Finally some snow!!!

 

Finally, the poor kids have been hungry for a good snow fall since....oh, a year ago!!  They were so excited to wake up on Sunday morning to a fresh blanket of the beautiful white stuff.  Daddy was at work, and Mommy couldn't get the snowblower started, so we were literally snowed in all day long.  Not one single person complained about this.  Everyone was happy to play board games, and eventually head outside for some fort making, snowball throwing, snow angel kind of fun.  Of course they are hopeful that it sticks around this year, much unlike the winter last year.  The boys have been busy snowboarding down the side yard, while the girls are content to simply play with the snow.  Thank you Lord for our seasons!!!

Fearless and his first 5K

So our Fearless had his very first 5K race a couple of weeks ago.  Mommy was planning on running with her sweet boy, however since I have recently herniated a disc in my back, I was happy to just be able to stand and watch (that's a whole other post!!)  So, he was solo, along with Auntie and Uncle Brett.  I really had no idea how he would do since this is the farthest he had ever run before.  However, this boy of mine blew me away with his performance.  He finished 6th overall...yes, I said 6th and finished in 24:49.  For any of you who don't know if that fast or not, let me assure you that it is incredibly fast.  Not to mention that he has never run this distance before, I was very proud and amazed.  Then I remembered who his father is and really I shouldn't be so surprised.  Michael can pretty much excel at anything he tries, and Fearless is so much like him.  He is willing to push himself to do his very best, and that's all I could ever ask for.  I love you Fearless, you inspire me and amaze me every day!  God has blessed you with many talents and for you I am extremely grateful!!!

Munsinger Gardens

The little girls and took a nice little trip to Munsinger Gardens last week.  Daddy and the boys were out helping to clean up the Mudman course with some friends, so we jumped at the opportunity to have a girls outing.  They were so precious, leading me around the gardens, pointing out their favorite flowers.  At one point, we walked past an elderly woman who stopped me and held my hand.  She asked if the girls were mine, and I told her yes, with the addition of two boys at home.  She became very quiet and serene while she told me how very, very blessed I was.  She then gave my hand a squeeze, told me that she would be praying for me, smiled and continued walking.  It was all I could do to keep the tears at bay, it was incredibly touching.  Yes, I am very blessed, very blessed indeed!!!

 

 

Louie is 3!

Lou..the most precious blond haired, blue eyed girl to grace this earth:)

 

 

Well, it's official, Louie is now a big 3 year old.  It seems like just yesterday that we found out we were expecting her very unexpected arrival:)  I wasn't planning on her, but I can't imagine my life for a moment without her glorious smile and tender hugs.  He is my delightful, smiley, sweet, funny, adventurous, loving, nurturing and cuddly little girl, and I love her more than I could ever explain.  I honestly am sad that she is growing so quickly, she is my last and I honestly thought this season would never come.  We are all soaking in every bit of her precious innocence as long as we can. 

 

Happy birthday my dear, sweet Louie.  Mommy loves you with her whole heart.  My prayer for you, my sweet baby, is that you grow up knowing how much you are loved and valued, not just by your earthly family, but by our Heavenly Father.  He hand picked you just for us, and what a wonderful surprise you were.  He knew you were just what was needed to complete this family, and I couldn't be more thankful!!!!

 

Love you all the way around the world....Mommy

 

MUDMAN

Last weekend was a MUDDY BLAST!!!  Our entire family headed on out to Powder Ridge to partake in the first annual Mudman 5K Extreme Race.  Lemme tell ya, extreme it was!  Michael and I decided to run it as a team, and there were points during the race where he would literally just grab my muddy hand and say "you can do this babe, KEEP RUNNING!!!"  First of all, it was at a ski hill, which we had to run UP!!  Then there were monkey bars, balance beams, muddy trenches, barbed wire, vertical walls, muddy slides, ice baths...just to name a few.  I can honestly say that it was one of the best racing days I have ever had.  Not only was the course so much fun, but I was able to team up with my beloved.  Plus, they had a kids mudman that Fearless and Skater Boy each ran. There were alot of kids that lined up to get muddy, and my Fearless took 1st place...I was in awe and amazement.  I had told him the night before that he needed run till he puked.  I was obviously kidding and never in a million years thought he would take me seriously.  But, he was determined to win, and thought that he had a good chance at it.  You see, a friend of ours is the race director and the boys with Michael have been out on the course to help build and do trial runs.  Fearless knew what was in store and knew with all his heart that he could do this!!!  Well, they blew the starting gun and he took up straight up the massive hill.  I quickly lost Skater Boy in the crowd, but could easily see Fearless at the front of the pack, all the way to the top of the hill.  I thought, "wow, he might actually do this."  Well, the next time I could see them was at the bottom of the hill, about half way through the run.  They have to slide down a massive slide into a pit of mud, and what do you know, he was the first one to the slide.  I think he took all the volunteers off guard because none of them steered him in the right direction.  The adults were supposed to run one way at the bottom of the slide, and the children in the other direction.  He took off in the WRONG direction.  All of us adults were screaming at him to turn around before the other kids had an opportunity to catch up.  They didn't, and he quickly changed course.  I had to book it down to the finish line, because no way was I going to miss this.  Sure enough, that crazy boy of mine flies through the finish line well before everyone else, amazing.  So, anyway, about running til you puke...yeah, he didn't feel so great when the race was done.  He didn't literally throw up, but he needed to lay down in the grass for about ten minutes.  He was not feeling well at all.  Regardless, I am very proud and can tell already that I have a competitive boy on my hands!  Skater Boy, well he came in just a few minutes after his brother, with a banged up knee.  Poor boy twisted it early on in the race, but persevered until the end.  It was so very appropriate that he did, because just the night before he noticed this prayers chart that I keep on the fridge.  There is a prayer that I pray for my children every day of the month.  The one that just happened to be for the 18th was this...."Lord, teach my children perseverance in all they do, and help them especially to run with perseverance the race marked out for them.  Hebrews 12:1"  If that doesn't give you goose bumps???  I know it did me, that 's how God works!!!  He thought it was really neat when I reminded him about the prayer that we saw for the day, put a smile on his face!!!

