Sweet Corn Season

 Living in Nebraska we have a lot of corn that grows around us. The silly thing is though not much of it is edible straight off the stalk. The last few years we have known a local grower of sweet (edible) corn and have been fortunate enough to get enough corn to freeze for our family. This year the grower we usually get it from, didn't plant much and what little he did plant has dried up with the drought. I didn't think we were going to have enough corn to eat a few meals let alone freeze. I'd decided we would just buy frozen in the store, and not eat it as often.  

Thankfully my dad was talking to a woman he works with and they had 4 whole rows they were just going to "feed to the squirrels" if we didn't come get it! I jumped at the chance, and headed out with the kids to pick corn! We ended up with 5 big tubs, and 2 coolers full.

 Dad was also awesome enough to let us have it all because they had some left over from last year. I about cried at the thought of shucking it all myself with the kids. Dad stepped up again though and offered to help! I was so thankful!!

Addysen just hung out while we worked on shucking corn!! 

 

The biggest game came when grandpa was cutting off the excess. He would get the kids with the corn, and they would move. Finally it got to the point where they were done and complaining so dad moved over. Goofy kids followed along with him and still let him get them. 

Dad's dog Baxter was all about helping, and babysitting.

My grandpa even stopped by to say hello and get some fresh sweet corn. My grandma passed away just a week prior so he brought us over some of the cards to read from friends and family as well.

First Day of School 2012

It's that time of year again where I send my babies off to school. This year Dahrran will be a 4th grader....someone PLEASE tell me where the time has went! He hit a growth spurt shortly before school started, and is now wearing size 14 pants, 10/12 shirts, and a 7 (yes I said 7) shoe!! In a few short months I fear we will be able to wear the same shoes.

MacKenzie is going to be a 2nd grader this year and couldn't be more excited. Sadly she is still able to wear most of her clothes from last year, and her sister will pass her up in no time. Poor girl will be short like her mama!

Kaitlynn started the 4 year old preschool class this year. This means that she is home in the mornings, and goes in the afternoons. It was a bit of an adjustment for her to not have to get on the bus with the big kids this morning. When it came time to go to school she informed me we NEEDED to go about 20 minutes before it was time. We also "probably missed my bus already!"

Sweet Addysen doesn't quite know what to do with all the quiet time. She has been talking lots, and getting an interrupted nap!!

Welcome!

If you're here you've made the switch with us! It's been so long since I blogged that I just decided it was time to start fresh with the correct blog link. Hopefully someday we'll buy our own website, but until then here we are!!

If you're new here, Welcome!! Thanks for stopping by, we're anxious to get started blogging again as well as documenting our lives! Here's a little bit about us!

Joel & Amanda: We began dating the last day of Joel's senior year in High School .  Joel had been asking me out for years and I'd always said no. Finally I emailed him and asked him to go out with me. Later that summer, we found out I was pregnant and expecting a boy! Things could've gone so many ways, but I'm thankful for everything we had that summer. Joel went off to college, and I completed my senior year in High School (pregnant and all!). After graduating High School, we moved in together while Joel completed his degree. 

I've been a SAHM for the last 9 years and have loved almost every minute of it! We got married in 2004, bought a house in 2005 and added to our family since! Sure the last 10 years of togetherness have had their ups and downs, but we've persevered through and work on our marriage daily.

Dahrran: An average 9 year old boy who has started to eat us out of house and home. He loves legos, tractors, and anything farm related. One of his biggest loves is John Deere and even got his wish to have his room painted yellow and green this last year!


MacKenzie: 7 going on 17, and always a joy to be around. She can be such a lover and at the same time such a drama queen. She is for sure our strong willed child. She loves all things purple, has a large heart for Horses, and is an avid reader.


Kaitlynn: Such a tall girl for her age. She is almost 5 but just about as tall as her older sister. She loves all things Hello Kitty, loves her baby sister, and all babies in general. She is such a sweetheart and loves to cuddle and give kisses.


Addysen: Our newest addition. Having a baby in the house again is such a refreshing joy. Born the smallest of all our kids, and with the most hair, she is such a pleasure to enjoy. She doesn't mind trying out all the different types of cloth diapers her mom puts on her!


Our family also includes 3 pets! Jackson our 8 year old chocolate lab, Izzy our 3 year old Schnauzer, and Telly our 6 year old "fat" cat!


