Catching up, what we have been up to!

Life is so busy, and I feel like I am just running behind always trying to catch up. I want to learn to slow down and, as the saying goes... "smell the roses." My kids are little yet, well the oldest will be 11 soon...so, he isn't so little anymore. I want to make it a personal goal to really play with them, individually...together, and down on the floor with them. Kids are so fun, and really funny! I love having conversations with my older 3 right now. I am home educating Nathaniel and Caleb this year. It is definitely a struggle to find consistent time to "do school," with having 3 under the age of 4. Nathaniel understands that we will have many interruptions, but he will have many breaks, too. I am going to try to come up with a better plan, and hopefully things will start to go smoother, and our days won't be so hectic,...ya' right! So far, we have been on 2 school field trips. We went to a Threshing show with the family and to an Indian Museum/Trading Post with the home school co-op that we belong to. Both trips were a lot of fun, and I am so glad that we are taking trips! I love the co-op that I am in this year, too! I will have to tell you more about that in another post.

Terry and I celebrated 5 years of marriage in August! I can't believe that we have been married for 5 years already! Seriously, the time has flown! In so many ways, I can see how God has blessed us. I am so thankful for Terry! He is a great husband, and a super father! In these 5 years we have lived in 3 homes, had 4 pregnancies, and Terry's changed jobs 5 times. He had his job, when we got married, for 10+ years, but he was very tired of it, and wanted change. I can understand that. He is working for a great company now, though, and he enjoys his work environment ~ which is a key factor in liking your job. Anyway...I am so glad he is happy where he is at. For our Anniversary, we drove up to Duluth. We love it up there. This time we took a different route, and we sure had some pretty views. We got out here, and we did some hiking on the trails and over the rocks.

It was a gorgeous day, and the sights were beautiful!

Cole was with us, and Terry carried him in the backpack carrier. Cole loved it, and didn't cry at all. He was a trooper, and loved being outdoors.

We saw kids jumping off this high bridge, and it freaked me out. I can't believe kids do that! So dangerous. I hope my kids will not make those choices.

Anyway, we did some walking, traveling over rocks, and there were cliffs and drop offs into the river. I had a really hard time with the rock climbing, and thinking of Cole in the carrier falling out. I had visions of Terry falling and him and Cole getting hurt. All in all...that experience was not very pleasant for me. I broke down emotionally.

Then, we went to Palisades Head way up North. It was pretty up there, but it sure confirmed my fear of high heights and water. I didn't walk around too much. Terry had climbed that a few years ago with rock climbing. When we were there, a few were climbing. I really don't see how people can do that.
We ended up having a late supper at a Lodge, and it was very tasty. It was a fun-filled day, and it was a great time with my husband (and our youngest).

We were fortunate to make it to both the MN Zoo and the Como Zoo this summer. We went to the Como Zoo with my sister-in-law, and her two kids. Her daughter is 3 (in between Caleb and Maddie in age) and her son is 1o days younger than Cole. We had a great day, but I think it was the hottest day this summer!

He is such a little cutie pie! He looks like his dad (my brother).

My little niece didn't feel very photogenic for this photo. BUT~ I did get my four and my nephew!

Here are the kids waiting for the Sparky (Sea Lion) show. We had a great day, and it was fun to spend the time with my niece, nephew and my sis-in-law.

We went to a local county fair this summer, too. Madelyn loved the animals! We had to take a picture of this goat, because Terry said it resembles his dad.

So funny! The goat is sporting a beard!
This was a ribbon-winning pumpkin! It was huge!
Madelyn and Caleb are saying howdy to the cowboy.
So happy together....
Caleb and Madelyn got the opportunity to plant a flower. It was a fun activity and they really enjoyed doing it!

We also learned a bit about bees, saw a hive, and had a honey sample. On Monday, we are going to a friend's house to see how they spin honey, and take honey off the comb. What a fun home school project and field trip!
After they potted their plants, they could take them home.


Another day this summer we went over to my brother/sister-n-law's house and spent the day together.
Here is my nephew eating a pretzel stick. He loves them!

Cole had his first pretzel stick, and he loved it, too!

Madelyn enjoyed the sand box. We don't have a sand box here, but it is on the "honey-do" list of things to do. :)
Caleb had a blast driving around in his cousin's dune buggy. That thing can move!

He is such a cute little guy! He is so happy, too! Don't you love his hat?
Cole loves swinging! He could swing all day if I let him.
Here are the three munchkins sitting on the ladder together. I was a chilly/wet day.
My brother is pretty crafty! He made/designed this whole play set! I think he did a fabulous job!

