monday morning was just the start of more fun (on her actual birthday). To start the morning off right, I had ordered a dozen helium balloons (or baboons as she calls them) in her favorite color, purple, along with one balloon that says, "Look who's 4 today." I went and picked them up early Monday morning and snuck into her room where I let them all go. Apparently I didn't "sneak" as good as I thought I had because during my exit from her room, she woke up and said to me, "Mom, you're waking me up." I replied simply with, "go back to sleep" and made my way out. After that I was kind of nervous that I may have ruined her surprise, but when she didn't come out of her room for another half hour, I knew the plan was back on. When she did finally come out, she came out running and said to me, "Mom, I dreamed about baboons and now I have them, come quickly." Playing along, I ran to her room with her where she excitedly pointed at all the balloons dancing across her ceiling. I asked her why she thought she had balloons in her room and she said, "I dreamed them and there they are" - simple as that, if you dream about something, it will happen (god I wish that was true)! After checking out the balloons, Lauren insisted that we go get Dad and Ryan right away and show them what happened in her room. Who knew a little idea I saw on the Internet would be such a big hit. The one downside of course was when Ryan said, "why didn't I get balloons on my birthday?" Don't worry buddy, you're day will come - now that I've started this tradition, I can't stop with just one of them. Hopefully it will be as fun and as exciting for the other two when it is their birthdays (or maybe they should just dream about it on any random day and they'll have a room full of balloons!). After the fun morning, Lauren had to get ready for preschool where she had yet another celebration. As the birthday kid, you get to be the leader all day and bring treats to share with everyone - she brought M&M cookies and apparently they were a hit. And finally, when she walked out of preschool, she had her last surprise . . . Auntie!!! Ash had driven back from CA with Dad over the Thanksgiving weekend and this was her first time seeing the kids - not sure who was more happy, Auntie or Lauren (and Ellie and Colt too - Ryan missed out on seeing her because he was at school all day)! With all the fun winding down, Ash and I took the kids out for Lauren's birthday lunch and then her "celebrations" officially came to an end. I hope we were able to give her just a little bit of happiness on her special day - it is the least we could do for all the fun she brings to our family!

Love you lots Lauren!! Happy Birthday!!

Here are some pictures from the various celebrations . . .

Time for the Christmas tree!

2011-11-27T21:26:00.000-06:00

After a couple of days of feeling like crap and being home alone, I was ready to get back into the swing of things. And what better way to get back to normal than the put up the Christmas tree - talk about fun!!! The kids were more than ready to assist so once Trav got the tree box out of the garage, we were off. I put up the tree, the kids took care of the ornaments (if you look real close at the pic below, you'll notice that the majority of the ornaments are right in front and only go up about half way - only as high as their little arms could reach).

While Ryan, Lauren, and myself were busy putting up the tree, Trav and Ellie opted for a more restful approach . . . they laid on the couch and watched (apparently they aren't over Halloween yet - orange and black are out, time for red and green!).

Actually this picture was taken after the tree was already completed, but it wasn't much different from what they really did. Ellie wasn't so great at hanging ornaments, in fact, she took off more than she put up so having her lay on the couch was actually a good thing. And Trav isn't much of a decorator, so instead he was the "ornament repair man" - any ornaments missing a hook, he was the man to go to for help. Overall I think we have a great tree. It isn't the prettiest, the most colorful, or even in perfect working order (there are a few "dead" spots where the lights aren't working for some reason), but the kids love it and it makes me happy every time I see it so it's a winner in our house! The countdown to Christmas is on . . . can't believe it is less than a month away!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T11:59:00.002-06:00

I see it's been a while since I've written, I'll make no excuses other than to say, it's been a rough week or so. It all started last Sunday night when my eyes started to itch and were getting crusty - not good. By the time I had went to bed and woke up, I realized things were not normal mainly because I could not open my right eye - it was "glued" shut. Super, pretty sure this is not right and pretty sure I have the "pink eye" that Ryan supposedly didn't have 2 weeks ago and Ellie "might or might not" have had at her doctor's appointment last week. Good news I guess is that Ryan never got it, Ellie might have (so they treated her), and I had it for sure. Nothing like getting a "kid sickness" when you are an adult - super fun! After my bout with pink eye, we were working on a short week with Thanksgiving coming up. The plan was for Trav and the kids to head to Gaylord on Wednesday night and spend Thanksgiving with his family while my mom and I hung out at my place (Dad was in CA with Ash getting her ready to drive back home to MN for good and Aaron and Ann were having Thanksgiving with Ann's side of the family), well the plan did not go as planned. About 4 hours after Trav and the kids left for Gaylord, I finished up my top to bottom cleaning of the house, sat down to enjoy a meal and a drink, then headed off to bed. By 11:00pm I woke up not feeling so hot. Pretty soon I was in the bathroom with stuff coming out of both ends (it wasn't pretty). But afterwards I felt a lot better - maybe I just overate?? No such luck. By 3:00am I was back at it only this time there wasn't a lot to get out of me so there was lots of dry heaving and spitting - still not good. By the time I finally got back to sleep (around 5:15am) I was feeling okay. By 7:30am the next morning I was feeling pretty good. I called Mom to inform her of my rough night and let her know that she might be walking into a mine field. We decided it was best for me to eat something and see how I felt. So I had some toast, let the dog out, checked some email and then gave Mom the call to go ahead and come up because I was feeling good - that was at roughly 8:30-9:00am. By the time she got here (an hour later), things took a turn for the worse. I could hardly get out of bed, walking was tough, and throwing up again seemed like a real possibility. With that news, Mom headed back home (can't blame her for not wanting to hang out with me all day in my condition), I called Trav to tell him to stay in Gaylord, and I headed back into bed. Before long that toast I ate in the morning came up and I was back to feeling like crap. The rest of the day I spent in bed other than the three times I got up to let the dog out (coincidentally those are the other three times I threw up). After that, I went back to bed hoping I would wake up feeling better. And by the time I woke up Friday I was feeling hopeful that things would get better. I didn't have that instant feeling of having to throw up, and when I did finally pull myself out of bed, I made it downstairs and back with no problem (trust me, that would not have happened the day before) so things were looking up. After about an hour of being up, I decided to try another piece of toast - I ate it, I waited, and two hours later, it was still in me - a very good sign! With that positive news, I made myself get outside to give the poor dog a walk (he was pretty much in the kennel or outside all day yesterday so he was ready to go). After our short walk I was pretty tired so I laid down and watched a movie on our "Free Starz weekend." And now I'm typing away. I'm thinking things will be good today. I might try some more food here in the next hour or so and then I'm guessing I'll head back to bed. Trav and the kids are spending one more night at Grandma and Grandpa's house, we ended up canceling our "Friday Thanksgiving" with Mom, Aaron, Ann, and Colton, and so now it's just me and the dog - not exactly the fun-filled family weekend we had envisioned, but if I'm the only one who gets sick out of the deal, we'll take it - there's always next year! And Miss Lauren's 4th birthday is coming up on Monday so we'll still have lots to celebrate!

The one good thing out of being sick on Thanksgiving . . . while everyone else was stuffing their faces full of delicious food and packing on some weight, I was doing just the opposite - guess that means I don't have to worry about working off those extra pounds! Still not as fun as being with family, but I'll take whatever positive I can get out of the experience.

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!! I'll leave with a couple pictures of our little pilgrim, Lauren (she made the hat in preschool).

Too soon?

2011-11-17T21:32:00.001-06:00

It's never too early for Christmas jammies (especially not matching Christmas jammies for the girls) is it? Someday (hopefully not soon) the kids won't be so cooperative when it comes to cheesy jammies so I have to enjoy it while I can!

Lauren sings

2011-11-16T22:49:00.002-06:00

Lauren has learned some new songs between preschool, speech school, and Sunday school. Here are a just a few . . .

Dancing!

2011-11-16T09:41:00.000-06:00

The girls got out the dance outfits yesterday and put on quite a show for me - check out the pictures (Lauren dressed Ellie all by herself).

18-Month Well-Child Exam

2011-11-15T09:24:00.000-06:00

Ellie had her 18-month (about 3 weeks late, but better late than never) exam this morning. The girl is still growing like crazy and by all accounts is healthy! Usually I compare her stats to both Ryan and Lauren, but after looking back through their baby books, I realized that I lost Ryan's 18-month numbers so we'll just compare the two girls this time around.

Ellie's stats: weight: 24lbs 10 oz; 52%, height: 34.12 inches; 98%, head: 19 inches; 90%
Lauren's stats: weight: 28lbs 1 oz; 92%, height: 34.75 inches; 98%, head 19 inches; 90%

So other than the weight being about 3 pounds different, the girls are pretty much the same. They are both long with big heads - what a perfect combo! And in comparison to her 15 month check-up, Ellie put on about 1 pound and grew an inch and a half - luckily her head stayed the same size!

The little lady is also "talking" like crazy - her favorite word being, "NO." You can ask her anything and 99% of the time she'll respond with "no" even if it is something she actually wants. I'm going to try and get a video of her this week to show off her talents.

Aside from Ellie, the other two kids are staying busy as well. Lauren has school all the time and is absolutely loving it! I seriously think school has been the best thing for her. She went from being the shy, reserved girl to the loud (very loud), excited about everything, center of attention girl - it is nice to see! Ryan also has school all the time and is less than thrilled. If he could switch places with Lauren and only have school for a couple of hours a day, he would. The mornings are getting harder because he all of a sudden can't get up, and when he does get up, he moves at a very slow pace. Once he does get to school though, he seems to have a decent time. Although he did tell me that he gets bored because, "all we do is math, and I'm really good at that so it's boring." When I asked what he should be learning instead of math, he said, "maybe something like drawing, I'm not really good at that, and that would really help me." If only 6 year-olds could decide on their school curriculum!

A "so-so" weekend

2011-11-13T12:58:00.000-06:00

We had high hopes for this weekend . . . meet with the cabinet guy and pick out our bathroom vanity, stain our new patio door, give the yard one last good cleaning, patch the wall downstairs, the list could go on and on. Well, as life usually goes, things didn't exactly work out as planned. Friday morning I wasn't feeling great, and by Friday night/Saturday morning, I was feeling real crappy. Nothing serious, just a good old head cold that makes you feel like crap and want to stay in bed all day - so much for all the work we wanted to get done. Oh wait, that isn't an option, this stuff needs to get done! So the five of us (the kids did their part being entertaining each other and giving Trav and I time to work) pulled together and managed to check off (almost four) things off the list. The cabinets are picked out, the yard is looking good, and we have a sweet new patio door just waiting to be installed - yay! It sucks to work when you are sick, but having all that stuff done makes me just a little happier!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

He's gone again

2011-11-08T12:53:00.000-06:00

Trav had one final meeting this week that took him out to Colorado for a couple of days so that meant the kiddies and I were left to fend for ourselves once again (the good thing is that Trav usually doesn't travel this much, and when he does travel, it is usually spread out, so these last few weeks are the exception, not the rule). With Daddy away, we got right back into the swing of things and started out our week on a very productive note . . . Ryan and I raked and bagged up some more leaves. I should point out that I didn't let Ryan skip school, but for some reason school wasn't in session on Monday (maybe for Veteran's Day which falls on Friday?). So with him home, and the babies and Lauren sound asleep (after a long morning of play), the boy, his dog, and I headed out to the backyard for some work. We managed to fill up the dumpster and one lawn bag before Ryan thought we should call it quits and sit by the tree and rest for a while so that's what we did. A boy, his dog, and his mom just chillin' by a tree on a sunny fall day - not too shabby for a Monday. After all of our work, we rewarded ourselves with a movie and some treats until the rest of the household woke up from their naps. To finish off the day, we headed out to the Y for some exercise, went back home and made "Grands Mini Pizzas" (they were delicious in case anyone is wondering and super easy and fun to make!) for dinner, had some nice warm baths, read a few books, and then called it a night. When Ryan woke up on Tuesday morning and I told him he had to go to school, he was less than pleased. He asked why we couldn't just have another day like yesterday to hang out and have fun and all I could say was, "because." I actually wouldn't have minded another day of bonding with him. It seems like the busier he gets, and the busier Lauren, Ellie, and Colt are during the day, the less time the two of us get to spend together and I kind of miss it. At least we have Thanksgiving break to look forward to!

I'll leave with a quick picture of our mini pizzas . . . this was the second set of 4 we made. Each of the kids made their own and ate an entire pizza which translates to a successful meal in our house! Like I said, they were delicious!

Is it Christmas yet?

2011-11-06T20:28:00.001-06:00

My plans for this weekend changed a few times . . . first I was going to help my mom do some cleaning and organizing, then I was going to stay home with the kids while Trav went to the lake, and finally, I was going to stay home with the girls while Trav took Ryan to the lake - so which scenario actually happened? None. In the end, Trav went to the lake with Ryan and Lauren (and the dog too) while Ellie and I ventured south to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Loken. With no real plans to do anything in particular, I wasn't expecting much from the weekend . . . boy was I wrong! It turned out the "I only have one kid" weekend worked out great for me to get some shopping done (my main goal was to get Lauren's birthday gift). Well, as with most things, my quick little shopping trip turned into much, much more. When the weekend was all said and done, Grandma and I made just two short trips to Mankato and purchased all of my Christmas gifts for the kids!! Yes, that is right, I am officially done Christmas shopping (well at least for the kids, I'll still have a few gifts to pick up here and there, but the "heavy lifting" is done). Like I said, we started out small (one birthday gift), but once we got rolling (and the discounts kept adding up), it would have almost been stupid for us to stop. There were little to no crowds, there were great sales (at least on the items that were on my list), I was almost kid-free, and I had a shopping helper to boot - talk about ideal! And the best part about all of it . . . when everyone else is going crazy trying to get there lists complete in the freezing cold, I'll be sitting at home sipping on a nice warm cocoa - such a great thing to look forward to! As you can tell, I'm pretty excited (and I'm pretty sure the kids will be too once they open their gifts in just 49 short days)!

After reading this, you might start to wonder where Ellie was during all of this shopping craziness. Well, as luck would have it (or not really luck because she always sleeps a lot), she went down for naps right before we left on our shopping trips, and woke up right after (or shortly after) we returned (neither trip was more than 2 1/2 hrs long and she usually sleeps for 3 hrs). And while she was napping, Grandpa Jim was "babysitting" (I use that term loosely because although he did check on her during our outing on Sat, Sunday proved to be too much for him and I'm pretty sure he did more napping than "babysitting" - oh well, at least they were both well rested when we returned). So there you have it, Ellie napped, Grandpa "babynapped" (a new term combining babysitting and napping all in one - only very skilled people should attempt this), and although things went pretty smooth, Ellie didn't want to Grandpa off too easily so she let him in on the fun of changing one of her "teething" diapers - let's just say it ain't pretty and Grandpa would be more than happy if he never had to experience that again!

So thanks Grandma for being my shopping partner, and thanks Grandpa for babysitting (and Ellie says thanks too for wiping her butt, she really appreciates it especially because she knows how horrible her diapers smell)!

Until next time . . .

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T20:01:00.000-05:00

Just a few words and lots of pictures. First, Lauren at her preschool Halloween parade, the rest are from Halloween night (right before we left to go trick-or-treating) - good times!! Ryan was a barbarian, Lauren was Spiderella, and Ellie was a dalmatian.

A "Trav-less" weekend

2011-10-30T18:44:00.001-05:00

The kids and I were on our own this weekend while Trav was visiting friends in TN - no dad, what were we supposed to do? Well, here's what we did . . . had movie night, rake and mowed the yard (only about 1/3 of it, but still, it was really hard), made monkey bread, made "mummy dogs", had a bonfire (which I made on my own - more on that later), had friends over, installed a new wireless keypad for the garage door, cleaned out the entire laundry room/office area, took too many items to the hazardous waste drop off site, the list goes on and on. Apparently I(we) like to get down to business when Trav isn't around!

I'm going to back up to Friday . . . Trav left really early on Friday morning, so early in fact that the kids didn't even know he was gone until Ryan asked if Dad was taking him to the bus stop - um no, Dad is almost to TN already. Anyway, with Trav off and Ryan at school, I packed up the rest of the kiddies and we headed out to the annual Halloween dance party in town. Lauren wore her "Spiderella" costume while Ellie and Colt opted to go with a simpler look, Halloween shirts. The kids all had a blast! By the end of the dance party, I had three very tired kids - a sure sign that the party was a success. Their was lots of booty shaking and creepy crawling - how could it not be fun! Friday wrapped with nice warm baths followed by a Halloween movie before it was time for bed.

Lauren dancing away with Scooby Doo (aka some random boy she met)

Colt is definitely a Loken - look at those swivel hips!

Saturday. Saturday started out nice and late - no one was up before 8:00am! When everyone finally did roll out of bed, we were all in for a treat . . . monkey bread! With the assistance of my little helpers, we wiped up a batch in less than 20 minutes and feasted on almost the entire pan (this was "Mom's fun weekend" so I let them go crazy). After breakfast, we headed over to drop off some stuff at the hazardous waste site and got back home just in time to make some delicious "mummy dogs" (hot dogs wrapped with crescent rolls to look like a mummy - a very fun and easy meal to make). With our spooky meal done, Ellie went down for her nap and the big kids, dog, and myself headed outside to do some work. We managed to rake and mow a good portion of the yard before we finally decided to call it quits and save the rest for Trav (he needs something to do when he gets home). With work behind us, Ryan had a great idea . . . why not have some popcorn and cocoas while sitting by a bonfire. I liked the popcorn and cocoas part, but bonfires and I don't mix so I wasn't sure about that. After a little encouragement from the kids, I decided to give it a try (Ryan assured me that when I couldn't start the fire on my own, he would go ask the neighbor for help - clearly he didn't believe in me). But, much to my surprise (and Ryan's), I was able to get a fire started and most importantly, I didn't even use gas or lighter fluid to do it (maybe I was a boy scout in a past life)! So there we were, three kids, one dog, and a happy mom sipping a beer by the bonfire she just made - life couldn't be better. Or could it? We decided it could so we called up some friends and invited some neighbors over and wouldn't you know it, life did get better! The kids were able to run around and play with each other while the adults snuck in some real conversation. When it was all said and done, we had been outside by the bonfire from about 3:30-9:30pm (we did go inside to eat pizza for a while). So needless to say, when it was all over, we were all pretty tuckered out. It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall day though, and I hope to have another chance to try out my fire making skills someday soon so Trav can sit and be amazed at all the new things I learn when he is away.