 

Now, don't think that the girls were left out...cause they weren't.  There was a DJ there that played music the whole day.  My girls were like wind up toys that just wouldn't quit, it was hysterical.  At one point, Lou was rolling around on the dirty ground attempting to break dance....like I said, hysterical!

 

Oh yeah, Michael and I took 1st place for the co-ed team division. I was the first female to cross the finish line for the day, I was proud of that.  I think it's fair to say that we'll be back for more next year...yeah for MUDMAN!!!

 

On a side note, I know these photos are not in order of events, but I'm feeling way to lazy to putz with it...enjoy:)

 

 

 

 

Here are the participants for the Kids Mudman and Fearless beat all of them.  I can't even tell you how proud and amazed I am!!!

Itasca State Park

Recently we were able to take a whole week off together as a family and head up north.  The weather was perfectly ordered, sunny and warm the entire time.  The first few days were spent at Grandma and Grandpas house with lots of swimming, kayaking, tubing, knee boarding, did I mention swimming??  One day during the week, we decided to take the kids to Itasca State Park to see where the Mississippi River starts.  They were pretty excited about the whole event, and it got even more excited when we blew a tire about 20 miles into our journey.  We pulled over to the side of the road where Daddy could inspect the damage and get to work. Thankfully a very nice gentleman pulled over to assist Dad, saving us some precious time for sure!

The tire was fixed and we were off and running once again, only to miss our turn and go about 20 or so miles out of our way.  Oh well, we quickly turned around and were finally on our way.  We arrived and hiked straight to the headwaters.  The kids just loved it, even more than I thought they would.  They were busy wading in the water, picking rocks, and just having fun.  The older three, plus Daddy, decided to wade down river to a little bride while Mommy and the two little ones took dry land to meet them there.  Needless to say they all arrived soaked, but they didn't seem to mind any. 

We loaded up the van and headed back home, with a pit stop in Walker.  We thought we would stop for some pizza and ice cream.  It was a great way to end a wonderful day up north.  Memories that I pray the children cherish for a very long time, I know I will!!!

Little T turns 5!!!!!

Clearly this beautiful little girl did not read the memo.....errr, or maybe she COULDN'T read the memo.  Either way, it is strictly forbidden in this house to grow up.  I have told them year after year that it breaks my heart just a little more, every time they have a birthday.  I know that I should be celebrating their accomplishments and get excited for the new adventures to come.  But to be completely honest, I wish I could always keep them safely at home with me, innocent and sweet.  Then, reality bites me and reminds me that they DO in fact grow up, and I need to deal with it.  Well, I might kick and scream a little bit, I might complain about how time is such a thief, I might even cry a little....and nobody is gonna stop me!

On a slightly, more positive note...isn't my Little T simply adorable?  When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, this little fashionista of mine requested clothing!!  That's right, no dollies or Barbies for this girl.  Nope, she wanted dresses and high heels...can you believe that?  She was quite thrilled to wake to her favorite breakfast and presents this morning.  Lunch soon followed with mac - cheese, always a Little T favorite, and a birthday cake lovingly made by Mommy!  We will get to end the evening at Chuck E. Cheese's with the family, per her request again!!  Gee...you'd think it was her birthday or something;)

Love you Little T, I pray that you have many, many, many more birthdays and grow to love Jesus with all your heart!!!

