Snippets of our vacation

Here I go again getting back into the schedule of life without blogging again.

Dahrran is playing football this fall ad lots of softball games for our niece and I am blindsided by life. So, I'll post a few snippets of vacation and blog more later on the trip!

Laundry

You know how they say you don't know what you have till it's gone? Yeah that's kind of how I feel now about my laundry. Except that I don't know how I did it before with my crappy washer!!! It felt soooo good today to get my laundry room all back in order. It's been a crazy few days not doing any laundry.

I was telling Joel tonight (after putting the 4th load of laundry in for the day!!) that I didn't realize just how bad our laundry situation SUCKED until we got the "new" ones in place. Before I would spend all day doing laundry sometimes only getting 1 load done. If I was lucky I could get 3 loads done a day. Those loads also were about half the size of a "normal" load because our washer would not drain if it was any bigger!! When you're a family of 6 this just doesn't cut it.

What type of person are you when it comes to cleaning for company to come over?

I'm the type that cleans the areas no one see's ..... because I know they will STAY clean. I always feel like cleaning our main living areas days/weeks before company comes is pointless. But when I clean closets and basements, (and laundry rooms) I feel like my house is really clean even though you can't see my living room floor!

So this being said, I had to show you some pictures of my clean laundry room. It's the only room in our basement (besides the dinky storage room) that is unfinished. I wish there was a way to finish it, but for now we'll love it the way it is.

Of course in the middle of me taking a few pictures MacKenzie decided she needed to hop up on the dryer. Silly Girl!

Kaitlynn got to celebrate  her birthday today at school and she looked so cute! It also happened to be picture day so she got the royal treatment before we walked out the door. I was even nice enough to take her to school. On the ride in she asked me if I could take her every day!

While the big kids were in school Addysen and I met my sister in Seward to pick up Kailtynn's birthday present and get some lunch. When we got lunch Addysen was sleeping so peacefully. I love how she has found her fingers and will suck on the two of them to help soothe her.

Life as we know it

What a week it's been at our house, crazy as it sounds I thought this week wasn't going to be that bad!

Sunday we didn't do a whole lot except can tomatoes and green beans from our garden. I'm so thankful for our garden and even more thankful when in the winter months I can enjoy the harvest still. Believe it or not, Joel does most of the canning. I don't mind doing small batches of jelly but when it comes down to doing the rest, it honestly bores me. We make a pretty good team though when it comes down to it!

Monday was spent trying to get caught up on laundry. Our washing machine has been on the fritz for a couple months now and I had finally had enough. Thankfully my dad was nice enough to let us do some laundry at his house and I was able to get about 4 loads done. Unfortunately there were at least 8-10 loads left. Our washer would go all wonky and not spin out the water if you put too much in it....and it's idea of too much was 1/2 of the capacity. Leaving me 16-20 loads of laundry and if I was lucky it would all spin out. I'd had enough. Joel called his mom and dad because they had gotten a new set for the dairy, and asked if we could buy the old set. Thankfully it worked out and we were able to!!

That evening Dahrran asked us if he could play football. It came as a complete and udder shock to both Joel and myself. We had gotten a call from the coach about a month ago wondering if Dahrran would be interested. After much talking it over he had decided that he didn't want to play. This would've been his first year and honestly I think he was just nervous about trying a contact sport. 

Tuesday brought me scrambling to try and find Dahrran some football cleats at the last moment and thankfully we were able to get a pair from a family in the school district who's son decided not to play. Practice was thankfully uneventful and he said he loved every minute of it!! Guess we'll see. :) 

While Dahrran was at practice we headed down to Joel's parents to get the washer and dryer. While grandma was spending some time with Addysen she started screaming bloody murder as if she was being hurt. This is the second time in a week when she has done this cry while I'm not around. Of course the minute that Joel's mom came outside with her she stopped crying. I hate to admit it but I think we have a bit of separation anxiety coming on. 

Wednesday morning Kaitlynn and I decided to run to town to get the few things we needed to go about putting the "new" washer and dryer in place. We have quite a long dryer vent and had replaced a piece of it a year ago, but the rest was 7+ years old and so I decided the night before that we would just buy all new dryer vent tubing. Turns out it was a good idea, the old tubing didn't have much of a space in the middle and was all clogged up with dryer lint. It's amazing we hadn't had a dryer fire yet.

Joel and I worked to get the old set out of the basement. It became more of a challenge than I remember it being before. Time crept up on us and I needed to get to Joel's brothers house to babysit his niece and nephew for a bit. While I was gone Joel got the help of my step brother, and together they got the dryer out and the new set in only to come up with more problems. The new drain hose was too short and wouldn't reach our drain pipe. Another trip to town and we now have a washer. It was all we got put together last night because Joel wanted to get a few other things for the dryer while we were in town. 

I have a house to clean and here I sit blogging. Kaitlynn's birthday is this weekend, and we have our families coming over. Better get to it!!

Wordless Wednesday - iPhone edition

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!!

Addysen's Baptisim

Not many people know this. It took us a long time to conceive Addysen. There were times where I had given up the hope of ever having a 4th child. I thought we would always be a family of 5. This was something that had weighed on my heart heavily. I have this thing with odd numbers you see....and being a family of 5 was killing me. But really, I felt like we weren't complete. Something Someone was missing.

Shortly before we found out we were pregnant, we had decided to go down the foster care/foster adopt path. We were just starting to get our ducks in a row, and had the chance to go to an informational meeting on getting started. Something in my heart told me we weren't quite ready just yet, and so we decided to hold off on going to the meeting and would attend the next months'. Just a few short weeks later, and I found out I was pregnant. I'm one who believes God has a plan for us, and this was his plan. Three long years of waiting and we were finally going to add to our family.

During our TTC journey I'd grown closer to finding my faith. It has been a long path over the last 10 years. Joel is Catholic, and I was raised in a Presbyterian family who really only went to church on major holidays. The journey to figure out where I fit in has been a tough one. I finally had decided I was ready to become Catholic, and raise our children the same way. It's such a blessing to be able to see our children grow in the love and faith of God.

The day of Addysen's baptisim was a beautiful day, we had all of Joel's family and some of mine present. Joel's sister and brother-in-law are Addysen's godparents and I'm so proud to call them my family as well.