Look at that fire . . small, but beautiful (and it did get much bigger)!

We even invited "dog friends" to come and play at our house.

With Saturday in the books, we awoke to kind of a dreary Sunday. The kids were slow to get out of bed, and before we knew it, it was almost 10:00am. By then, I figured it was time to get out of the house and finish a few last projects before Trav would be home. First up, a trip to Kohls to use my free $10 and 15% coupon to buy Trav some new boxers - a somewhat boring task if I went on my own, but because the kids all came with, they made it fun by picking out different patterns for the boxers (Lauren wanted a pair with dogs on them, Ryan wanted a pair that were green and red plaid - I'm sure Trav would have loved either). In the end, we picked out some pretty plain Jockey boxers based on the fact that the guy on the front of the package looked, "nice" as Lauren put it. Clearly the best way to make decision when buying underwear. After Kohls we headed out to the Y for some fun for the kids and exercise for me. With all of our errands complete for the day, we spent the rest of the day bumming around the house - a nice way to wrap up a fun-filled weekend!

Until next time Trav ventures away for the weekend . . .

An ode to Mom

2011-10-30T14:59:00.001-05:00

Here is a little tribute to my mom . . . she maybe didn't learn from the best, but she is the best. Thanks for everything you do!

Everything Mom

How did you find the energy, Mom
To do all the things you did,
To be teacher, nurse and counselor
To me, when I was a kid.

How did you do it all, Mom,
Be a chauffeur, cook and friend,
Yet find time to be a playmate,
I just can’t comprehend.

I see now it was love, Mom
That made you come whenever I'd call,
Your inexhaustible love, Mom
And I thank you for it all.

Joanna Fuchs

Mr. and Mrs. Quast

2011-10-23T21:18:00.002-05:00

There is a new Mr. and Mrs. Quast in town . . . Troy and Nicole finally got hitched! Their wedding along with Colton's first birthday, made for a very busy, and a very fun weekend!

Let's start from the beginning . . . on Friday night, Trav, myself, and the two older kids attended the rehearsal dinner while Ellie had her first sleepover at Colton's house (we were trying to "help" Aaron and Ann get used to having more than one baby at a time). The rehearsal and the dinner were great, but by the end of the night, the kids were more than ready for bed. So the kids and I headed home while Trav spent the night with Troy on his last official night of "freedom." Saturday morning brought more hustle and bustle. We went out to pick up Ellie from her sleepover and by all accounts, it was a success (those two babies coming in a few months should be a piece of cake now that Aaron and Ann have had some practice - Ellie says, "your welcome"). After getting Ellie, everyone got dressed and we headed out to the Y for a little "pre-wedding workout." By the time we got home, it was after 10:00 am and since Trav said he would, "be home early," I was getting a little concerned when he was nowhere to be found. When he did finally roll in (a little after 11:00am - apparently his definition of early and mine are about 3 hours apart), I was able to leave the house and get all of my errands done. By 1:00pm, I had finished up everything I had to do so I headed home and arrived just in time to see Travis getting ready to leave (there was a little issue with something being left in the van that was needed for the wedding so he had to leave early to get it to Nicole). With Trav leaving a couple of hours earlier than planned, I was now left alone to get all three kids and myself showered and ready to go in roughly two and a half hours - sounds like a blast! I did mange to get it done, but it wasn't pretty and considering the fact that I had to wake both girls from naps to get things done on time, the rest of the day was looking like it had a 50/50 chance of 1)being great, or 2)going downhill quickly (waking our girls from naps is a huge "no-no" in this house unless you want to see their "ugly" side) depending on how they did. When it was all said and done, the wedding was great, the dance was a blast, and the kids were super! They danced, played, and by 9:00pm were ready to go back home and sleep (thanks again Grandma and Grandpa Loken for picking them up and spending the night and for all of the other little things you did, ie: laundry, organizing, and cleaning - we appreciate all of it). It was the last wedding for both of our families, all the aunts and uncles are now officially "off the market." Congrats Troy and Nicole, or should I say Aunt Mecole (Lauren has called her this since the day she met her so even though she can say Nicole, it will always be Mecole in her world) and thanks for a great weekend!

Now onto part 2 of the weekend . . . Mr. Colton's birthday. It's hard to believe that the little "Screamer" (his unofficial nickname at our house) is 1 already! It's even more hard to believe that this will be his only birthday ever as an only child (hope he REALLY enjoyed it!). Getting back to the party . . . when we got home on Sunday, we basically got in the house, said hello to the kids, and got ready to go again. The party started at 11:30am so we had to hurry to make sure we got there before the food was served (this, along with the constant eating at the wedding was why I had to get in that "pre-wedding" workout). As luck would have it, the food was being brought out just as we arrived so after stuffing our faces again, we finally got down to business . . . watching Colt dig into his cake. He started out a little shy, but once he got into it, he really got into it! There was frosting and cake everywhere so I guess that means he did his job! After the food, cake, and presents, it was time to call it a day for us so we went back home to let Ellie nap while Trav, myself, Ryan, and Lauren all carved pumpkins (this was seriously the never-ending weekend!).

With everything officially done for the weekend, we finally put all the kids to bed and now here I sit typing away about all the fun we had. It was great to have so much to do, but I also won't be disappointed when next weekend rolls around and all I have scheduled is absolutely nothing!

Congrats again to Troy and Nicole (and EJ too) and Happy Birthday to Colton! We love all of yous (a reference to "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" in case yous was wondering - thank god the season just wrapped I was getting stupider from watching it).

School conference time

2011-10-18T20:13:00.001-05:00

WARNING!!! This post contains lots of talk about how wonderful my smart, kind, generous (you get, I'm going to do a great deal of "bragging" and will sound like every other mother who thinks her kids are, "the best") kids are - read at your own risk!

I've had three school conferences in the past week - two for Lauren and one for Ryan. I'll start with Lauren because her conferences were first. First up, speech school with Ms. Beth. Having never met Ms. Beth before and not thinking so highly of Lauren's previous teacher, I wasn't sure what to expect, but 5 minutes into the conference, I could tell this Ms. Beth lady was nothing like the previous teacher. Ms. Beth was young and excited to teach. She had all sorts of positive things to say about Lauren . . . how she was helpful, liked to participate in class, and was always ready to answer questions. But the best news of all . . . Lauren has now tested at 50% (vs the 5% she was at last year) on her intelligible sounds (this is fancy way of saying that she is now producing 50% of her sounds correct - not bad!). She is still behind compared to the average child her age, but is making great progress. Once she tests at or above 75%, she is no longer eligible for speech (I know this sounds bad to say, but I hope she stays below that threshold for one more year because I am finally starting to see significant progress and think one more year focused just on speech would be good for her - we'll see what happens). Two days after her speech school conference, I had her preschool conference, and let's just say some of the things I heard were quite surprising (and not in a bad way thankfully). Her teacher (Teacher Michelle) knew Lauren from back in the day when we would drop Ryan off for preschool, and because of this, she knew what Lauren could be like . . . feisty, loud, just to name a few. Well, it turns out Lauren is none of those things in class. In fact, she is almost the complete opposite. Teacher Michelle used words such as, "leader", "outgoing", "very social", "smart", and "helpful" to describe Lauren. Um, excuse me? My main concern with Lauren going into school was that she was going to be that shy little girl who stayed to herself and didn't know how to make friends (this was based on the fact that when we went places, she always seemed to be the more reserved one, always looking to Ryan to lead the way) - clearly that is not the case. In fact, Teacher Michelle went on to say that a typical start to the day would go something like this . . . Lauren walks in and her buddy Myles smiles because Lauren is finally at school. The two of them chat (they are apparently best buds), then Lauren decides what she wants to do. Once Lauren chooses what area she is going to play in, the rest of the class casually makes their way in her direction - she is apparently the "Queen Bee" (Teacher Michelle's words, not mine). She plays with everyone, knows the names of everyone in her class (apparently kids don't usually master this until December sometime), participates in all activities, and helps the teachers manipulate other kids into doing the "right things." Example: when the classroom is messy, the teachers will put all in the kids on the circle rug and say, "Gosh, the room is messy, is there anyone who could help clean it up?" And then, just like they knew she would, Lauren raises her hand to volunteer. Once her hand goes up, Myles is next, and before you know it, all the hands are in the air eagerly wanting to help. Who knew she was capable of such mind manipulation! Anyway, I have to admit I was one proud mama when I walked out of her classroom. To hear such wonderful things being said about our little "troublemaker" is such an eye opening experience. Maybe it's time we started cutting the kid some slack. After all, we can't expect perfection all the time - clearly she uses the "good stuff" at school and keeps the "other stuff" for us at home!

And now onto Ryan . . . just as I was with Lauren, I was also surprised by Ryan's conference, and not in a good way. Just kidding! Ryan's was pretty much what I expected. He follows directions, does well in his subjects, and overall seems to enjoy school. There was one sheet his teacher showed me where the kids had to give themselves a "rating" based on how they think they do with different things, ie: self-control, listening to teacher, uses time wisely, etc. And Ryan being the kid he is, was more than fair, and maybe even a little hard on himself according to the teacher. He gave himself "good" or "always" marks in all areas but three. In two of the areas; "works well with groups" and "completes assignments without having to be reminded", he gave himself an "ok." The teacher didn't agree, and couldn't think of a time that she ever saw any issues in either of the areas, but because the kids graded themselves, Ryan was "tough" on himself. And then, he got real "tough" on himself. The one other area where he didn't give himself a "good" rating was, "I am able to admit to things I do and say." Which, as the teacher pointed out, was kind of ironic because but giving himself a rating of "working on it", he was admitting to the fact that he isn't able to admit to things he says when in fact he was - typical Ryan. The kid is harder on himself than anyone else ever could be. This works good for now because he always wants to complete things "the right way", but I hope at some point he cuts himself some lack and relaxes a bit (the last sentence is maybe something I could learn from as well). Overall, it was another good conference season and assuming everything goes as planned, I won't have another one-on-one meeting with teachers until next year!

And on a completely different note, I had to write about what Lauren did today after lunch. I was in the back changing Ellie's poopy diaper and when I went out into the kitchen, I thought I heard the dishwasher running (which was odd because I didn't start it). And sure enough, when I took a look at it, it was in deed running. Not having an explanation for it, I looked curiously at Lauren and asked if she started it - her answer, "yes." Not really believing her, I opened the dishwasher, looked inside the closed "soap area", and saw that not only did she start the dishwasher, but she also put one gel packet in the right area and closed the lid before she started it. After shutting the door, I saw that she had set it to "light wash" versus "normal wash", but other than that, the kid had it all right! When I asked why she started it, she said, "it's full and I want to help you Mom" - what a sweetheart!

Alumni weekend!!

2011-10-16T15:23:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a "blast from the past" for me . . . I spent a few days back in Brookings, SD with some old friends/teammates to attend the basketball alumni gathering - yay for that!! And just like old times, the fun never seemed to end! The good times started when Gwen, Jen, and Sarah all met at my house to carpool for the long drive out into the endless fields on our way back to Jackrabbit country. We had lots of laughs and lots of catching up to do so the 4 hour drive wasn't terrible (although it did seem like it took forever - our pit stop at a bar in Springfield might have had something to do with that though). When we did finally arrive, we were welcomed by a few other former teammates/friends at the hotel. We then proceeded to spend the next 4 hours chatting away until we couldn't stay awake any longer (by then it was 2am and in "mom world" that is way late) so we finally called it a night and went to sleep. Amazingly, the next morning we were all up and at 'em by 8:30am (either we were super excited about the fun to come, or we're just so used to getting up early that we just couldn't sleep in). By 10:00am, we were back on campus to meet up with our old coach and have a "behind the scenes" look at Frost Arena. The tour was great. We were able to see everything from our old locker room (we all stood by our old lockers and took pictures), to the new training area, the coaches offices, and even the old men's locker room (a place that AJ apparently thought many of us had visited before because he kept saying stuff that started with, "you remember . . ." - no, we don't remember because to my knowledge, none of us ever set foot in the men's locker room). After the "guided" tour wrapped, AJ left and we continued on our our to check out the rest of campus. Let's just say the place is amazing! To see all the things that have changed, or been built in the last ten years is crazy. It certainly isn't the old campus I remember, it is the souped up, swanky version for sure! After all that walking and talking, we headed back to the hotel to kick back and relax for a while before the official reason for our visit, the alumni gathering, began. But because we couldn't rest for that long, we headed out early, drove past all of our old college houses, then went to campus to get a head start on the fun. The alumni gathering was held in the tailgating area. And lucky for us, Kris (former teammate) and her husband Scott, have a tailgating spot of their own right next to the women's basketball team's spot so that is where we started. Shortly thereafter, coaches started showing up, then some alumni, and more alumni, and before we knew it, the place was packed - there were even a few alums from the men's team as well! It was an absolute blast to be able to walk around and see so many familiar faces and basically pick up right where we left things however many years ago. After the long day, we headed downtown to relive some of our crazy nights from college and we found the perfect place to do it . . . The Latern (one of our favorite bars back in the day). Only this time, we loved The Latern not because it was crazy and full of people, just the opposite, there was no one there! Literally, it was us and the staff - talk about perfect! The DJ played music that only old people like ourselves would like (I requested that he only play music from 2000-2001 and he did), and once we had the right music, we owned the dance floor (although technically no one else was there though so it really wasn't too hard to "own" it). And although we are 10 years older and have popped out kids left and right over the past decade, our moves were still sweet! By the end of our night (which was around 11:15pm - yes, we were tired by then), we had given the 10-15 people that made their way into the bar a good laugh or two (imagine six women in their thirties dancing, no wait, HARDCORE dancing on a stage and you'll laugh too). After that, Sunday morning came too soon, and when it did, it was time to get on the road back to reality. It was a super trip, a chance to remember how things used to be, and catch up with old friend - good times for sure! Until next year . . .

So much talking!

2011-10-11T19:14:00.001-05:00

It seems in the past month or so that Lauren (yes, I said Lauren, not Ryan) NEVER stops talking! I guess we should be happy about this considering just last year, she would barely speak because no one could understand her - my how things have changed! The talking isn't actually the problem, it is when (which is always), she decides to talk, that is. If anyone within ear shot of her is speaking, she speaks. And she'll talk about anything . . . food, other kids, the weather - anything to be heard. Trav and I have actually started to tell her that she can't talk for certain periods of time. Example . . . we are all sitting at the table eating when Ryan starts to share a story about school. The minute noise comes out of his mouth, Lauren will interrupt and say, "I have a funny joke" or, "1 and 2 makes 3" - like I said, she'll talk about anything. The other night I even went as far as setting the timer on the microwave for five minutes. I told her she couldn't speak another word until the timer went off (seems simple enough). But because Lauren clearly isn't capable of not speaking, she sat there and raised her hand five hundred times and had to . . . go to the bathroom to toot (the "no tooting at the table" rule was great initially, but now the kids just seem to use it as an excuse to dink around during mealtime), get a napkin, ask for more milk- anything to eat up her five minutes, clearly my plan did not work. Aside from the mealtime madness, Lauren's other perfect opportunity to never stop talking usually occurs in the van. The minute I strap everyone in and close the doors, her mouth starts going. I've learned to sort of "zone her out", but Trav, not so much. Any constant talking for more than five minutes just drives him crazy so the "no talking" rule usually goes into effect when Daddy is in the van. Whether or not it works . . . let's just say the percentages aren't great.

The one upside to all of her chatting . . . she has been saying some pretty funny stuff lately. My favorite is, "Mom, we is besties" (meaning the two of us are the best of friends - this could or could not be true depending on the day). "I is so stinkin' coot (her version of cute), or "you is so stinkin' coot." The other day when Colton was obviously working on a poo, she takes one look at his bright red face and says to me, "Mom, Colt is taking a big . . . (long pause while she searches for the right word) dump" (another word she might have picked up from Mom or Dad - oops). The other day we were outside enjoying the gorgeous day and she says, "Mom, this is amazin'" (any word ending in "g" - she usually just leaves it off) when referring to the weather. And because she still has trouble saying her words that contain the letter "r", I usually try to make she say a bunch (partly because she needs to work on it, and partly because I love how she says it) of them. She always asks where Trav is during the day, and I always tell her he is working. So the rest of the day she'll say, ""Dad is at wayk" - she drops the r and strecthes the word out. Or just because I wanted to see if she could pull off being a "Jersey girl", I had her say, "I am from Jersey." Her version came out . . . "I is fom Jezzy" which means she just might be able to be from Jersey after all!