I love you....Mommy

Goodbye Dear Friend :(

 Last week was one for the record books people, we finally decided it was time to get rid of Louie's nunie.  All of my daycare babies have given up there's (all but one I guess) and we figured we should follow suit, I mean she is going to be three at the end of summer after all.  So, I did it, I took a scissors and snipped just the very end off of the nuk.  She came to claim it, and quickly announced that it was broken.  She was quite unhappy about this, and much crying followed.  But, by lunch time she was ready to go bury it in the garden for the "Nunie Fairy" to come and get.  If any of you don't know, that's what you are SUPPOSED  to do with big girl nunies that are no longer needed.  Plus, the Nunie Fairy always leave a special big girl present!!!  Well, she dug a hole, buried it deep....then I told her to say goodbye.  That's when it all fell apart.  She started bawling because she was sad to see her friend go, Mommy started bawling because my BABY was so very sad, and Sunshine started bawling because...well, because she is so sensitive to everyone's emotions.  It was ridiculously sad here for about an hour or so.  I brought her back in the house, rocked and comforted her.  The whole time the rest of the kids, along with their friends, were looking at me like I had gone off the deep-end.  "Like...what's the deal with your mom???" 

After about an hour in the house, she broke my heart a little more by announcing that she wanted to DIG IT BACK UP, just so she could hold it.  Are you kidding me, this is killing me a little bit.  How could I resist..."of course, of course we'll dig it up sweety!!"  So..back to the garden we went to retrieve the, very broken and now very dirty, nunie.  This made her feel a little bit better, but she was still quite upset about the whole event. 

The night times have been pretty rough and she didn't sleep well.  But, the next day she decided that it was finally time to say good-bye FOR REAL!!!  She planted it in the garden and came in without a tear.  The next morning we made our way out to see what special surprise was waiting for her.  Well, she got a bright, shiny balloon and a new My Little Pony.  She was happy, but they couldn't quite replace her lost friend (who she still cries for, by the way.)

So, good bye dear friend.  You are very missed by you best friend Louie...and her Mommy!!! 

Oh..and on a side note...I am NOT HAPPY that my BABY is big enough to give her nunie up.  On top of that, she is in big girl panties today.  Seriously, what's next....this...is...killing...me!!!!!!!!!

Amazing...really!

Just a glimpse of how amazing Fearless is.  He amazes me with his ability to try new, and often frightening things.  He makes me nervous, but more than that he makes me proud!!  I love you Fearless, and I love watching you do your thing:)

Kayaking down the Sauk

Well, since our family clearly didn't partake in enough sports that turn my hair grey, they thought they would start kayaking:)  I'm kidding, well kind of I am.  I am truly a bit apprehensive about them out on the water in their own boat, but I am also very excited for them.  They are mowing their Grandma and Grandpa's yard this summer and have decided to spend their hard earned money on kayaks.  They were so excited when Daddy had the day off and Tuesday and decided to put them in the Sauk River.  I knew that they might be a bit nervous in the beginning, but that was very short lived.  They loved every minute of it.  I am really, really happy that they enjoy doing these types of things with their Dad, it's an incredible blessing to me and them!!  Now...us girls need to come up with something to do while the boys play!!!

Granite Kids Triathlon

Last night my brave little-big boys swam, biked, and ran in their very first triathlon.  As a matter of fact, it was the first one for the whole family.  They were excited, and a bit nervous, but seriously...who can blame them.  The race course started off with a 200 yard swim.  I don't know about you, but I think that's a long way...even for me!!  They did great and finished it, although Fearless was pretty wiped out since he chose not to use a life jacket for help.  Skater Boy thought it might be a good idea to wear one, so he wouldn't have to worry about getting so tired, I think he made a good choice!!  They ran out of the water and straight to a transition area where they had to quickly dry off, put on their shoes and a shirt.  They grabbed their bikes and were off on a 3 miles bike ride.  I think it goes without saying that my boys rocked it out on this leg of the race.  I think they were born to bike, seriously!!  Once the bike was over, it was back to transition where they had to put the bike and helmet away and head off on a one mile run. Have you ever tried to run after biking??  It is not easy!!  But, once again, they did amazing.  I was so proud and a little bit in awe of their endurance and stamina.  They finished so strong and had such a sense of accomplishment.  Later that night, Fearless told me that he was repeating the bible verse in his head that say "I can do all things through Christ who give me strength."  Atta boy Fearless, call upon the Lord...he will help you, always!!!! 

Now that we have seen these races in action, I think Mommy and Daddy might finally sign up and do one ourselves.  Although, to be completely honest, swimming 1/3 of a mile sounds terrifying to me....do you suppose it's appropriate to do the side-stroke the whole way???

Good job boys...I am so very proud of my little-big athletes:)