Thanks for coming along our ride as we try to get through the every day life as a family of 6!

Our Family…..

• has 10 members.
• consists of 5 humans.
• consists of 5 pets.
• has 6 males, and 4 females.
• has 2 dogs.
• a cat.
• a rabbit.
• a fish.
• and now lives all under one roof!

Ever have a moment?

When you wish there was someone in the room just taking pictures? Or to even be a “fly on the wall?”

I had one of those moments on Saturday. We’d just gotten home from a long day at softball tournaments (well Joel and the kids were at them, I was at work until the last game!) and everyone was cranky. Joel and I laid down on the bed with our legs dangling over the sides. In came the girls, soon MacKenzie had made her way on top of me to cuddle. For no reason whatsoever Kaitlynn started to cry, and all she would say was “mooom-mieeee.” Eventually I got her to crawl up on to our bed and climb on top of me (after some persuasion to MacKenzie to move.)

It was one of those moments when I KNEW everyone was going to crash within moments. I summoned Dahrran into our room and told him to lay down. Within 5 minutes everyone was asleep except myself. Even Joel was snoring. I laid there and thought to myself, it would be so awesome to have this moment on film. To just have us all as a family, and laying here.

I then decided I wasn’t going to let this moment go. I slowly worked my way out of the pile and took a picture. I was laying there underneath Kaitlynn. Such a precious moment!

Happy Birthday MacKenzie!

Since I’m all sorts of behind on blogging I figured why not catch up in order! When Dahrran got into school we decided we weren't going to do big parties for EVERY birthday they had while in school. We set the rule at one big party in Kindergarten, and we would go from there on the rest of the years. Thankfully Dahrran hasn’t asked for anything but sleepovers since!

MacKenzie wanted to take everyone to Chucky Cheese for her birthday, which would’ve been an okay thing except the closest Chucky Cheese is an hour away. Which still isn’t bad except the fact that there are 7 girls in her class and my car only holds 6 passengers (besides myself). So we settled on bowling instead!

She wasn’t quite sure at first how to get started, but with a little help from daddy she was well on her way to being a great bowler!

This is a super blurry picture but it captures most of the moments when each of the girls would get it all the way down the lane!

   

Since the bowling alley we went to only had one set of bumpers there was a lot of laying around during turns!

I got the idea for MacKenzie’s cake from Family Fun Magazine! We improvised some and I’m glad I did! I’m not sure the kids would’ve eaten the coconut on the cupcakes!

  

I love that these girls are already friends. There are a total of 24 kids in MacKenzie’s grade, and only 7 girls! (one was sick unfortunately the day of the party) Hopefully they’ll grow even closer as the years go on!

Even Kaitlynn got to come to her “sisters party” and she loved every minute of it!

Wordless Wednesday!

Aunt Bridget came and help the kids dye eggs this Easter. She loves coming to help them dye eggs but it’s been a while! (go ahead check out that blog post, I’ll wait! You’ll want to see how cute the kids were!) While she came up to dye eggs, she also got the chance to take them to the Easter Egg Hunt. Last year we were so proud of MacKenzie. She wasn’t afraid of the bunny, but this year was another story! Completely afraid. :(

 

We did lunch at our house again this year, (seems to be my holiday to host!) For Easter my dad got the kids Alpha & Omega, so we all sat around and watched movies and napped afterwards. Such a peaceful day!

Spring Game Fun

We’ve taken the kids to other spring football games in the past, and kind of decided the last couple of years to not go. This year we’d thought about it, but just decided to not go again. That was until a lady Joel works with offered him 5 tickets. We really didn’t have anything planned that day except hanging out at home so we thought why not!

MacKenzie wasn’t really excited at first to go to a football game for her birthday (oh forgot to mention it was scheduled for her birthday!) but when we told her we had decided to go out for supper she was all about it.

The week leading up to the game was cold, rainy and even threatened snow in April!!! But thankfully come game day it wasn’t too bad. By the time the game started we were sitting on our coats! I’d made these super cute dresses for the game, and they did get to sport them for a while! (even though I don’t really have decent pictures of them, hopefully it’s a post for another day!)

 

We also decided to just get a motel in Lincoln with a pool for MacKenzie’s Birthday…….but of course by the time we got to the motel BOTH my camera’s were dead! :(

Happy Birthday miss MacKenzie!!