Oh, and one last thing about our precious little girl. Today while waiting for her bus, she got a little excited and ran into the street when the bus pulled up. When the bus driver opened the door, she told Lauren that she had to wait in the driveway until the bus was stopped and the doors were opened to make sure she didn't get hit. Lauren's response . . . she started to cry and told the bus driver, "you is not my friend!" After hearing this, the bus driver said sorry, and then went on to tell Lauren that she just wanted her to be safe and that is why she had to follow the rules. Lauren came back with, "You didn't hit me, I is the boss." Hearing all of this and knowing things were going nowhere fast, I stepped onto the bus (usually parents don't get on at all, the driver handles everything) and talked to Lauren. By now she was in full "meltdown" mode so I either had to put an end to things, or take her off the bus. Having gone through all my tricks and not having the outcome I was looking for, I had to dig deep to find something that would make everything okay. And guess what the something was . . . the dog. I picked up Scrappy and made him wave at Lauren and the other kids on the bus, and just like that, things were good (guess that means the dog just earned himself another 6 months with us!). After that little fiasco, I wasn't so sure how speech school would go so I stayed close to the phone just in case Lauren's teacher needed to get a hold of me. And wouldn't know it, at 10:02am (class is over at 10:00), the phone rang. It was Ms.Beth and she just wanted to touch base with me regarding Lauren's day. Turns out Lauren started crying again on the bus so when she arrived at school, things weren't going so good. Ms. Beth had to convince her to get off the bus, and once she did, Lauren said she'd go to school one more day, but that it would be her last (seriously?). So Ms. Beth got her into class and just like other days, she had a blast. But then it was time to get back on the bus and head home - bring on the tears! I guess as they were getting their backpacks on, Lauren again told Ms. Beth that today was her last day (through tears of course). Ms. Beth, being the smart lady she is, told Lauren that if she never came back, she wouldn't get to finish her giraffe project they had just started. This was enough to make Lauren reconsider, and she agreed to come back one more day, but then never again. So there you have it, Lauren is (after she finishes her project on Thursday of course) going to be an official "speech school" dropout!

Pumpkin weekend

2011-10-10T14:14:00.001-05:00

This weekend was filled (or at least was supposed to be filled) with fun Halloween events - I'll start from the beginning . . .

Saturday we started out the day with a super fun activity . . . flu shots (and flu mist) for the entire family! The kids did great because they both got the flu mist while Trav, Ellie, and myself all got the flu shots (Ellie because she is too young for the mist, and Trav and I because we are adults and can handle "the pain" while Lauren holds our hands). After the quick appointment, the kids, dog, and myself headed down to the park for some fun (Trav stayed home to recover from his shot). Once we wrapped at the park, the girls and I then headed out to the Y so momma could get some exercise and the girls could play (Trav was still at home recovering so Ryan opted to stay home with him). By the time I finished up my workout, it was time to head home, eat some lunch, and lay down for some long afternoon naps. Fortunately Ellie complied, the other kids not so much - they were up after about an hour. Oh well, it was still nice to get some rest. When Ellie finally did emerge from her room (she slept from 1-4:15pm), we got ready to go to the local Halloween Party in the park. This was our first time attending the event so we weren't sure what to expect, but when we arrived, we were amazed, and not by the event. We were amazed by the insane crowd - there was a line that stretched from the playground area all the way out to the highway. We took one loo k at that and said, "No way!" So with Ryan in his Barbarian costume and Lauren in her Spiderella costume, we had to break the news that we would not be trick or treating, we would not be dancing, and we would not be getting pumpkins - you can imagine on well that went over with the kids! With that, we turned home with two crying kids and an evening with nothing to do. To soften the blow for the kids, we changed everyone and went out in the backyard to play football with the kids. Lucky for us, that was entertaining enough to make them forget all the fun there were missing out on. We finished the night with pizza and then baths - not a bad night considering it wasn't at all what we had planned.

Sunday brought another day of fun for the kids. First up, Sunday School and church. The kids were scheduled to sing at the late service today so after Sunday School, we all took our seats in the back of the church in anticipation of the big event. When the time came though, Ryan wanted no part of it so Lauren, being the brave little girl she is, went up to the front herself and sang and danced her little heart out. It was very cute, but unfortunately she stood behind two taller girls so I couldn't get any good pictures of her in action - maybe next time. I did manage to catch a glimpse of her walking of stage though and as usual, she was wearing her "wedding dress" (one of the two outfits she has been rotating for church for the last month).

After the service, the church had a wiener roast and then a visit to a local pumpkin patch. Roasting wieners and marshmallows over an open fire was kind of weird considering the temp was 77 degrees and skies were sunny, but it was still fun. At the pumpkin patch, we did a hayride, took some pictures, picked out pumpkins, and then headed back home for another afternoon of rest.

This is the last weekend in October when all five of us will be home together. The next three weekends are filled with trips (SD for me, TN for Trav) and a wedding - looking forward to all of it and the fun we'll have!

By the way, I was totally joking about Trav needing to recover after his flu shot - turns out he just needed a little time to himself to catch up some college football!

Squeaky shoes

2011-10-07T10:59:00.001-05:00

Colton spent last weekend with Grandma Donna while Aaron and Ann were out of town. And while he was there, Grandma made an important discovery . . . she found Ryan's old "squeaky" shoes in a tub full of shoes and decided to try them out. Turns out, Colt loves them! So she did what any good Grandma would do, she put them in his diaper bag and sent them back home with him. So where do I fit into all of this? Well, I get Colt and that diaper bag everyday (Mon-Fri) so when we decided to go outside and play yesterday, I dug in the bag, pulled out the squeakers, and put them on. It took all of two seconds of hearing that magical squeaking noise on Colt's feet before Ellie was trying to pull his shoes off for herself. As luck would have it though, Ellie also has her own pair of "squeaky" shoes (thanks to Aunt Dawn for getting these for Lauren when she was younger), I had just forgot about them. So I went to her closet, dug through her shoe bin, and found the magical yellow squeakers. This is the result of two babies in squeaky shoes . . .

Yes, it is mildly annoying after five minutes, and yes, it drives the dog crazy (he keeps looking at the babies and tries to figure out where that awful noise is coming from), but the babies love it so they win! And it actually isn't so bad when your outdoors (and the wind is blowing to take the noise away from you), so I figure, let them have their fun. And a bonus . . . Colt likes hearing the noise so much that he is actually trying to walk more than crawl - not a bad deal!

And onto something completely unrelated . . . Lauren and Scrappy were tired after our walk this morning so they hoped on the couch to watch some cartoons while the babies napped. As with any other situation in Lauren's live, she thought this would be a perfect time for me to take a picture of her and her dog - so I did. Here is Lauren the bunny fake sleeping with her dog who is really sleeping - enjoy.

The bomber is back!

2011-10-02T20:12:00.001-05:00

Last weekend Lauren had a special outing with Auntie, Grandma and Grandpa Loken - she went shopping! When most kids would say "heck no" to a day of numerous stops at various stores, Lauren says, "YES!" And apparently when you agree to go shopping with Auntie, Grandma, and Grandpa, you are handsomely rewarded. The little lady came back with a complete outfit courtesy of her "shopping partners." Auntie bought her a cute little jean dress from GAP and to complete the outfit, Grandpa insisted she have her very own bomber jacket (I'll point out right now that in all of my years growing up with Grandpa as my father, he never once bought me a bomber jacket, especially not a brand new one from GAP - mine would have been a garage sale find at best, and no, I'm not jealous of my three year old, I just find it kind of ironic). But because Lauren was good and is very cute when she wants to be, she got the outfit of her dreams and for two consecutive Sundays has worn it to church (three year olds can get away with this, I'm sure if I wore the same outfit repeatedly, people would start to wonder). Here is Ms. Sassy Pants working her moves for the camera once again.

Speaking of church, as of today, we are full fledged members of St. Johns - yay for us! And what have I learned from our whole church experience so far . . . it takes a lot of work to get three kids and one sleepy husband out the door on time every Sunday and the kids are not nearly as excited about Sunday School as they were the first two weeks - it'll be a work in progress to keep this up every week, we'll see how we do.

Other than that, we spent a gorgeous day at the lake this weekend. Trav and Troy helped Grandpa Doug cut wood while the kids and I hung out with Grandma Connie, Nicole, EJ, and his cousin, Kendall. Summer at the lake is fun, but nothing beats being there on a sunny fall day - it's the best! The kids ran around with their "lake friends" while the adults also had a chance to catch up with their "lake friends" - everyone was very happy and I have no pictures to show for it because once again, I left the camera at home.

Hoping this great weather sticks around a little longer so the long, cold, winter won't seem so long and cold!

Time flies . . .

2011-09-29T14:51:00.000-05:00

Time does literally seem to "fly by" when Auntie is in town. She was here for eight days, but when I stop and look back, it seems like she just got here, and now she is gone. As per usual when I have someone to hang out with and talk to, blogging seems to be forgotten about. So, I'll use today (my first official day "back to normal") as a chance to update everyone on the happenings of the past few days. As I mentioned already, Ash was in town for the past week. The kids (especially Lauren) love to have their Auntie around, and I love to have a second set of hands to help me - what a good deal for everyone! Although this visit was a little different than all the previous ones because this was the first time Ash has been back since Ryan and Lauren both started school. In the past, we've done lots of outings when she is home, but with two kids on two different school schedules, outings are limited so we spent a lot of time just hanging out at the house. That meant lots of playing outside, riding bikes, and walks which was great considering the almost perfect weather we had. Highlights of the past week . . . Ryan finally figured out how to ride his big bike (which we bought him for his 5th birthday) with no training wheels!!! He had already mastered the no training wheels thing on his little bike, but to say that he looked anything less then a little odd riding a miniature bike with his crazy long legs bouncing up and down would be an understatement. I don't know if it was the $1 bribe I gave him, or the fact that one of the neighbor kids said he looked like a clown riding his little bike that finally got him to give it a try, but whatever it was, it worked! He now loves riding bike and thinks it is pretty cool that he can go, "so much faster now" on his big bike. Lauren's big highlight had to be her Friday morning (the only day she doesn't have school) outing with Auntie - think nails and Caribou and you've got the idea. I seriously don't think Ash could find a better "best friend" than Lauren. She loves all the same things Ash does . . . fashion, hair, nails, and Caribou, and for the most part, will just go along with whatever you say. The ladies spent Friday morning getting their nails painted (Ash said the nail ladies actually recognized Lauren - that should be a red flag), and then finished off their outing with a stop at Caribou (Lauren second favorite place to go with Auntie) where Lauren got her morning cup of jo (or in her case, hot cocoa). If she could start every day like that, Lauren would be one happy little girl! Thanks again Auntie for taking your "mini-me" out for a morning of fun. Now for Ellie . . . I guess her highlight would be almost using a fork correctly. I always give her a fork or spoon with her meal, but usually it just lays on her tray. During the past few meals though, she has finally taken some interest in using her utensils. So the other day when she held her fork in her right hand and shoveled her food in her mouth with her left, I had to just smile - at least she now picks up her utensils - it is progress!

Other than that, we are staying busy. I have big plans of a bathroom/closet remodel on my mind. The only problem . . . I don't want to spend any money to get it done! So now I spend my days scouring the Internet for cheap, DIY remodel projects - I'll be curious to see what, if anything, we decide to do - stay tuned . . .

Haircut and clothes!

2011-09-21T10:45:00.001-05:00

We've been staying busy these past few days. Trav was gone all weekend for his brother's bachelor party so the kids and I headed to Grandma and Grandpa Loken's house for the day on Saturday to check out the "Fall Festival." There were hayrides, pumpkin painting, and most fun . . . the border collie agility and herding demonstration. The kids loved it! After the weekend, we got back into our normal routine with one exception . . . a first haircut for our little girl who had a mini-mullet. Lauren had her first haircut at almost 3 years of age at Liv Aveda Salon. Ellie is 18 months old and got her first haircut at Great Clips - clearly she got the short end of the stick on that deal! Other than that, not much else happening so I'll leave with some recent pictures. Most are of Lauren in one of her many new outfits - she just looks so cute and loves having her picture taken so it's hard to resist. The last one is obviously an outfit that Auntie picked out. She brought it back for Lauren from California (Auntie just got in last night to spend 8 days with us). Lauren of course loves it and loves having Auntie here to do her hair because as she says, "Mom hurts my hair when she braids it" - thanks Lauren, at least I'm trying!

Scrappy

2011-09-15T13:53:00.001-05:00

Okay, just so you know, I'm not one of those crazy people who is going to consider my dog to be like one of my children (who are the people I usually write about), but we've had some interesting details unfold about in Scrappy in the past couple of days so I thought I'd take one whole post to dedicate just to him. He is still a great dog, still sheds more than I would like, but I'll deal with it. The interesting stuff started when I took him to the vet to get his heart worm medicine and to do a physical just to make sure the dog was in good health. About two minutes into the exam, one of the vet's helpers said, "Got one." I of course am thinking the worse and say, "Got one what - a tick, some kind of bug, what?" Turns out they found a microchip in him. I thought this was great (now if he gets away, we'll have a way to track down the little bugger), but the vet thought differently. They started asking me questions about how Scrappy came into a rescue shelter in the first place and how long he was there. And because I had looked at some many dogs before we got Scrappy, all of their stories started to blend in my mind and I really couldn't be certain, but I gave the answer I thought was true . . . "he was a stray." At that point, the vet nods his head and gives me a look of concern. Not really sure where he is going with this, I try to stay focused and figure out what is going on. Then the vet's "helper" comes back into the room and says, "I left a message, the place is closed already." Turns out the vet was thinking that maybe Scrappy was a lost dog and that meant someone could be looking for him. It wasn't until that point that I can honestly say I felt some loyalty towards the dog. All I kept thinking was, "please don't let this be a lost dog, please" (especially because the kids would be devastated). So anyway, we finish up with everything, get sent home and the vet tells me he'll call tomorrow with news. So the next day the phone rings - it's the vet. He says, "well, I've got some news for you." I say, "good news, or bad news?" He says, "interesting good news" - I'm thinking this conversation is going to be good. To make a long story short (something the vet did not do even though he could hear my kids screaming in the background - probably why he works with animals and not people), he tells me how they finally got in contact with the breeder who had the microchip listed to her - she is in Missouri. Turns out this breeder is actually the woman who bred Scrappy, in fact, she still has both of his parents at her place. She tried to find his original owner, but because they never registered the microchip and the phone number she had for them was disconnected, she couldn't so that means the little guy is ours forever (weird that I am excited about that and weird how a dog born in Missouri ended up in MN). It gets better . . . Scrappy is not just some mutt (he was listed as a Min Pin mix on the rescue papers), he is actually a pure bred German Hunt Terrier, a very rare dog especially in black and tan (which are his colors). Man did we hit the jackpot!! Then the vet goes on to tell me that the breeder would actually like me to call her so she can give me some background on Scrappy and tell me all about his bloodlines (which means nothing to me because I don't know dog lingo), but whatever. I take the lady's name and number and call her the next day. And man, does she love her dogs! The lady had to be in her 60's or 70's (she told me about some of her health issues and they seem like "older" people health issues) and she spoke with a real "southern drawl" - it was fascinating to say the least. During the conversation she repeatedly told me what a, "great dog" we had, she told me about both of his parents (in fact, the parents just had another litter a week ago so she's going to send me some pictures), and about how she and her husband came to love this particular breed of dogs. She then proceeded to tell me she might be, "part dog" because she is around them all the time and that I should treat Scrappy just like a child - praise him when he is good, scold him when he is bad, and we should all be happy. Sounds pretty easy, let's hope it goes that smooth!

So now we have this cool "adoption" story about our dog. I have done more research on dogs in the past two months than I ever thought possible, but if Scrappy turns out to be half the dog this lady says he'll be, we should be so lucky! Oh, and one more super important thing . . . Sharon (the breeder) gave me Scrappy's real birth date - May 22, 2008 - Ryan is thrilled because now Scrappy can have a real birthday party (probably not going to happen, but a kid can dream) on his real birthday - yay to that!

Lauren's second "1st day of school"

2011-09-13T17:19:00.000-05:00

Lauren had her second "1st day of school" today. Yesterday was preschool, today was speech school. She of course wanted to dress pretty again so after scouring through her clothes, she selected this new outfit Grandma Connie just sent her - if I have to say so myself, she looks pretty darn cute in it! With the perfect outfit, braided hair, and her all important "wedding shoes" (she calls them this because she wore them when Auntie got married), she was ready to go. We of course had to snap a few pictures before the bus came, then she was off. Do you think she likes having her picture taken?

A nice part about the bus this year is that she has the same driver as last year and Lauren loved "Barb the bus driver" which makes things easier for her, and more relaxing for me. When school came to an end and the bus pulled up in front of our house, Lauren was all smiles - a very good sign that things went well. There were lots of stories told about all her "new friends" and about how they got to do circle time just like she did in preschool - by all accounts, a great day! And to make things even better, her teacher, Ms. Beth, called to let me know that Lauren had a great first day of school, she participated in all activities and was a great leader in class (which is very surprising considering she is usually running with the older kids at home and tends to be more of a follower and not a leader - this could be a very good thing for her). It is now nap time, and much like yesterday, she is ready for a rest. Yesterday her nap was two and a half hours (the exact length of her preschool class) - hopefully this pattern doesn't follow through today or that would mean just a short one hour nap!

Lauren's first day of school

2011-09-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

Our little Lauren is growing up and following in her brother's foot steps. She had her first day at preschool today (she calls if Ryan's old school). She was super excited this morning when she got up, and after breakfast, it was time to get dressed and take some pictures.

As you can see, she was happy, Ryan was not. God forbid the kid had to take a picture that wasn't completely focused on him! After our quick photo shoot, we walked Ryan down to the bus stop, went back home, and put the finishing touches on Lauren' first day of school outfit (we had to braid her hair, and fix her shoes because she had them on the wrong feet). With that, I packed up everyone and off we went. Lauren did great! We of course stopped to take a couple of pictures on the way in, but once she got in the classroom, there was no looking back for her. She found her name (which impressed me because I wasn't so sure she knew what her written name looked like), and put her little person in the box (they do this to let the teachers know which kids have arrived, and which ones they are still waiting for). After that, she gave me a hug and a kiss and was off to play with some little girls in the "kitchen" area. Clearly she was ready for this! When class came to an end, we (me, Ellie, and Colton) were waiting in the hall to pick her up. She walked out of the classroom with a huge smile on her face and lots of stories to tell - a sigh that her day was good! So up until this point, all is well with our day. It's not until we get home and I ask her to wash her hands so we can sit down and eat that she gets a little crazy (this is when I know that school wore her out and a nap is a must today). She has a breakdown because I turn on the water for her when apparently I should have known she was going to do it, then she gets even more mad when I walk back into the bathroom and tell her to hurry up because at this point she has been "washing" her hands for a good five minutes. You can see where this is going . . . she falls apart, gets put in timeout, and about five minutes later emerges from her room all sad and regretful of her actions (this is when I feel bad for her). After that "little" incident, she reverts back to her normal self, eats lunch, and lays down for a two and a half hour nap - think she was tired? I hope her little body adjusts to all of this running soon because from here on out, she is only going to get busier! Here is the little lady on the front steps, in front of the school, and by her locker - luckily she loves posing for pictures!