Weekend update

It was a great weekend away with Terry! It was super having time together and away~

We left early Friday morning...6:00 AM. We stopped for fuel and breakfast. I am pretty sure that was our only stop until we were in Waukesha, WI. We had a tour of Kalmbach Publishing Company. They are the publishers of several magazines of hobbies, particularly we were interested in Model Railroader. It was fun to tour their company, and see the great layout. Terry was really excited about all this because he has seen so many of the sections of layout the company uses in their stories that are in the monthly magazines. We were there for about an hour, and then we were on our way to Walthers in Milwaukee, WI. Before we got there, we stopped and had a light lunch at Taco Bell.
Terry and I are dealers with Walthers for most of our ordering trains and accessories for our store. It was interesting to see the location of the warehouse and their hobby shop. It was interesting to see how our orders are assembled and shipped. Then, we went to our hotel for check in. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Brookfield, WI. What a great hotel to stay in! It was probably my most favored of hotel stays in my life. I have stayed in quite a few hotels, so that is something to say! The hotel was very clean, had a super hot tub and pool, a great room~we even had a living room space in our room!, a very comfortable bed with great pillows, and a HOT continental breakfast! The breakfast was eggs, bacon/sausage, biscuits and gravy, toast/english muffins, oatmeal, waffles, fresh fruit, yogurt, juice, milk, coffee and water. What a great spread, and it was super! We got Train Fest ticket prices, since we were there for the train show. So, we got a great deal on our hotel price, free tickets for both days of the show, and breakfast was included! Talk about a great deal! We will stay there for sure next year!
Friday night, we ate at the Champps Restaurant attached to the hotel. It was great food. That night, we went swimming and sat in the hot tub! It was grand! I am in my third trimester, and I have heard from several Dr.'s that it is OK to be in a hot tub in the third trimester~ I just have to know when I am getting hot. If that happens, just get out. Plus, the water wasn't that hot~ it was just like a warm bath. Then, we went back to the room and we ordered a movie from the TV. We watched Baby Mama....what a great movie! I laughed so much! You should see it!



The next day, we were up...had breakfast, (had to make a trip to Walmart~forgot to pack something...) then, went to the show. There were over 50 train layouts, a ton of vendors, and fun things for kids to do! We didn't even see it all on Saturday. It was a lot of walking around, looking, and admiring. I had to sit down a few times throughout the day. I saw some great layouts, though. In the evening, we had dinner at Outback Steakhouse, which was attached to the hotel, too. It was great tasting food. I had a seafood pasta. It was tasty! Then, we went back to our room and got ready to sit in the hot tub! What a great way to unwind from the day! Then, that night we ordered the movie, Hancock~ with Will Smith. That was a great movie, too, and really took us off guard with the twist the movie gave! There is some rough language (name calling) but I think overall it was a pretty good movie.



We slept great both nights. Sunday morning, we got up and got ready. Terry brought some things down to the vehicle, and he noticed that the battery was dead! OH Great! After 2 different people helping and trying to jump the battery, a worker of the hotel graciously brought Terry to Walmart to buy a new battery! That was above and beyond customer service! We made it to the show after another HOT breakfast. We stayed at the show for about 2-3 hours. I have to admit, I was "trained" out by this time. I didn't want to rush Terry, but he was ready to go around noonish, too. I can say that most everyone at the show had to "look" at my preggo belly. I am now 31 weeks pregnant. Here is a photo:

Seriously, if people didn't know how obvious their looks were, they were out of it. I had some really interesting comments, but the one that really struck me and Terry was this one....
"So, was it worth the night of passion?"
Can you believe that someone would say that? I wanted to say something like, "What are you talking about?" OR, "Which time?" OR. "What are you implying?" Some people asked when I am due, (without asking if I was preggo...what if I wasn't?)~~ then, I told them the beginning of January. Here are some of the comments to my due date:
"OH, honey, you won't make it until then!"
"Were all your babies big?"
"Wow, you got a ways to go yet!"
"You look like you dropped!"
I don't know why, but to some comments I felt like I needed them to know that this was my 4th baby, and fifth pregnancy. Some of them I just wanted to smack them! Seriously, some people have no tack.
We stopped for lunch, fuel and a quick supper on our drive home. It was great to get home and see the kids. They had a great time with Grandma over the weekend. Grandma tried potty-working with Caleb. Caleb wasn't really working with it too much. He did have a successful pee on the potty when we got home, and after much praise, Grandma treated him to DQ (and us) with a potty-party! Today, Caleb wasn't interested in the potty chair. I am not a fan of letting him run in his underwear and cleaning up mess after mess either. But, we are trying to encourage him to sit on the chair, and work on him knowing what "wet" means, etc. Wish us luck~
It is good to be home.