On a side note . . . we had a little scare today involving my camera (which I just purchased last Christmas for myself - thanks again Trav). Anyway, in the rush of trying to get a picture of everyone on the steps this morning and then get to the bus, I put on my camera on top of Trav's trunk (obviously I wasn't thinking clearly) and then walked off to the bus stop. In the meantime, Trav left for work. About twenty minutes later when I'm getting ready to take Lauren to class, I start looking for my camera. It is at this point that I remember I left it on Trav's trunk. So the first thing I do is look on the driveway and the road to see if my camera is there - it's not. Then I frantically call Travis and ask him about the camera. He says he remembers seeing it on his car, but can't remember if he moved it or not (why do men have such terrible memories?). So during our conversation, he walks out to his car and to his surprise (and mine), he finds the camera sitting right where I left it on the trunk. I tell him to pick it up and make sure it works, and again to our surprise, the thing works perfect. Talk about luck!

Craziness ahead!

2011-09-11T14:42:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow will be the official start of "craziness" around the house because tomorrow is Lauren's first day of school. Mornings will no longer be just about getting Ryan ready and out the door, now I'll have two kids to worry about (plus Ellie and Colton and the dog). Last week we would drop Ryan at the bus stop, then head out for our casual morning walk before the babies went down for naps. Mornings will now be . . . wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, go to bus stop, pack everyone in the van, drop Lauren off at school, get home to put babies to bed, then REST - at least until 11:15am when I have to pack up again and go get Lauren from school! Luckily we are doing a carpool with the neighbors so I'll only have to do this one day a week for preschool and on the days that she has speech class (Tues and Thurs), the bus will pick her up and drop her off in our driveway. Fridays will now be the only day she has off. This will be a BIG change for her, but I know she is excited and can handle all that changes that are coming.

On top of Lauren starting school, we also joined a church this morning. We have been to a few plays at this church that our neighbors attend and after a lot of dragging our feet, we finally got things done today and joined. The kids are officially signed up for Sunday School and assuming we "pass" all the question and answer stuff next week during "New Member Orientation" (which Travis will conveniently miss due to his brother's bachelor party), we'll be official members of St. John's Lutheran Church - let the good times roll!

Aside from all of this, things are good around the house. The dog is fitting in nicely with the kids and our day-to-day activities. He of course has chosen me to be his "favorite" member of the family. I swear the thing is at my feet everywhere I go, but because he's a good dog and the kids love him, I'm willing to just deal with it (although I hope he takes more of an interest in the kids or Travis pretty soon).

Here are a couple of random pictures from this past week/weekend. We had Troy, Nicole and EJ over for the day on Saturday. The kids took full advantage of the nice weather by running through the sprinklers - not a bad deal considering if was Sept 10th and almost 90 degrees!

Terrible

2011-09-07T21:37:00.001-05:00

Terrible . . . that is how Ryan described his first day of school - just what every mom wants to hear. I was so excited to get Ryan off the bus and hear all about his great first day of school, and when I asked the big question, "how was your day?", Ryan responded with, "terrible." Kind of shocked by his answer (especially because he loved preschool and kindergarten), I asked why. Here is the list he gave me . . . the day was too long, the chairs were not comfortable, he didn't get to finish his lunch, he spilled chocolate milk on his shirt because he didn't know how to open those "weird" containers that the milk came in, he wanted to play more, and last but not least, he had to sit in the back of the bus on the way home and sneak in his snack because he was starving - wow, clearly the kid has some major adjusting to do to make 1st grade more enjoyable in the days to come. After hearing all of that (and noticing that he was clearly tired out from the day), I tried to make things better for him. We talked about how the days won't seem so long once he gets used to it, how it was great that his friend, Sean, helped him open his milk, and how cool it was that he was able to eat his snack on the bus because he was so sneaky, kind of like a spy (eating on the bus is prohibited so he was technically breaking the rules and I am not encouraging him to do it again). After my little pep talk, Ryan seemed a little more optimistic about the days ahead, but he still wasn't convinced that 1st grade would ever be fun. This doesn't bode well considering he has many, many years of school ahead of him! The real kicker came this morning when I went to wake him up for school. I was hoping he would be excited, let's just say that didn't happen. The kid wanted no part of it, all he wanted to do was sleep (even though he went to bed before 8pm and usually wakes up at the ass crack of dawn every other day). It took him a good twenty minutes to pull himself out of bed and get dressed, another twenty minutes to eat breakfast, then it was out the door for another dreaded day of school. Keeping my fingers crossed that today goes better than yesterday or this could turn into a real long year!

1st Grade

2011-09-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

We officially have a first grader on our hands - so crazy! Our morning started out earlier than usual (at 7am vs whenever you get up), and from the moment everyone woke up until now (which is nap time), we have been busy. My first priority was getting Ryan ready for his first day of school. He was less than excited to get out of bed (especially since the kids decided to stay up late in bed playing with the dog - the minute I heard them, I took the Scrappy out of the room and the fun was over), but once he managed to pull himself out of bed, he was super excited! We did the usual pictures at the door and said our goodbyes, but unlike last year (when I shed some tears and was feeling very uneasy about the whole school thing), watching him get on the bus today was actually pretty exciting. He is growing up so fast and so many new things are happening in his life but he hardly seems to notice. He just goes with the flow and is happy. I can hardly wait for his school day to end so he can come home and tell me about all the new adventures he had! On the flip side, having him out of the house has been almost relaxing. Towards the end of summer he was getting "bored" with everything. It seemed everything activity or game we played was "too boring" or "wasn't fun" for him so not having to deal with trying to please him all day has been kind of nice. As I'm typing now, everyone (including the dog) is napping so I just get to sit here and worry about making myself happy, no more entertaining a 6 year old - not a bad deal! I'll leave with some pictures of the 1st grader. Lauren starts next Monday so we'll have some new "first day of school" pictures next week as well.

I might be going crazy in my old age

2011-09-05T16:26:00.000-05:00

For the past couple of weeks, Ryan and Lauren have really been on me about getting a dog, and for those of you out there that know me (and most importantly, my mother), you know that I have always said, "I will NEVER get a dog." So guess what we got this weekend . . . another fish! Just kidding, we got a dog - like I said, I might be going crazy (or at least very soft) in my old age. Scrappy (that was his name when we adopted him, Ryan wanted to change his name to "Fred", I wanted "Harley", in the end, we both lost and stuck with Scrappy because the dog clearly knows his name) is a mix of a Miniature Pinscher and something else. We got him at a rescue on Saturday morning, and so far, it's going good. He is a gentle dog who is past all of his "puppy issues" (he is 3 yrs old), is already house trained, and knows a handful of tricks. I look at it like this, we got a well behaved (so far) dog and didn't have to put in two years of hard work and having my floors peed and pooped on - not a bad deal. Ryan really likes having his "own" (even though technically it is our whole family's dog) and has stepped up his game a little - he feeds him, plays with him, and most importantly, snuggles with him. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this was a good decision. If the kids stay happy and I don't go crazy trying to keep my house clean with a dog living in it, we'll be good. If one of those two things doesn't go the way I hope, the sh** (literally, I might pick up Scrappy's sh**) might hit the fan. I'll leave with some pics of the new family member . . . Scrappy Fred Quast (Ryan obviously chose his middle name). Ryan finally got the brother he always wanted!

Some highlights . . .

2011-09-01T08:34:00.001-05:00

I haven't done a great job at keeping up lately so this post will be a "highlight" post of stuff that has been going on in the past week.

I'll start with Ryan . . . it has been a busy week for this almost 1st grader. First up, he finally (after about 6 months) saved enough money to buy his first Leapster game on his own. His piggy bank had $21 and some odd cents. That money coupled with the $5 off coupon on any game I had was just the right amount to get him his coveted Leapster game. So I loaded everyone into the van and headed for Target. When we got there, he had a dilemma - does he get the Madagascar game or the Scooby Doo game? Oh to have the problems of a 6 year old! Anyway, when it came down to choosing, he went with the Scooby Doo game so off we went to check out. Ryan was so proud to be buying the game on his own. He had his little plastic baggie full of dollar bills and change and his coupon in hand. When the final total came up, it was $21.71. He gave his baggie full of money to the cashier along with the coupon and after all of her counting, he came up $.71 short. He had a look of terror when he turned to me and said, "Mom, I don't have enough money to buy my game - what should I do?" It was literally one of the cutest things ever! Not wanting to crush his dreams of having the game, I offered up the additional $.71 from my own personal savings. You should have seen the look of pure joy on his face when I offered this wonderful gift! You would have thought I just gave him a free pass to buy anything in the store he was so excited! He took the change and said to me, "Mom, I promise to pay you back - I'll do any chore you want. Thanks!" Again, a super cute moment with our kind hearted little boy. If only $.71 could bring that much joy to everyone. In addition to his purchase, we also had his open house yesterday in preparation for the first day of school. I'm pretty sure I was more nervous for this event than he was. I was concerned for a number of reasons, first being that he would be attending a new school. I wasn't sure how he would navigate a new building, but to my utter delight, the new school was set up exactly like his old one so finding his way around was no big deal. After that fear left, I was then more focused on my issues. First grade brings new issues that Kindergarten never did . . . . lunch money accounts, activity fees, gym shoes, the list could go on. But after visiting the school, everything fell into place and I am more than confident that both Ryan and myself will be able to handle everything that 1st grade throws at us!

Then there's Lauren. This little girl never stops surprising me with the stuff that comes out of her mouth. And clearly, I need to start watching what I'm saying because most of the stuff she says is an exact repeat of what I've said in the past - not good. When she talks to the babies (Ellie and Colt, she somehow in her mind has decided that she is in charge, kind of like their second mom), she speaks to them like I do. If one of the babies is crying, she'll roll her eyes and say, "make it stop." If one of the babies is screaming because they don't have food on their tray yet, she'll say, "cool your jets baby" or "just give me a sec will you?" And when she is mad at me, she'll tell me, "you're a sassy pants" or "change yous (her words) attitude Mom." Of course all of her versions are mumble jumble and sound much cuter, but you get the idea. The best quote of hers was yesterday though when the neighbor girls knocked on our door for the third time in about twenty minutes. I was just walking up the stairs from putting Colton down for a nap when I hear Lauren say, "how many times do I have to tell you, we are eating lunch, go away." And just so people out there know, I do say, "how many times do I have to tell you . . . " to the kids all the time, but I don't ever tell them to go away, she thought of that on her own! The kid is a riot, a difficult, stubborn, little riot. We can either get frustrated and mad, or sit back and enjoy the ride - so far, we're enjoying the ride! On a side note, Lauren also received all of her information for both preschool and speech class - both open houses are next week and then she starts the following week - very exciting!

Now for Ellie . . . she is getting more vocal everyday. Her vocab includes words such as mama (her favorite I'm sure), dada, pupa (puppy), ah oh, buah (bye), no (when she says this, she points her finger and says, "no, no, no" - she picked this up from the book, "5 Little Monkeys"). She is interacting more with Ryan and Lauren - she hugs and kisses Ryan and plays Barbies with Lauren. She also continues to try and assert her dominant position in the house over Colton - too bad for her, Colt is starting to fight back and even wins once in a while (you can imagine the devastation of losing a toy - she throws her body on the floor and cries like someone just pinched her).

All in all, it has been a great, but busy end of summer. We are squeezing in some fun last minute outings (knowing that once school starts, our days will be primarily spent at home), enjoying the last few days of sleeping in, and prepping for the craziness that will start next week!

A trip to the zoo

2011-08-28T20:08:00.000-05:00

As summer winds down, it seems like our activities are picking up. And last Friday was no exception. Grandma Donna (and her 75-80% healed broken foot) joined myself and all of her grand kids (one of the many benefits of having me watch Colton) for a day at the zoo. We headed out early in order maximize our fun and the weather couldn't have been better - it was almost cool when we arrived and just started to get a little too warm by the time we left. We started the day by checking out the animals. The kids would look, ask questions, then move on. We went at their pace with no real plan for how the day would go. After we left the polar bear exhibit (a big hit with the kids especially because the polar bears did lots of swimming up close), we were heading off to see other animals when we noticed a show would be starting soon. Figuring it was a good time to sit and have a snack, we found some seats and relaxed while "Sparky" the seal put on a good show. After that we found a nice shaded table and had lunch before we headed over to the amusement park to check out the rides. With bellies full, we bought some tickets and set out to find the perfect rides. Ryan opted for a thrilling ride on the roller coaster (I had to join him and considering I haven't been on a roller coaster in a long time, it was kind of scary for me), while Lauren chose more subdues rides like the cars that go around and around and around and do nothing else, or the horse wagons that go around and around and around and do nothing else - you get the idea. Going to any place that has rides is probably the only time I can think of where Ryan is the daring one and Lauren is the conservative one - weird. After they each did five or six rides, our tickets were gone, Colton was sleeping, and Ellie was well on her way - it was time to head home. It was a great 3 and a half hours . . . animals, a seal show, and rides - what could be better? Oh I know . . . top it off with a stop at DQ to get shakes. Yes, that really made it better! Thanks for hanging out with us Grandma Donna - having an extra adult along makes outings like this possible - maybe we should put it in the calendar for next year!

Caption for this picture . . . Ellie is saying, "Look Mom, Grandma is talking on a cell phone!" This is amazing to Ellie because Grandma is one of the few remaining people on this earth who doesn't have a cell phone and therefore doesn't really know how to use one. Gotta love it!

Privacy?

2011-08-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

So Ryan had a play date yesterday with his friend, Lindsay. And as with most play dates, things started out just fine . . . they talked about 1st grade, Ryan showed off some new toys, and they just played. But pretty soon, things took a turn for (I'm not exactly sure what words to use here) the worst. We had just finished up snack and Ryan and Lindsay were in the midst of playing house. As I'm trying to clean up the kitchen and get everyone situated with something to play with, Ryan comes to me and asks if he and Lindsay can go back downstairs to play. I said sure and then said we'll all be right down. It was then that he turns around and says to me, "no Mom, Lindsay and me (his words) want some privacy." Ummm yeah, not really sure why two 6 year-olds need privacy, but you can bet it's not going to happen, especially not now. So we go back and forth and I repeatedly ask Ryan why he needs privacy and he just keeps saying, "because Mom, I just want to spend some time alone with Lindsay." So there I am, listening to my sweet, innocent little boy asking me to give him a little privacy with a girl. I might be over reacting a little, but to say that this wasn't more than a little disturbing would be an understatement, especially because he has never asked for privacy when one of his little friends who are boys are over. So here I am today still wondering what this means. He is a 6 year old Casanova who thinks he can charm little girls in my house, or was it just an innocent request from an innocent boy? Why does parenthood have to be so tricky??

Onto other news . . . I have discovered Ellie is following in the footsteps of Trav with her love for condiments. Today while we were eating lunch, she used exactly one french fry to eat an entire plate of ketchup. When her meal was done, the ketchup was gone, her grapes and chicken were gone, and there was one incredibly soggy french fry laying limp on the edge of her tray - gross, but she was extremely happy with herself!

And now for Lauren . . . I think we are inching ever closer to putting an end to her nail biting habit. This is the third week in a row that I've had to cut her fingernails. Prior to this, it had been at least 6 months of never having to cut them because she was constantly chewing them (and not just nibbling, she had them down to nubs they were so short). All it took was the promise of a trip to the nail salon if she didn't chew them - the girl clearly knows what she wants, and she'll done anything to get it!

Park, swimming and a picnic

2011-08-23T21:12:00.000-05:00

We had a great adventure today with some old friends of mine, and new friends for the kids. We (Gwen, Jen, and myself) have been trying to get together all summer, and today was finally the day that worked for everyone! The plan . . . park, swimming, and picnic - a nice little day if I say so myself. Well, when we all arrived at the place, we decided to skip the park (it was going to be a hot and humid day), and get right to the fun of swimming. All the kids (8 total - my four, Jen's two, and Gwen who had just two of her three) had a great time swimming and playing with each other. The picnic part came a little early (because kids always want to eat), but once their bellies were full, everyone was back in the water again. It is always great to catch up with old friends and bond over all the things we used to do for fun and compare them to that we do for fun now - let's say it's a lot different today! Another great part about the day . . . we worked on our plans for the big SDSU alumni gathering in October - sounds like it's going to be fun (and I'm talking the fun of the old days) and lots of good old fashion catching up - I can hardly wait! Here are a few pictures I took from the day. These were all taken right away while it was still a little cloudy, but by the end of the day, the sun was shinning bright. I had every intention of getting a group shot with everyone in it, but between keeping up with the kids and trying to have a conversation, there was little time for that - oh well, maybe next time!

Summer Vacation - Day 4

2011-08-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

Saturday brought another late start to the day (the adults were very thankful for this after a late, late night). When all the kids finally rolled out of bed (moms first, kids second, dads last of course), we started getting everyone dressed and ready for another fun day. As it turned out, Saturday was "Twine Ball Day" (yes, I said day, not days) in Darwin so there was going to be a parade followed by some fun in the park. Not wanting to miss a minute of the fun, we packed up everyone, and drove into town. When we got there, we picked out a prime "parade watching" spot, and got ready for some fun. Well, as it turns out, Darwin's idea of a "big" parade is slightly different than other "big" parades we've been to in the past - think lots of tractors, lawn mowers, and even a truck full of people celebrating some one's 60th birthday. Basically, if you had nothing better to do, and you wanted to be in a parade, you could be in this one. The kids didn't care though as long as they got candy, but even that was hard to come by. Usually a "float" would come by and they'd toss out 2-4 pieces of candy to the 8-10 kids that were standing there and then it was a full on scramble to get what you could. The real tell all came when I overheard the guy sitting next to me say, "it was a really big parade this year, they didn't even have to go around twice" - I just had to smile! Even with a little less candy than expected, the kids still had a good time and once the parade wrapped (I'm pretty sure I did see a couple of "floats" come by a second time towards the end), we walked to the park where we had lunch and played for a while until we were all ready to go back to the cabin and rest. After naps, Trav and Dave took the big kids out for some more tubing (this time Ryan went solo and also went with Lauren so she didn't have to go by herself), while Abby and I stayed back with the little girls. After dinner, we started a campfire, but between the bugs and the long day, we didn't make it too long. The kids went to bed early and easily, and the adults even cut our night short when we just couldn't stay awake any longer. All in all, another great day!

Sunday was all about packing up, cleaning up, and heading home. It was a great first "Quast Family Summer Vacay." We are already looking forward to next year!

Day 4 pictures . . . .

Summer Vacation - Day 3

2011-08-16T20:54:00.009-05:00

Friday started out nice and late (the kids must have been really tired from their boat adventure the day before because they all slept in), and after an even later breakfast, we got things going. It was another beautiful day, but with company heading up later that day to join us, we couldn't just sit and relax, we had stuff to do. I took the big kids into town with me to hit up the local Walmart for all of our necessities while Trav stayed home to do some yard work with Ellie asleep in the house. By the time we all got back into the cabin, it was already lunchtime. And, just as we did the previous days, after lunch, we all took naps again (I could easily get used to this routine). After naps, we did a little cleaning up of the cabin and ourselves, and then we just waited. When our guests finally arrived, the kids were super excited to have some new playmates and lucky for everyone, the family that joined us had three kids almost the same ages as ours which meant everyone had their very own best buddy! As it turned out, Friday was also Dave and Abby's (our friends) youngest daughter's 2nd birthday so in addition to having new friends around, we also got to have a birthday party - what a good deal! Friday was a late night for everyone - there was lots of good conversation, lots of good playing, and lots of good times!

Day 3 pictures . . .

Summer Vacation - Day 2

2011-08-15T20:19:00.014-05:00

Thursday morning started out great. We loaded all three kids into strollers (the girls in the double and Ryan in the single because he is way too big for a stroller) and headed out for a late morning walk. Trav and I worked up a sweat and the kids laid around - what a good deal for them! After that, we headed back to the cabin to play outside for a while because it was another gorgeous day. When the kids were getting tired and hungry, we headed in for lunch and then everyone laid down for 2 hour naps (with the exception of Ryan, he watched a movie instead) - this is what vacation is all about! Lots of fun, followed by lots of rest! Feeling refreshed, we decided to head back out on the boat and try out tubing. Neither of the kids have ever tubed, and up until that day, neither of them had even been in the lake yet, so I wasn't so sure how this would work out. To my complete surprise though, not only did they both go tubing, but they both actually loved it! Trav went with Ryan first which was sort of a test ride for all of us. With Trav in the water, that left me to drive the boat and manage both of the girls (and at this point, Ellie wasn't really digging the boat ride) so that was quite a fete. For the first five minutes of Ryan and Trav tubing, Ellie screamed as Lauren tried desperately to hold her, and I did my best to keep the ride smooth and not tip anyone over. When the boys finally gave me the signal to stop, I was more than happy to oblige. I stopped the boat, picked up Ellie (whose face was red and full of tears by now), cracked a Mike's hard lemonade, and tried to relax knowing I would have to do it all over again when Lauren had her turn. Lauren's ride was just as hard as Ryan's. Only this time to make things a little more interesting, Ryan (accidentally) let go of Ellie and she smacked her face on the side of the boat and got a bloody nose as I was driving - talk about fun! With her screaming bloody murder (and blood dripping from her nose), I was barely able to focus on driving and therefore gave Lauren and Trav a bit of a rough ride. They never flipped (or even came close to flipping, but I did manage to hit lots of waves and splash lots of water directly into Lauren's face - oops). With all of the waves and water, Lauren's ride was a short one (thank God), and after that, we decided to just sit and relax for a while before we did anymore tubing. When it was time to tub again, Ryan surprised us once again and asked if he could go by himself. Shocked, we said yes and off we went. About five minutes into Ryan's solo tubing, the boat started to stall a little - one thought ran through my head . . . "please don't let us be out of gas (just so everyone knows, I had asked Trav if we had enough gas before we headed out and he said yes, and just to be fair to him, there was no way we could have expected tubing to go as well as it did so in his mind, we probably did have plenty of gas to just drive out and sit in the middle of the lake). But, as luck would have it, we did run out of gas. So we pulled Ryan in, packed up everything, and tried to make it to shore with the little amount of gas we had - too bad it didn't work. And with it being a Thursday night, there were no other boats on the lake - super. It was at this point that we pulled out the oars started rowing, and realized we were going nowhere fast. Then Trav decided to jump in and pull us to shore (I highly doubted this would work, but we had no other option at this point). So there we were, Trav swimming, me using my oar to help out, and the kids eating what little food we had left on the boat. After about 20 minutes of this, I was starting to get worried. We had moved maybe two inches, it seemed like it was getting late (we didn't know for sure though because luckily the radio in the boat didn't work and we didn't have our cell phones - not a smart move on our part, but in reality, even if we had had one, we had no one to call that could help us anytime soon), and the kids were starting to get restless. It was then that I grabbed the horn (I like to call it the "help me horn") and started blowing it towards the shore in hopes that someone would be out and about and hear my desperate cries for help. And wouldn't you know it, someone did. Just like in a movie, a boat appeared out of the sunset and our rescuers (that's what the kids called them) came to pull us to safety - hallelujah!!!! By the time we got back on land (I was so happy to see be on dry land) and got back into the cabin, we realized just how long we had been "out at sea" - we left at 3:00pm, it was now 6:37pm! That is a long time to be in a little boat with three kids, but they did great and Trav and I learned some very important lessons, the most important being, ALWAYS have enough gas! With that ordeal behind us, we had some dinner, took some showers, and headed off to bed - another great day (minus the running out of gas part) in the books!

Day 2 pictures . . .

Summer Vacation 2011 - Day 1

2011-08-14T20:17:00.002-05:00

A couple months back Trav told me he wanted to take some time off during the summer to just relax and hang out with the family (this is usual coming from him considering he works all the time and he seems to think the place can't run without him there). So, the minute he said that, I had high hopes and dreams for our first annual "Quast Family Summer Vacay" - fun! The vacation was to be a simple one . . . spend some time at Trav's parents cabin with just the five of us. Now, we've been to the cabin numerous times over the years, but having the whole place to ourselves and being responsible for everything from cooking to cleaning to watching the kids all by ourselves was going to be a new experience considering the cabin is usually bursting at the seams with people and there is plenty to do and see without ever putting much thought into it. Now it was up to us to do it all and keep the kiddies entertained at the same time.

The vacation officially started Wednesday and after running some errands, cleaning the house, and doing a few last minute things, we headed out the door shortly after 1:00pm to start the fun. The first day was a lot of unpacking, trips into town to get food and drink, and just relaxing. The evening turned out to be absolutely gorgeous so we took advantage and headed out for the first time on the boat with all three kids (and Ellie's first ever time on the boat). I was an absolute wreck for the majority of the ride, everyone else (well, maybe not Ellie so much), seemed to enjoy it. Ryan and Lauren would tell Trav to go faster (which is why I was a nervous wreck), and then throw their arms up in the air and scream with delight when he did (the minute their arms went up, I hurriedly attempted to grab both of them to prevent them from falling overboard to their emanate death - like I said, I was a nervous wreck). After many go-rounds of this little routine, Trav then proceeded to let both of the kids drive the boat on their own (I could have probably had a heart attack at any point now). When the fun (or in my case, the agony of worrying) finally came to an end, I was relieved, Ellie had adjusted to the boat, and the kids were happy (and that is all that really matters). After the boat ride, we headed back to the cabin, had some ice cream, jumped on the tramp, and called it a night - not a bad start to a fun weekend!

Day 1 pictures . . .

Dora and ballet

2011-08-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

Dora and ballet . . . not exactly a dream day for a 6 year old boy. But because Ryan is such a good big brother, he agreed (reluctantly) to tag along as we ventured out to the MOA to see Dora and learn some ballet this morning for Toddler Tuesday. The place was crazy busy by the time we arrived - I'm talking about 45 minute lines - so instead of torturing myself and the kids (but mostly myself), I opted to skip the photo op with Dora and just sneak a shot from where we were standing. Here it is . . .

Maybe with a little help from photo shop I could crop out all the "extras" and squeeze in a couple of head shots of the kids.

After "meeting" Dora, their was a little lesson on ballet. Ryan wanted no part of this because as he says, "boys don't like ballet." So that left Lauren and Ellie to enjoy. Well, turns out Lauren wasn't too thrilled either. While all the other little girls were right up front practicing all the moves the ballerina was teaching them, Lauren was back by me and the babes eating some snacks (which, if I'm being honest was way more fun). With excitement fading fast, I decided it was time to ditch Dora and have some fun on the rides (rides were promised to Ryan when I couldn't find any other reason that he would really enjoy meeting Dora and learning how to dance). What Ryan didn't know at the time of our negotiation was that we still had some leftovers points from a previous Toddler Tuesday outing. So really this "promise" was not only going to be fun for him, but it was also fiscally responsible for me because everyone knows I don't like to let things (especially things that cost money) go to waste. So off we went to get on some rides. The plan was to let Ryan and Lauren each go on a couple of rides and then call it a day. Well, as with most well laid out plans, this one didn't pan out. Lauren apparently was in some sort of funk and didn't want to go on any rides, and Ryan somehow became "too cool" for all the kiddie rides in the past two months so nothing was looking good to either of them. When I finally did convince Ryan that the rides were still cool, he went to get on the bumper cars and was actually told he was too tall for the ride. Sine we were here less then 2 months ago, he either he grew like crazy, or they put in a new policy that really enforces the height requirements because he has never had an issue with it in the past. After that disappointment, Ryan managed to pick out a few rides (which he was measured for each and every time) before Lauren's final meltdown. The meltdown came when Ry was finishing up his last ride. All of a sudden (like clockwork when she saw me toss the used up wristband into the garbage), she decides she does in fact want to go on some rides. My answer to that . . tough luck little girl, you had your chance and said no repeatedly so bring on the tears, and did she ever! People probably thought I beat her the way she was bawling. It was at that point that I decided we needed to get out, and get out fast! By the time we reached the van (which surprisingly only took about 5 minutes as people seemed to almost be jumping out of the way as I pushed the stroller as fast as I could through the crowds), Lauren had calmed herself down and said, "sorry Mom for all my crying." And that was that - problem solved and the normal Lauren was back. Man, she is a strange little girl sometimes, good thing we really love her. With that, we packed up, headed home, had some lunch, and went down for naps. Take out the major meltdown, and I'd say it was another fun adventure! Here are some pictures of the kids coloring and dancing with some friends before the show, and a couple of Ryan on some rides while Lauren stood and watched (until she cried that is).

Counting down the days of summer . . .

2011-08-07T20:57:00.000-05:00

The kids and I packed up and headed to Grandpa and Grandma Loken's house to enjoy some pool time this weekend. The "pool" days are coming to an end so any chance to enjoy some fun in the sun and relaxing in the pool, we'll take it! As with most days at the pool, the kids did a lot of swimming, splashing, and laughing while the adults sipped on a few drinks and took in all the action. Unfortunately Grandma Donna is still sporting her foot cast so she couldn't join in on the pool fun, but she did get in on the baby fun (and lots of it). Here are some pictures from the weekend. After naps on Saturday Lauren was feeling pretty relaxed so she opted to swim the rest of the day in the nude - oh to be three and be able to swim naked and not have a care in the world!

The girls and I doing some dancing - naked dancing in Lauren's case! The little girl has a perfect mix of Trav and I . . . Trav's dance moves, my love of being naked - this could be a deadly mix in the future!

National Night To Unite

2011-08-03T07:31:00.001-05:00

Last night was our annual "National Night To Unite" for the neighborhood, and as usual, the gathering was full of good times! There were games, a bounce house, lots of food, and more importantly, lots of good conversation - a perfect combo for a friendly gathering. Here are some pictures from the night.

In addition to the fun of the evening, there was some excitement during the day as well. I was sitting in the house during nap time when Ryan and another boy from the neighborhood come barreling in the door (they were out front jumping in the bounce house). Ryan is holding his face and his friend is proudly saying, "guess who lost a tooth?" The answer to that was pretty obvious since Reid (the friend) was all smiles while Ryan had his head tilted back and with his hands over his mouth trying to stop the blood from getting all over the place. At this point, Ryan was still doing good . . . no crying, no screaming, but once he got in the house and couldn't hold it together anymore, the tears started flowing and the blood curling screams came our in full force (I'm pretty sure he held it together just long enough to get in the house and away from all the other kids outside - what a tough guy). Once he calmed down a little, I got him cleaned up, put the tooth in a safe place, and gave him a wet cloth to bite on until the bleeding stopped - after that, he was good to go and went back to jumping away in the bounce house. Here is the newest version of Ryan who now has no front teeth and a super cute lisp when he talks!

T-ball

2011-07-29T08:07:00.000-05:00

As promised, some pictures from t-ball last night. The kids got to have their parents and siblings play with them the last inning which is why Travis is in most of the pictures with Ryan - it was pretty cute to watch them "play" together. And as always, a couple of pictures of the girls running around while at yet another one of Ryan's activities.

Ryan-less

2011-07-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

As you may have guessed by the title, we have been without Ryan, or "Ryan-less" for the past week. So what do we do when there is no Ryan in the house . . . absolutely nothing! And I mean that in a good way. Ryan is the only one with activities planned throughout the summer so without him around, we've been doing a lot less running, and a lot more "hanging out" and relaxing. Lauren has had mixed emotions about being without her big brother. At first, it was great. She was the oldest now and could "boss" the babies (Ellie and Colt) around and no one could boss her - what a good deal! About a day into it though, the feeling of power must have worn off and she was pretty sad without her brother. One day Trav took her out to the Y to play for a while and about 20 minutes after they left, they were back home already. When I asked what happened, Trav told me Lauren just got sad and wouldn't even go into the play area so they just left. When I talked to Lauren about it, she said, "I miss my brotha" (her words, not mine). She repeated to me over and over that she just wanted him to come back home right away. Knowing that wasn't an option, I did the next best thing . . . we called him. The minute she talked to Ryan, she sobbed and said, "I sad, will you come home now?" Ryan being the good-hearted kid he is, put on his best soothing adult voice and said, "I can't come home right now Lauren, but I'll be there in 3 days, you'll be okay" - it was very sweet to watch them talking so nicely to each other especially when I know the minute he gets home, Lauren will probably punch him or hit him and their normal "hit and tattle" routine will fall back into place. I've got to enjoy the sweet moments when I can. Well, today is the big day . . . Ryan is finally coming home. And based on my conversations with him while he's been gone, he probably won't want to live with us anymore. At Grandma Connie's house, he was the main attraction - there were no little sisters to get in his way, he got to go have a blast at camp everyday, and to top it off, he got to pretend he had a dog (Grandma's dog, Violet) for a couple of days (he even told Grandma that Violet would be coming to live at our house when Ellie turned 3 - apparently he listened too well during a past conversation when I told him we couldn't have a dog right now because Ellie was too little so we would have to wait until she turned 3 - I guess I should have went for a bigger number). He has sounded so excited on the phone, I can't wait to hear all the rest of his stories when he gets home tonight, and trust me, I'm sure he'll have lots to tell! On top of his being away for so long, he is coming home tonight to play in his final t-ball game of the summer. We're all planning on going tonight to watch him in action so hopefully I'll be able to snap a few pictures considering I forgot to being my camera on "picture" night.

Thanks Grandma Connie for taking Ryan! A little heads up . . .Lauren is already counting down the days until she turns 6 and can stay with you as well - oh, the fun you'll have with the two of them!!

"Angie" weekend

2011-07-24T13:08:00.001-05:00

First of all, let me start out by saying that I love my husband and my children very much. With that said, I will say that life is much, much easier without them around! That is right, I spent an entire weekend alone - free to do what I want, whenever I want - how exciting! To kick off my "Angie" weekend, I hit up Canterbury Park with my good pal Jen. She had free drink tickets for the night, so you can assume how well that turned out. The highlight of the night came during the fifth race - it was the one and only race I bet on, and with luck on my side, I won $0.40. That's right people, I bet $6.00 and won $6.40 - I was so excited. So excited in fact, that I gave my winning tickets to Jen and let her use them to bet on the next race, I am not a gambling type of girl and it was the least I could do as a "thank you" for all the free drinks. Friday night wrapped up relatively early so when I rolled over at 6:30am on Saturday morning alone in my bed with only a slight headache, I was happy. I had a lot planned for Saturday . . . clean the house top to bottom, pick up and assemble our new tv stand, go through all the kids' clothes and pull out everything they have outgrown, grocery shop, make a Target run, and last but not least, make a return at Kohl's. The cleaning part was a breeze, and if I have to say so myself, the house looks great! Up next, pick up the tv stand. With a little help from my neighbor, I was able to get the huge box into the basement and was super excited to get everything put together. I even called my brother to come over and help, but before long my excitement was gone. Upon opening the box, I discovered some damage to the right side, and right base of the stand so instead of rearranging and having everything put together before Trav got home, I instead ended up calling the furniture store and getting a replacement. Not to be deterred, I decided to put the tv stand incident behind me and get on with the rest of my list. Up next, go through all the kids' clothes. About 10 minutes into this project, I realized that this wasn't going to be any easy task. Before I knew it, about 5 hours had passed and 3 tubs of clothes were ready to be shipped out while 4 others remained waiting for their chance to resurface when the timing was right. By the time I finally wrapped up with the clothes, I had just enough energy to run to the grocery store and stock up before I headed home for a little rest. My rest lasted long enough to watch a so-so movie, and then it was back to work. I made up some food, cut up some fruit, and then called it a night around 9:30pm. This is when I hoped back into bed, watched another so-so movie, and drifted off to sleep happy with my accomplishments for the day. Sunday started early again (it is amazing how I can get up early when I have no kids around, but when they are here, it is a struggle to pull myself out of the bed - odd). Feeling refreshed, I headed out to the gym for a nice morning workout, hit up Target for my usual $100 (how I spend $100 every time I go there is beyond me, but I usually do), and then stopped at Kohl's to make my return. After that, I headed home, took one look at our dirty garage, and decided to do a little more cleaning. Satisfied with the new look of the clean garage, I finally went inside, showered up, ate some lunch, and just relaxed - which is exactly what I plan on doing until everyone gets home! After all this down time, I am ready for everyone to be back home and destroy the house again in less than five minutes - oh well, at least I had two whole days with everything looking good!

Balls and missing teeth!!

2011-07-20T20:59:00.002-05:00

With another miserable day to look forward to, I planned a fun little outing to burn off some pent up energy. So I packed up the whole gang and headed out to the local "Bounce House." This place is full of inflatable bounce houses, an inflatable obstacle course, and for the babes, a ball pit - talk about fun! We were there a good two hours and somehow I only managed to snap this picture of Ellie and Colton in the ball pit - no time to take pictures when I'm busy chasing two babies and two kids all over the place!

By the time we wrapped up, the babies were getting hungry and Ryan and Lauren were sweaty messes from running and climbing all over the place with their new friends (Jack and Claire - a brother/sister duo just like them and the perfect ages, what a deal). With the fun morning over, it was lunch and then long naps for everyone. They must have all been tired because there was little to no fuss and they were all out cold - perfect!

Now, onto the missing teeth . . . so Ryan has had one top tooth just tangling by a thread (or should I say, "root") for the past few days. It is so disgusting to see him turning it almost all the way around, and then pushing it back and forth with his tongue - if there is one thing I don't do well with, it is loose teeth. So there we are tonight; me making dinner, and the kids walking and talking in the kitchen when Ryan shouts, "I lost my tooth, I think I lost my tooth?" I turn around and say, "what do you mean, you think you lost your tooth?" He says, "it just fell out - I think." As it turns out, he was jumping a little, the tooth was apparently loose enough, and with good good bounce, it just dropped into his mouth - weird, but at least I didn't have to participate in any part of the removal. So here is our toothless boy proudly showing off his first tooth he lost as a 6 year old (and also his first top tooth he has lost).

And just because she always wants her picture taken when the camera is out, here is our crazy girl doing what she does best . . . striking a pose for the camera - what a diva!

9 years and counting . . .

2011-07-20T00:45:00.004-05:00

Today marks another year of wedded bliss (bliss might be a strong word depending on the day) for Trav and I - we are now up to a total of 9. Nine years, two houses, five different jobs (between Trav and I), and three kids later, and we're still hanging in there - not too shabby! Here are a couple of pics of the two of us when it was just the two of us (warning, we look like 12 year olds in some of these). Oh to be young and carefree again!

Trav's first visit to SDSU - yes, we may have been drinking

Our first trip together to California

End of season basketball party at our college house

First wedding we attended together (we got engaged shortly before this)

Crazy how much life changes in such a short period of time. So to Travis . . . thanks for the good times, the bad times, and everything in between, thanks for our three wonderful (again, this could be a strong word depending on the day) children, and most importantly, thanks for choosing me to be your wife - what a lucky lady I am!

Loken Family Gathering

2011-07-17T08:36:00.002-05:00

We had our first "Loken Family Gathering" in almost 10 years (yeah, it has been way too long)! Ash and Mike flew home this weekend to attend a friend's wedding so as we usually do, the whole family decided to get together so everyone could see them. The "whole" family is usually just our immediate family, but this visit was better because Bob, Cherie, and Kate (uncle, aunt, and cousin) were able to join us as well - we were one cousin short (Matt had to work), otherwise the whole gang was there. It really shouldn't be that hard to get everyone in the same place, but somehow, it has been a fete we were not, and really still have not (we need Matt to be complete) been able to accomplish in a long time. There was lots of catching up to do, lots of laughs, and lots of fun! Aaron and Ann made enough food to feed a small army, and amazingly we ate almost all of it - not so good for the waistline! We also drank our fair share of alcohol which resulted in a rough day on Saturday, but it was all worth it for some good 'ol family fun! Here are some of the 50 or so pictures I took (drinking and cameras make for lots and lots of pictures).

Soccer picture day

2011-07-07T14:01:00.002-05:00

As you may have guessed by the title, today was picture day at soccer. In preparation of the big day, I pulled out my camera early and caught Lauren and her babes "dropping a beat"(I jokingly used that term once when Ryan was doing his version of "rapping" and it has stuck since) and "making music" (Lauren thinks anytime she beats on something or makes any kind of noise, it is music) on the bathroom door.

Their "beats" got a little annoying after 10 minutes, but who can complain when a 3 year old is keeping two babies busy allowing time to pack - certainly not me! With the music session wrapped up, and naps over with, we all loaded into the van. Once we got to soccer, we left Ryan with his team and headed to the nearby park (Lauren does such a good job of sitting and watching all the time so every once in a while, I try to sneak over to the park and let her have some fun too). After Lauren broke a sweat with all of her climbing and running, she was ready to head back to the game and sit down with a snack and some water - mission accomplished, one tired little girl! With Lauren content and the babies munching away on some snacks, I grabbed out my camera and started taking some action shots (which can be tricky sometimes considering Ryan still does as much talking as he does playing). Here are some of my favorites of the boy in action. He really likes to wind up and do what he calls, "super kicks" - unfortunately for him, sometimes by the time he is done winding up his leg, the other team has already taken the ball away. Oh well, at least he still has fun and loves talking about all of his "super" moves he did (or tried to do)!

4th of July!!

2011-07-04T14:38:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that the 4th has already come and gone. In my book, the 4th of July signifies the halfway point of summer and because this summer hasn't been so great weather wise, that really stinks! On the flip side, the 4th of July also means a long, fun weekend - yay! We spent our time at Grandma and Grandpa Loken's house. The weather was nice and warm (which is perfect swimming weather), so we took full advantage and spent much of our time in the pool. Aaron, Ann, and Colton also joined in on the fun so there was a full house. By Monday (today), we were all ready to get back home and relax so after the parade in the morning, we packed up and headed out. As I type this, all three of the kids are sleeping (Ryan might be reading, but either way, they are all quiet) which is nice so Trav and I can both have a little time to relax as well before another busy week starts. Hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July!!! Here is a picture replay of the weekend.

Twins?

2011-06-30T21:07:00.001-05:00

I can't count how many times I've been asked, "how old are your twins", or "what are your twins' names" in the past two weeks while we've been at Ryan's games. I don't get it, Ellie and Colton look nothing alike (to me at least). Ellie crawls all over the place while Colt just sits there and doesn't move (other than the occasional tip over), and Ellie is considerably bigger than Colt while in the stroller (her legs hang over the edge while his just barely touch the edge). Even with all that evidence that clearly shows they are not twins, people still "ooh and aah" over my precious twin babies - whatever, I guess now I have a little insight into what it feels like to be a mother of twins (other than the sleepless nights and never ending crying that I'm sure comes with multiples) - thank god I just have "fake" twins. Here are the "twins" doing what they do best, shoving food in their mouth as fast as they can so the other one can't have any. Oh my God, maybe they really are twins - that sounds like sibling rivalry at its best!

She walks!!!

2011-06-29T17:02:00.001-05:00

Apparently Ellie read my last post about her lack of walking because this morning when she woke up, walking was the only thing she wanted to do - yay! I knew this morning might be the start of something when she didn't cry and fall down the instant I let go of her (usually she falls down, throws her head back, and cries - such a drama queen). Anyway, this morning we were walking around the living room when I decided to gently pry her fingers off of my finger, instead of the usual fit, she just stood there (this is a good sign). So I inch back a little and hold out my arms and say, "come here El." Her usual response would be to reach out as far as possible towards me until she does one of two things; either tip over, or cry - neither is a great option. But today, she moved her little legs, and to everyone's amazement (mostly hers though), she walked!! She looks like a baby Frankenstein, and isn't super stable, but at least she is doing it. Of course when she made it the four or five steps to me, we all had to cheer and clap for her (she also claps for herself) like crazy people so she would do it again, and wouldn't you know it, that is exactly what she did! Here is a quick clip of the little girl in action - go Ellie!

I'm thinking with a little more practice over the long weekend, she'll be up and at 'em full speed ahead by next week - guess that means it's time to buy her her first pair of real "walking shoes" (unfortunately for me, none of Lauren's "fat-footed" shoes fit Ellie's skinny little foot - no surprise there, that would have just been too easy!).

Safety first

2011-06-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

So it's been pretty nice weather lately . . . the upside; we've been outside a lot enjoying it, the downside; Ellie wants to play with all the big kids but is still not walking. My solution . . .

. . . a helmet (safety first is the motto at this house), a stroller (made for little ones learning to walk), and a baby (so Ellie has someone to push). Thankfully this little idea has made our lives a whole lot easier - no more hunching over while Ellie walks in constant circles and then cries the minute you let go of her, no more sore backs, and most importantly, we're free to pay attention to the other kids - hallelujah! Now, if she could just figure out the walking thing in general, I'm sure she'd be amazed at all the new things the world has to offer - we'll just keep waiting . . . (a little side note, Ryan didn't walk until he was almost 15 months so I'd just be happy if Ellie figured it out before then, if not, she'll have the wheels on that stroller worn out before summer is over).

When Ellie isn't walking, she's also taken an interest in all of the kids' riding and push toys. Her favorite one lately is the Big Wheels - you'll notice she has her helmet on in this picture too. Good news - she has never fallen while on a riding toy, bad news - she has fallen several times while walking with her stroller. I'm hoping this will change in the future, it would really stink to have to wear a bike helmet on a daily basis just for walking.

And finally, here are a couple of pictures of the big kids. Ryan has been enjoying soccer and t-ball. We just had his name and number printed on his shirts tonight (we didn't do it last year because I was too cheap, then when I discovered it only cost $6, I went ahead and popped for it). He choose to be number "6" because that is how old he is, and just wanted "Ryan" for the name because as he says, "what other name would I put on there, my name is Ryan." He is pretty excited to wear the "new" shirts on Thursday for his first official games (they have just had practices the past two weeks). And then there's Lauren. She is my little helper this summer. The poor girl gets dragged around to all of Ryan's events and other than a few little "tough" periods, she's done great! She helps me keep the babies in line, doles out snacks when the babies are hungry, and is just an over all good sport about things. I know she'd rather be playing soccer or t-ball, or climbing around at the park, but when that can't happen, she just hangs out and talks about how she'll get to do all these fun things when she is 5 - oh what a great year that will be for her!

She can never just take a "normal" picture - such a crazy little girl, I love it!

Another adventure!

2011-06-26T19:45:00.000-05:00

I think (I hate to even write this because I am sure I'm jinxing myself), I have mastered the art of taking 2 babies and 2 kids on an adventure - yay! This past Friday the kids and I met up with an old friend and her two kids to check out the local arboretum. The place is gorgeous and most importantly, there is lots of room to run and play. We visited a coy pond (this was our first stop and I nearly had a heart attack every time one of the kids got to close to the edge), stopped to smell some pretty flowers, threw a couple of coins in a fountain, and ended the visit with a stroll through the maze made out of bushes and small trees - talk about fun, and exhausting! In all, we were there for about 3 hours and other than a few minor fits, it was pretty smooth sailing. The kids all got along well and Jen and I had a chance to catch up - all in all, a great day with great friends (new friends for the kids, an old friend for me). Here are a couple of pictures of the kids taking a break to have a snack.

Mall of America

2011-06-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

It was another crumby day yesterday and with Ryan's soccer canceled, we didn't have much to do. So, on a spur of the moment thought (I just needed to get out of the house), I packed the kids and headed out to the mall. As we were driving, I suddenly remembered that Tuesdays are "Toddler Tuesday" days at the MOA so instead of going to our normal indoor "mall playground", we kept on driving and made it all the way to the big guy (aka "The Mall of America). The last time I was here was when it was still just Ryan, Lauren, and myself on a normal day - so it has been at least 2 years. This trip, it was Ryan, Lauren, Ellie, Colton, and myself. To say I was a little worried would be an understatement. The mall is huge, the kids like to run, and unfortunately, it was just me to keep them in order. So off we went to check out the "Kiddie Karnival" in the mall's rotunda. It took me about 2 seconds of seeing massive lines before I decided that we would not be attending the "karnival" (imagine strollers and kids everywhere - it was crazy and it was packed). After that, I was a little discouraged and had to push back my thoughts of wanting to get back in the van and head out to our "safe" mall playground. But because Ryan and Lauren were being great and wanted to stay, I came up with option two . . . RIDES!! Part of "Toddler Tuesday" is a discounted wrist band for all the kid rides. I wasn't a hundred percent sure on this option, but not wanting to disappoint, we went for it. We had a rough start - Ryan wanted to go on the kiddie coaster, but Lauren wasn't tell enough to go without a chaperon. I thought Lauren would be sad and start throwing a fit, but to my surprise, she just stepped out of line and watched from the side with myself and the babies - such a mature little 3 year old, too bad it doesn't always go that smooth. After that hiccup, we hit our stride and the kids made it through 7 more rides before the babies let me know it was time to go. By this time it was 12:30pm though and they had been in the stroller for a hour and a half so there was no complaints from anyone. It is amazing how content they were to just sit and watch all that was going on around (granted, the place was a zoo so there was lots to do and see!). After that, we packed up, grabbed some lunch, and took long afternoon naps - a great wrap to a great day! This little adventure proves that I'm still able to get out of the house and enjoy an occasional field trip with the kids - sure it takes a little more work and a lot more planning, but it is all worth it if the kids have fun! We're planning another outing on Friday (assuming the weather cooperates) - hoping this one goes just as smooth as this one did!

Colton, Ellie, and her best friend (her thumb) hanging out - they were little troopers!

Happy Father's Day! (a little late)

2011-06-20T19:19:00.002-05:00

Here is our "Happy Dad" on Father's Day (actually the picture was taken on Saturday, but he was still this happy on Father's Day).

Thanks for being such a good dad to our kids - they love you and so do I!

One more birthday party

2011-06-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

We spent a nice, quiet weekend at the lake with Grandpa Doug and Grandma Connie this past weekend. Our main reasoning for the visit was to celebrate Ryan's 6th birthday again. It seems like Ryan, more than the girls, always has multiple celebrations for his birthday - lucky kid! Anyway, the visit was great. The kids had a blast playing with their "lake" friends and showing me all their tricks on the new trampoline Grandpa Doug bought for them. A quick summary . . . presents, sparklers, and bouncing - what a great way to spend the weekend! Here is the "quick summary" in pictures . . .

World travelers??

2011-06-15T18:54:00.000-05:00

The kids now consider themselves "world travelers" which is justified if you are 6 and 3 and visited Duluth (Daloof in their words), Wisconsin (Osconsin to them - their teacher from the Y just moved to Ohio so I'm pretty sure they are just combining the states), and South Dakota (this one they actually say correctly) in a matter of a week. Duluth was a trip with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Donna, Wisconsin was a few steps into the state while on the Duluth trip, and the South Dakota trip was with me. On our way out to South Dakota the kids were talking about all the places they had been lately when Ryan casually says to me, "Mom, I think we should drive to Texas next, I'd like to see all the cowboys there and ride some horses." Once Lauren heard, "ride the horses", she was in, too bad it wasn't that easy to convince me. When I told them that Texas was too long to drive, they just said, "it's okay, we can do it." So I guess we're off to Texas next! Until then, here are some pictures from their adventures . . .

Children's Museum of South Dakota pictures - really cool, hard to believe it is in Brookings, SD! We could have spent an entire day there.

This is a picture of Lauren and I going to get our nails done before our travels started. What can I say, the girl likes to look good when she's got some place to go!

Speaking of traveling, my blogging has been lacking lately because I'm spending all my free time trying to put together the perfect "10 year anniversary" trip for Trav and I. 10 years! Man, this trip is really going to have to be a good one!

Happy 6th Birthday Ryan!!

2011-06-13T21:18:00.000-05:00

Our little boy is 6!!! How crazy it that? What happens when you turn six? Well, according to Ryan, you grow taller and get a lot faster - amazing how that can happen overnight. But, if you need proof, just ask him. He'll show you just how much faster he really is, and even point out that some of his old clothes no longer fit him (that actually is true, but unfortunately that has happened over the past few months, not overnight). We had a little celebration at our house for him and all was good until I asked him if he had a good birthday and he said, "yeah, I'm just a little sad because I wish some of my friends could have come over." Jeez, why doesn't he just stick a knife in my heart. He said all he wanted was a party just like last year with the same friends - sounds easy enough, but it's not. The party last year was on a Wednesday afternoon and Ash was here to help me keep tabs on the party kids and the girls. This year, it would have been just me, my three kids, Colton, and five birthday guests - I think that's never going to happen. Anyway, now that I know how extremely important it is to Ryan to have his "friend party", I will make every effort I can to make sure that always happens for him in the future. To end the night on a good note though, as I was tucking Ryan into bed, he was telling me that he is indeed the same Ryan he was yesterday, just a new 6 year old version. Then, as I was walking out of his room, he says, "I love you Mom, thanks for the gift and the best birthday ever" - my heart was officially melting. God I love that kid!

South Dakota, here we come!

2011-06-12T18:58:00.001-05:00

I had a bit of a homecoming this past weekend when we visited the SDSU campus for the first time in a long time. Although, there were two main differences with me this time compared my to college years spent out there, and there names are Ryan and Lauren! That's right, I packed up the kids (just the older two, Ellie isn't "ready" for heavy traveling yet), and headed back to see how much the campus and the facilities have changed in the past ten years (yes, I said 10 years, that means I'm really getting old). Let's just say, it's changed A LOT! The best part about the trip is that we had our own personal tour guide in AJ, my old basketball coach. He, along with his wife, Laurie, and newborn son, Dylan, showed us just how much the "college world" has changed in the past decade. We started in Frost Arena (which is where all of our basketball games were played) - that place alone was amazing. There were murals, pictures, and paintings of different athletes all over the place - it certainly wasn't the cement walls, and crappy paint jobs I remembered from my days there. And then there were the new basketball rooms . . . a team lounge, a team room (used before and during games instead of running all the way back to the locker room) and the actual locker room itself - they were all amazing. We're talking drop down movie screens (to watch game film), leather chairs (each player has their own chair they use for their entire four years), a lounge with a flat screen, Mac computers, WiFi and a Wii (Ryan of course wanted to sit down and play a few games) - all of this is just for the Women's Basketball team - it's crazy! After the team room and lounge, we headed back to the locker room (which is in a new addition they added onto the building). This locker room was BIG, and it even had individual shower stalls (with water that actually came out of the shower heads). Back in the day, we all used to have to huddle naked around one big shower in the middle of the room and try to get lucky and have a few ice cold drops of water fall on our soapy bodies (trust me guys - if there are any male readers - this might sound like every man's dream . . . 10 female athletes splashing around naked in the shower together, but it wasn't, it was terrible). After the tour of Frost, we hit up the rest of campus. It was hard to even remember what it looked like before because so much has changed, but once AJ would point out something new and then tell me how it used to be, it all came back to me. It's actually amazing that this is even the same campus I remember, that is how different it is. There are coffee shops, a full restaurant, and "dorms" that look more like apartments in the city - definitely not the college life I remember. After the tour, we headed back to Frost where the kids got a chance to run around and shoot some baskets. I must say, it was pretty cool to have my kids playing out on the court when just 10 years ago, I was out there running around like crazy and not thinking about what life would be like now - amazing how much change can happen in what I used to think of as a relatively short period of time. When it was all said and done, I'm still not really sure the kids get the complete idea that this is where I used to live, go to school, and play basketball (nor do they probably really care at this point), but it was still a great trip and hopefully will be a great memory for them for a long time to come.

Thanks again to AJ and family for showing us the new and improved SDSU campus. And to all of the fellow Jackrabbits out there who haven't been back to campus in a while, it's time to pack your bags and head out - you'll certainly be surprised (and very impressed!).

Here all a couple of pictures I snapped while we were out there. I was clearly too amazed by the things I was seeing to even get my camera out. It wasn't until we were back at Frost for the second time that I realized I carried my camera with the entire time, but never actually took a picture - oh well.

Monday, Fun Day

2011-06-06T21:10:00.000-05:00

Is it possible that a Monday could be a fun day? Well, usually not, but in our case, today was. It was also HOT! And I'm not just talking a little hot, I'm taking extremely hot and humid (the last reading in my car said 94 degrees). When it's that hot, there is little to nothing to do outside with two kids and two babies, except maybe hang out at Grandpa and Grandma's pool - yay for having a pool! So that is just what we did. I packed up the kids this morning and headed south to spend the day in the pool and help Grandpa Jim celebrate his 40th (I might be stretching a little with that number) birthday today - how perfect. And in honor of Grandpa's birthday, Grandma Donna managed to get out of work a little early too - apparently she didn't want to miss out on the fun. Here are a couple of pictures from the day. As you can tell, my attempt at taking a picture of the four grandkids and the grandparents didn't work out so great . . . Colt is too busy chillin' in his floatie to care about what I'm trying to do, Grandma has her hands full trying to hold both girls, and Ryan is being a typical boy and giving people "bunny ears" - oh well, at least the Birthday Boy looks good.

Oh, if ever Monday could be like this!

In other news, I have lots of catching up to do . . . there was a dance party, a trip to Duluth, and lots of home improvements. So much to write about, so little time to do it (at least not right now, I'm too tired).

School's out for summer!

2011-06-02T14:36:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was Lauren's last day of speech school, and today was Ryan's last day of kindergarten - yay! Not only does this mean Lauren is now almost a preschooler and Ryan is officially a 1st grader, but it also means no more rushing around like a crazy woman in the morning trying to get kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door by a certain time all while trying to keep Ellie and Colton happy - breathing a huge sigh of relief! Of course this down time will be short lived because soccer and t-ball start in a little over a week, but I'll enjoy while I have it. I regrettably forgot to get a picture of Lauren yesterday (just chalk it up as another "bad" mom moment), so I made sure I got the camera out today for Ryan's picture (although, if I am being completely honest, I have to admit that I did forget to take the picture before school so I had to take it after - oops!). Here is the boy today and in September at the start of the year. He grew a little taller, lost his tan, and cut his hair, but the one thing that didn't change was his skinny little legs!

Ryan's graduation

2011-05-31T14:15:00.001-05:00

It was finally time for Ryan's big day today . . . kindergarten graduation! With the boy looking good (we picked out an outfit last night), breakfast done, and teeth brushed, Ryan was off to school. After that, we (Trav, myself, Lauren, Ellie, Grandma Connie, and Grandpa Jim) headed out to the school for the big event. The parking lot was packed and so was the gym - good thing we're tall so standing in the back works just fine for us. The program consisted of some songs, an introduction of each child, and a crazy recessional to the tune of, "It's a Celebration" (pretty cute). After the program and some class pictures, we headed to the lunch area for juice and cookies. There we mingled with friends and chatted with Ryan's teacher before we ventured down to his classroom one last time - crazy how fast it all went. Even more crazy . . . at one point during the ceremony, the teacher said, "Let's here it once again for the future class of 2023" - it seems so far off, but with things going as fast as they have been, that date will be here before we know it, and sadly, I'll be a real old lady! Here are a couple of short videos and some quick pictures from the day. Congrats again to our little graduate, we are so proud!!

Ryan and his buddy, Gavin

Memorial Day weekend

2011-05-30T20:48:00.001-05:00

We had a busy holiday weekend. Trav and the kids went to the lake while I stayed home and helped Aaron and Ann move into their new house - I might have gotten the raw deal on that one! Actually, other than the sore body, the moving, painting, and helping organize the house was kind of fun (although I am in no hurry to help out again any time soon). And Trav and the kids said they all had a good time so I guess the weekend will go down as a success. Next weekend we have big plans again . . . stain and paint the deck. Aren't weekends supposed to be fun and relaxing?

In other news . . . Ryan has a big day tomorrow as he graduates from kindergarten - yay, we are so excited for him !!! The big event consists of a little graduation ceremony followed by juice and cookies - not a bad start to a short week. Pictures and more details coming tomorrow.

And finally, in other not so good news, I was a terrible parent this past week. Ryan lost his third tooth on Friday and when it came time for the Tooth Fairy to make a visit, I realized I didn't have any one dollar bills in my purse. After checking with Travis and realizing neither of us had anything smaller than a five dollar bill (Trav almost said to give him a $5, but I stopped him in mid sentence and said absolutely not - there is no way I'm starting that now only to keep it up for the next 10 years), I had to resort to thievery. I (regrettably) broke into Ryan's piggy bank and took out a one dollar bill, slipped it under the tooth box, grabbed the tooth, and snuck back out of his room undetected. Like I said, I was a terrible parent. On the up side, Ryan actually owed me $10 so technically, now he only owes me $9 - I wish that made me less guilty, but it really doesn't - oh well.

Lesson learned . . . always keep one dollar bills in the house just in case.

Ellie's new talents

2011-05-24T12:43:00.000-05:00

Our little lady has mastered a few new talents over the past couple of weeks . . . first up, "bye-bye." She does more of a parade type wave (think lots of wrist action), but still manages to get the job done. In addition to waving "bye-bye", she also has learned the art of kissing and blowing kisses - she is so multi-talented! Her "contact" kisses come complete with a little lean in with the head, followed by a gentle touch of her lips, and then as a final touch, she gives a little lip smack - so, so sweet. If she isn't in the mode for full contact, she will gladly blow some kisses your way. This (remember I'm her mom so I'm totally biased here), is also super cute. She covers her entire mouth with her little hand, plants a kiss, then pulls her hand away, and gives you that huge "toothy" grin of hers - like I said, super cute. Speaking of teeth, Ellie has managed to go from 4 teeth to 9 teeth in a matter of a couple of weeks. And these aren't just any teeth we're talking about. No, these are the "big" guys. Three molars in one week - you can imagine the fun we had at our house. In addition to the molars, she is also cutting two more teeth on the top, front of her mouth. If she keeps going at this rate, she should have a mouth full of chompers in another month or two. The upside to all of the teeth, she is now eating steak - just kidding. Although she does eat pretty much everything else in sight . . . fried egg sandwiches, coleslaw, burritos, all things I can't imagine a normal baby eats, but she does! Moving onto her physical activity . . . she still isn't walking on her own yet, but progress is good. She stands up by herself and manages to stay standing for a couple of seconds. She has also mastered (mastered might be a strong word to use here, more like figured out) how to get down the steps on her own. She scoots her little butt as close as she can get to the stairs, then dangles her toes until she makes contact. After that, she slides down backwards on her belly and off she goes - whatever gets her where she wants to go is good with me. And finally (and most importantly in Ellie's world), she continues her friendship she has had since birth with . . . her thumb! The kid relies on the thumb in any kind of situation . . . to sleep, to keep her occupied when she is done eating, when life doesn't go her way. Really, whenever she has nothing to do, she always has her thumb - it is literally her best friend. I'm okay with this for now, but I can already see the issues we are going to have trying to get her to stop sucking on it. I'm going to go ahead and save that battle for later and just be happy with the way things are now. Here are a couple of videos of Ellie showing off, and a couple of pictures of Lauren and Colton watching and entertaining themselves - enjoy.

Unattended children

2011-05-18T21:08:00.001-05:00

What happens when you walk out of the room and leave your 1-year-old unattended with her big sister and windows crayons? All of a sudden you hear laughing, and by the time you get back into the kitchen, you see your 3-year-old drawing on her little sister's face . . . so much fun!

Green forehead, blue nose, and a pink goatee - nice look Ellie. Whatever, at least they were having fun and the window crayons wipe off pretty easy so no harm done (other than to Ellie's hair, that didn't wipe out so easy).

Random pictures

2011-05-17T21:41:00.001-05:00

I just realized I never uploaded these pictures off my camera so I did it today. Random shots . . . Ryan reading a book to Colton (he does this at least a couple of days a week). Colton is by far his most captive audience at the moment (Ellie doesn't sit still long enough and Lauren tries to "help" him read which he does not appreciate), Ellie in one of my favorite old outfits of Lauren's, and Lauren being her normal happy self.

Babes in the park

2011-05-16T21:41:00.001-05:00

The weather was nice, the kids were happy . . . this was the perfect day for a park visit! And this visit was a "first" for me. It was the first time packing up all four kids (my three plus Colton) and venturing out for an actual activity, and not just to drop off or pick up someone - kind of a big deal. So, with naps done, snacks all eaten (and a bottle for Colt), we loaded up (it is still so weird to have two rear-facing car seats in the van), and headed out to try out a new (new to us at least) park in town. It took all of two seconds after pulling in for Ryan and Lauren to unbuckle and get out of the door - they were really excited! And why wouldn't they be? This park had it all, great slides, lots of swings, and best of all (for me at least), a fence around the whole thing to keep all the "runaway" kiddies safe inside. With Ryan and Lauren off playing with some new "friends" (they literally walked into the park and asked the first couple of kids they saw if they, "wanted to play"), I was left to tend to the little ones. Knowing how much Ellie loves swings, I thought we would start there. I mistakenly thought it would be fun to put both of the babes in the same swing, back-to-back. The minute I tried to stick Colton in Ellie's swing, she leaned back and made sure to let me know that this was her swing, and she did not need anyone else in it with her - silly me. So instead, I put Colton in the swing next to her, and they were off. I'm sure they would have sat in the swings the entire time, but because we were hogging both of the baby swings, and there were other little ones at the park, I decided it was best to take them out and find other adventures for them - let's just say nothing was as good as those swings. After about 40 minutes, the baby meltdowns ensued and it was time to hit the road. By then Ryan and Lauren were hot and sweaty from their constant running and were more than happy to get in the van and get some water. Overall, I'd say it was a great first adventure with the whole gang. We are looking forward to many more this summer! Here are the only pictures I managed to get. The big kids were far too busy doing their own thing so I only managed to get pictures of the two immobile little people.

Love this last picture of Ellie . . . she just couldn't figure out why all the big kids could climb up and she couldn't - what a bum deal.

The little game of "catch-up"

2011-05-15T20:08:00.003-05:00

I haven't been doing the greatest at keeping up with this lately. There have been two big factors in that, and their names are Ashley and Colton. First up, it seems like whenever Ash comes to visit, I do less typing and more actual talking to a person - what a concept! Anyway, with her 214 day (I may be exaggerating on that number a bit, I think it was closer to 5 weeks) "vacation" back to MN coming to an end, there will be one less adult to talk to during the day (that officially will leave me with zero), so with no other outlet, I expect my blogging to pick up a bit. That is, if my other "X" factor, Colton, will work with me. So far, so good. Ellie is on her normal napping schedule, and Colton seems to be getting the hang of things around here. I give him a couple more weeks and this place will be running like a well oiled machine which will leave me with a good hour to hour and a half of "quiet" time in the afternoon when the big kids play by themselves, and the babies sleep - that should make for some excellent blogging time. With that said, there are a few things to catch up on.

The first big news . . . Ryan has started riding his bike without training wheels. Well, actually, it is not his bike that he rides now, rather, he has gone back to his little bike where he has a little more control, and a lot shorter distance to the pavement should he take a bad fall (I'm happy to report there have been no falls to date). In addition to that, his kindergarten school year is quickly coming to an end. He "graduates" on May 31st - hard to believe this will be his second graduation already, by the time his high school graduation rolls around, he probably won't even care. After school ends, summer activities begin. He chose to do both soccer and t-ball again this year so he (or should I say, we) should stay pretty busy.

Lauren also had some big news this past week . . . she had her first official visit to the nail salon! That's right people, my 3 year had her first pedicure this past week, and to think, I had my first just a couple of years ago. I guess it is true what they say, you always want better for your kids! On top of looking beautiful with her pretty painted toes, the little lady is also gearing up for the end of her school year. She has just 3 more classes and then speech class with Mrs. Rebecca is done. Some days I'm not so sure the class has helped as much as I would have liked, but then Lauren will strike up a conversation with a neighbor and that person will mention how much easier it is to understand her so I guess it must be working after all. She will continue speech classes next year twice a week so hopefully things will continue to improve.

And finally, the babe. Ellie is still the same Ellie. She has yet to take her first step, although she is getting around furniture much quicker so maybe it will happen soon, and maybe not. Whenever she's ready, we'll be ready too. She has also cut two molars in the past couple of weeks which has meant lots of crying and messy diapers - good news . . . 2 more teeth down, bad news . . .too many more to go. With the addition of her two new teeth, the kid eats pretty much anything, and lots of it! As of now, she is our best eater. It you can dice it up and throw it on her tray, she'll do the rest. She still maintains her honor of being the "best baby ever." Her days are very predictable, wake up, eat, play, diaper change, wake up, eat, play, diaper change, you get the idea - very simple, very easy. You take out a few bad days here and there and she has literally been the easiest baby ever (here is where I would say, "I'd take 10 more if they were just like her", but I won't because that would be a lie - 3 kids is enough for me).

That pretty much sums things up around here. On an exciting note, I have planned a trip out to Brookings in June to take the kids to the SDSU campus and visit an old friend. I can't wait to see how much the campus has changed (it has been 4 years since my last visit), to show the kids where their mom played basketball, and best of all, to see an old friend and meet her kids for the first time - fun times ahead!

It's HOT!!!

2011-05-11T07:45:00.001-05:00

Today was all about enjoying the warm (or should I say, HOT weather outside - it was 88 degrees). We started out in the morning as usual playing in the cul-de-sac with bikes, wagons, trikes - whatever it was that the kids felt like playing with. Then, after lunch we had big plans to go to a park somewhere, but one step outside, and I knew that wasn't going to happen. It wasn't only hot, it was super muggy. My mind switched from park to sprinkler. After getting everything set, the kids got their swimsuits on, and we headed out to the backyard for some fun - check it out . . .

The babies were thoroughly impressed and amazed by the things Ryan and Lauren were doing. Ellie just sat in the stroller with Colt (who was busy chewing on the straps by the way) trying to figure the whole thing out. This was great for me - two quiet babes and two kids having fun, how perfect. That all changed though once Ash brought in the "goods." The "goods" I speak of are strawberry/banana smoothies from Caribou. Once they were spotted, Ryan and Lauren fought over who got the first drink, and Ellie nearly started shaking (even though she had no idea what was in my glass, she just knew she had to have it). I then made the terrible mistake of letting her suck on my straw - let's just say that was the end of my smoothie and the beginning of her addiction. The kid literally sucked on the straw as hard as she could and for as long as she could until she finally had to take her little blue lips (okay, maybe they weren't really blue, but they were heading in that direction) off the straw to take a breathe. And me being the inconsiderate person I am, decided that her break could be my turn to take a drink - I quickly found out how wrong I was. The minute my hand touched the glass, she started to shake and whimper. I finally had to run in the house and pour some of the smoothie into a sippy cup for fear that if I didn't, my 1 year old would steal and consume my entire drink. After the whole "smoothie incident" (I have learned my lesson trust me), we resumed playtime. Ellie and Colton stripped down to their diapers (it was seriously hot) while Ryan and Lauren headed back to the sprinkler. Here are some more pictures from the day . . . make sure to check out all of Lauren's poses - the kid really knows how to work the camera!

Matchy-matchy

2011-05-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

A couple pics of Colton and Ellie in their matching coats. Lauren assisted in getting them to sit still - you can see we weren't that successful.

12-Month Well-Child Exam

2011-05-02T21:57:00.000-05:00

So Ellie had her 12-month well-child exam today, and as usual, she is looking good. Her stats are as follows: Weight: 20 lbs 12 oz, 45%, Height: 31 inches, 96%, Head: 18 1/2 in, 90%. In comparison to her 9 month exam, she has gained 2 lbs, stretched out another 2 inches, and expanded her brain size another 1/4 of an inch - not too shabby for 3 months of work!

How she stacks up compared to Ryan and Lauren at 12 months . . . she is the shortest by over an inch (and the nurse still commented on how long she was!). Ryan was 32 1/2 inches longs, while Lauren even put him to shame by coming in at 33 1/4 inches long (now, she was a tall baby!). Ellie also comes in last in the weight division. Ryan weighed in at 23 lbs, and Lauren took the gold again at a whopping 24 lbs 8 oz (like I said, she was a BIG baby). And finally, the head. This was the one area Ellie didn't come in last, Lauren did (the biggest kid had the smallest head, how ironic). Ryan's huge head was measured at 19.4 inches (he has always had a rather large head), Ellie came in second at 18.5 inches, and Lauren pulled up the rear measuring in at 18.3 inches.

Beyond all the measuring and poking and prodding, Ellie also got three shots and a finger prick to check her hemoglobin. After that, the babe was spent! We came home and she immediately went down for her well deserved morning nap - oh, to have the life of a baby!

Apparently I Rock!

2011-04-30T18:31:00.017-05:00

Ash bought a black onsie for Ryan way back in the day when he was just a babe. It read, "My Mom Rocks." I obviously made him wear it as often as possible because let's face it, I do rock, so why not share the news with everyone (I hope everyone knows I'm totally joking and am not a completely self absorbed person). Anyway, I liked it so much on Ryan, that when Lauren was born, she also sported the onsie a few times. And then, the other day I was going through Ellie's drawers trying to pull out some of the stuff she has outgrown and there it was, the "My Mom Rocks" onsie tucked way back in the corner in the top drawer. So I pulled it out, paired it with some sweet purple pants, and let Ellie share in the fun. I can honestly say that this is the only clothing item that all three of the kids have worn. That alone was reason enough for me to go through some old pictures and see if I have proof. Here are the results . . .

Ryan and Lauren were both 10 months old in their pictures, Ellie is 1 year and 1 day old in hers. I'm going to have to save the onsie and give it back to Ashley when she starts having babies of her own. Although, I can only give it to her if she promises to rock (let's just say she might have some work to do) - jk Ash.

And because I am a nerd and had nothing better to do with my time, I also made this collage of the kids . . .

The celebration

2011-04-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Since Ellie missed her birthday celebration this past weekend due to her illness, I thought it was only right to make sure she got a party on her actual birthday. With that in mind, the kids and I headed out to Target the other day and bought all the necessary supplies . . . birthday hats, a "1" candle, lots of sprinkles (for the cake), and the perfect cake mix (Ryan picked out the flavor of the cake - chocolate, Lauren picked out the color green for the writing, and I choose the frosting - chocolate as well). With all of our gear in hand, we headed back home anxious to make the little girl his first birthday cake. This was the first time I actually made a "1st birthday" cake since Grandma Connie has always done it in the past, and I must say, it was very fun (having the kids help was certainly the best part). The cake turned out just perfect . . . lots of frosting to lick, and lots of sprinkles - a great combination for any cake. Lauren wanted some "extras" on the cake so I did my best to make a flower and a group of balloons - they weren't fancy, but she was pleased so that is all that matters. Here is our finished product . . .

The celebration, much like the cake, was very simple. The guest list included the birthday girl (obviously), Ryan, Lauren, myself, Ash, and Colton. The party consisted of us lighting the candle, singing "Happy Birthday", and then digging in - a perfect little party for a perfect little girl! Happy Birthday (again) Ellie, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

My little 1 year old

2011-04-28T00:00:00.002-05:00

How crazy is it that year year ago today, the family (Trav, myself, Ryan, and Lauren), were getting ready to meet our new baby girl? We had no idea what to expect, or how our lives would change, but looking back on the past year, it has been just about perfect. Here is a letter to Ellie to let her know all about her first year.

Ellie,

My dear, sweet, little Ellie. You were little when I met you, and you are still "little" today (in comparison to your siblings at least). The day you were born was not exactly what I expected. I was thinking, easy, calm, and relaxing. You obviously didn't agree, and instead went for, difficult, stressful, and painful (not the three best words to use when describing the birth of your child). When it was all said and done, you came out as this perfect, little bundle of joy (although your appearance was a real surprise . . . we thought you would look more like Lauren, and instead you came out with a head full of jet black hair, and bright blue eyes - which I have been told more than once will cause trouble for us in the future). The first few days of your life were pretty peaceful, just you and me in the hospital with occasional visitors - that is where the peace ended! The first night at home was a real eye opener for me. All of a sudden we had 3 kids and just 2 parents - we were officially outnumbered. Trying to make everyone happy was tough, but your Daddy and I couldn't have been happier - we had our perfect little family. I'm not going to lie and say it was easy, it wasn't, but it was certainly worth all of the hard work. Eventually you found your place in the family, or should I say, we found all of our places in the family while working around your schedule? Either way, life got back to normal and everything became easier again. Everyday seemed to bring something new in your world. There was the first night you slept through the night (this happened at 4 months - a day I will never forget!), the day I took my boobs back for good (at 6 months, a day I'm sure you'll never forget - you were so mad), the first time you rolled over, the first time you sat by yourself, the first time your ate cereal, the first time you crawled . . . there are so many "firsts" to list, just think of all the amazing things you have accomplished in your short life! We're still waiting on a few important "firsts" - saying "momma" (probably the most important), walking, talking, etc., but those can all wait. You have been a wonderful little baby (and I'm not just saying that because you are mine), many people have commented on the fact that you are in their words, "such an easy baby." You laugh, you smile (that big gap toothed smile of yours that we love so much), and you just take it easy. You have brought such happiness to our family and have made us complete. We are the "Quast 5" now and forever because of you, so thank you for that. I, or should I say we, love you more than you'll ever know. Thanks for being the great little person you are. I'm so excited to watch you learn and grow over the years.

Love, Mom

And here are a couple of pictures and a quick video showing the little lady working on her walking skills - enjoy!

The Monday after Easter

2011-04-25T21:13:00.002-05:00

Today was a great day! Ellie seems to be getting over whatever it is that she had, Ryan did not get sick, and Lauren was entertaining as usual. On top of all of that, the weather was great too! The kids and I took full advantage by getting outside, riding bikes, going to the park, and playing a little kickball with the neighborhood kids. And after all that fun, Troy, Nicole, EJ, and Grandma Connie all stopped over for a visit and a mini birthday party for Ellie (her party was supposed to be on Sunday, but considering we missed Easter, we also missed the party). A couple of pics to recap the day. The first is a true sign of the time . . . a 1 year old texting on her mom's cell phone - really Ellie?

And here is proof that not every member of the Quast family had a "Not So Happy Easter" weekend . . .

This explains why all of our kids are dancing freaks. Next time Trav gets the sick kid and I get to go out!!

A not so Happy Easter

2011-04-24T19:12:00.000-05:00

Easter turned out a little different than planned this year. The original plan was head to Mom and Dad's place on Friday, Trav and the big kids would then go over to his parent's place and Ellie and I would stay in St. Pete so I could catch up with some friends. After that, we would all meet up again on Saturday over in Gaylord to spend the rest of the weekend there with the Quast family. A nice, simple plan - too bad Ellie didn't get the memo. The poor little girl starting running a temp on Wednesday, by Thursday night she was on fire. Sometime during the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, it seemed like maybe her fever had broke (she was laying with me in bed and when I picked her up, the sheets were soaked with sweat). When the "real" (I consider this anytime after 6am) morning finally came, her temp was back to normal so I thought all was good. Obviously I was wrong though, otherwise the title wouldn't be "A not so Happy Easter", it would've just simply been, "Happy Easter." With Ellie doing much better, we packed up and headed south. With Trav, Ryan, and Lauren packed and on their way to Gaylord, I sat back and relaxed while Grandma and Grandpa tried to hold Ellie. The thought was nice, but the reality was that she didn't want anyone but me (that should have been my first clue that all was not well with the little gal). By the time bedtime rolled around, Ellie was once again running a temp. She was super crabby, super clingy, and super annoying (is that mean of me to say?). She was so uncomfortable, she didn't know what she wanted so she just cried. When I did finally manage to get her to sleep, it was short lived. By 1am, she was up and back to her not so normal self. I rocked her, laid with her, walked with her - nothing did the trick. When I finally did manage to get her back to sleep it was 3:30am and by 6:40am, she was back up again. Nights like that are a distant memory considering Ellie has always been such a good sleeper. The day didn't get any better. Think lots of crying, lots of rocking, and little to no sleeping (for her or me). I finally called the nurse's line back home and they recommended that I bring her in considering she had had the fever for 4 days now. The doctor at Urgent Care checked her out (very briefly, and not so thoroughly I might add) and said she had a virus and a yeast infection to boot and that there was nothing he could do. So back to Grandma's house we went and proceeded to suffer through the rest of the day with Ellie crying, almost sleeping, and then crying some more. By bedtime I was getting really annoyed of everything so I figured it was best that I just pack up and head back home where maybe Ellie would be a little more comfortable in her own bed and where I would be close to the clinic if needed. The only problem with this plan, the van was in Gaylord with Trav. After some dropping off and picking up, we managed to get everybody where they needed to bed and Ellie and I headed home. Once we were home, it was just easier to deal with everything. I rocked Ellie to sleep, and she slept for almost 4 hours before she woke up around 1am with jammies and sheets that were soaked once again (is it possible that she had another fever and it broke, I don't know?). On top of the wet jammies, her face was now also covered with a rash - super. But, other than that, she was pretty good. We rocked some more, and about fifteen minutes later she was back in her crib sound asleep. By the time 7am rolled around, Ellie was in pretty good spirits - there was no temp, and the rash on her face wasn't as red as it was earlier - I'm taking this as a sign that she is on the road to recovery. We celebrated Easter together by going to Walmart to get some groceries (can you believe Cub Foods wasn't open?), taking a stroll around the neighborhood, and then topped things off with a Chicken Tender Melt from Perkins (not a bad Easter meal if you ask me). At around 4:00pm, the rest of the gang came back home. The kids were tired so we ate supper, took showers, and got ready for an early bedtime. But before things got too easy, Ryan told me his stomach hurt and his head was hot. Great, just what I need, another sick kid! Keeping my fingers crossed that he'll wake up tomorrow finally just fine.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!

So I heard you had neck surgery

2011-04-20T15:48:00.001-05:00

Ryan went over to his buddy's house today. But before he left, I reminded him that Gavin's (the friend) mom just had neck surgery and would be wearing a brace (I did this to prevent him from walking into the house and saying something crazy about his mom's appearance). My talk was simple . . . "Staci (the mom) just got home from the hospital and had a cool looking neck brace on to make sure she didn't get hurt anymore. Please be extra careful around her and use good manners." Ryan shook his head and said, "sure thing Mom." So off we went. When we got to Gavin's house, Gavin opened the door. The boys said hi then Staci came around the corner. She said hi to Ryan. His reply, "so I heard you had neck surgery - how are things going?" The kid definitely has a way with words!

Onto other things . . . Ellie graduated to eating at the table with the "big" kids (well, at least for today so Colton could have the high chair). She thoroughly enjoyed being at the table and smearing her grubby little hands all over the place!

Old like you Mom

2011-04-19T20:22:00.001-05:00

The girls and I were driving back from Target today when Lauren says, "I have a cut on my finger." I responded with, "oh, that is too bad." Lauren says, "yeah, it hurts." And goes on with, "it's coming off just like yours, I guess that means I'm old like you Mom." I'm not exactly sure what she meant by the "coming off" thing (I'm guessing she is referring to my old skin), but at least now I know my precious little three year old refers to me as "old" - super. I was so annoyed with the comment that I made the girls get out the van and find their own ride home . . .

Thank God Ellie had her helmet on because Lauren has a tendency to be a bit of a crazy driver!

Aside from that uplifting moment, we also took today as our opportunity to dye our Easter eggs (yes, I know we are cutting it a little close, but at least we got it done). Here are some pictures of the kiddos working their magic and revealing their finished products.

Lauren's #1 fan

2011-04-17T14:07:00.001-05:00

We had the whole gang over this weekend - Grandma, Grandpa, Aaron, Ann, Colt, and Ash - for Ashley's going away party (only thing, she isn't going anywhere - she was supposed to fly home Monday, but instead, has extended her stay here in MN for another couple of weeks). Anyway, the party was already set so we all still got together and hung out for the night. With so many "watchful eyes", Lauren took full advantage and put on a good show. She used the opportunity to showcase her dancing and singing skills for everyone. There was booty shaking, kicks, and lots of good lyrics. We all enjoyed watching her, but Colton thought it was amazing! The kid could hardly take his eyes off of her. And Lauren, being the good big cousin she is, didn't disappoint. The more she danced and moved, the more Colt laughed and squealed! Check it out.Apparently the kid knows good talent when he sees it. I'm seeing "talent agent" in his future, "rockstar" in Lauren's - what a deadly combo that would be!

And here are a couple of pictures of Ellie in her shades - such a stylish little girl!

Ugh, rain

2011-04-14T21:13:00.002-05:00

The beautiful weather of the past week is gone - in it's place . . . rain, sleet and cold! Here are some picture memories of the girls enoying the sun while we had it. Can't wait for it to come back again!

And here are some random shots from inside. Check out Ellie's new hair-do. Lately, it is the only way to keep her long bangs (which is the only "long" hair she has) out of her face. And Miss Lauren all dolled up (thanks Auntie for the hair and outfit) for her first day back at school after a 3 week break (oh, to be a speech teacher!).

"Do I get a vacation?"

2011-04-07T20:42:00.001-05:00

So I have apparently been treating Ryan like an employee lately because for the past two days, he has been requesting, "a vacation day." A vacation from what you might ask . . . buckling Lauren's seat belt and leaving the water on for her when he is done washing his hands - talk about hard work! Back in the day when I was just a youngster myself, I seem to remember feeding, dressing, and basically raising my younger sister. I do not however remember asking for a vacation day from my duties. I guess this just goes to show how "soft" kids are becoming today. I'm thinking it is time to toughen the kid up a bit - maybe I'll get really crazy and ask him to help Lauren put on her shoes - imagine the stress that could cause!

And then there is Lauren. Oh my sweet, sweet Lauren. In addition to every else she is, I can now officially add two more words to her list . . . clepto and hoarder. If anything is left unattended in our house for more than a minute, she swoops in, grabs the item, and immediately hoards it into one of her many places (I like to call them her junk bags). The other day I couldn't find my phone. Twenty minutes later (and a few choice words), I (or we, Lauren pretended to help look for it) found my phone in a big purse (thanks again to our neighbor Cheryl for giving her that huge, ugly bag) amongst some dolls, a slipper, and one of my measuring cups - like I said, a "junk bag." I don't know why she does this, but it needs to stop! Nothing drives me crazier than looking for something I just set down and not being able to find it.

I love my kids, I love my kids - I just have to remind myself of this a few times a day!

Pictures

2011-04-06T21:01:00.004-05:00

Playing in the laundry basket

Ready for a walk

What a pose!

She got tired pulling the wagon so she decided to carry it the rest of the way.

Sprinting off the bus

Catching up on their mornings

Playing catch up again

2011-04-06T09:59:00.000-05:00

I see that it has been a while since my last post - apparently things got a little busy! Let's see, where to start. I guess I'll do a quick summary of each of the kids and inform everyone of what is going on in their lives.

First up, Ryan. He just finished up Spring Break - that meant 10 straight days without school! He was pretty excited about the idea of not going to school for so long, but a couple of days into, I'm pretty sure the excitement wore off. That is when he realized Spring Break wasn't really any different from any other normal day - such a letdown. He used his time off to fuel up on lots of play time, exercise (at the Y), and food! I swear, the kid has finally turned into a boy who likes to eat! Some days he'll put down three waffles, a banana, and orange juice. This may not seem like a lot, but for a kid who usually eats a piece of toast and says he is full, this is great! He even went as far as to order a turkey sub from Subway the other day - a first for him, and although he didn't eat all of it, he gave it a good try.

Onto Lauren . . . what can I say about her, but the usual. She still keeps me on my toes on a daily basis. And although she hasn't presented herself with any new mystery illnesses, she does like to fall down, or bump into things a lot just to keep me wondering. The girl is crabby, silly, naughty, and nice all wrapped into a 40 pound ball of muscles. In fact, she has the body I always wanted - muscles everywhere, a cute little butt, and a killer smile. Watch out boys, whoever ends up with her is in for a real treat!

And then there is Ellie. The babe is hardly a babe anymore. In less than a month she will be 1 and our baby days will officially be over. In the past couple of weeks she has went from our precious little immobile Ellie to our crazy, never stops moving, crawling, or climbing Ellie. She mastered the stairs in one day (only going up though, going down is still a mystery to her - she has taken a couple of tumbles and has the bumps to prove this). She is no longer the baby that sits there and watches as her older siblings run and play. Instead, she'll crawl along, and if she has something one of them wants, she'll put up a good fight to keep it in her hands - very amusing to watch!

Besides the kids, Trav and I have also been staying busy. Trav continues to help out with his brother's house (they are about 75% finished), and I've been staying busy with Ashley (she is visiting for a couple of weeks from California). On top of that, we also ordered some new furniture (yes, I got the table I so desperately wanted for Trav's birthday present) and while we were in the store, Trav found a new couch as well - talk about fun! Also in the works, helping Aaron and Ann do some house hunting (things are looking good is this area), and welcoming Ann into the wonderful world of 30 year olds! It was a crazy night, but fun none the less (too bad Aaron was home sick - he missed out on a good time).

That's all for now. The weather has finally started to cooperate so that means lots of outdoor time for the kids. I'm going to try to get some pictures while we are out today.