Schleicher Farm

Farm Seminars

2012-02-15T14:14:00.001-06:00

I have attended 2 farm seminars in less than a month. I'm a farmer's wife, but I've honestly never really done anything farmy before, minus the 1 time I drove the tractor to help my husband bale hay(8 yrs ago and he forgot to mention how to turn at the end of the row). I honestly thought it was over my head. A lot of it is still over my head and there is a ton of math involved...which I had to write out
                                                                                                                      24
                                                                                                                     x22
                                                                                                                      48
                                                                                                                   48x
                                                                                                                    528   to try to figure out how many people were at the seminar yesterday.(24 rows with 22 people in each row) Math is not my thing! I'm happy to report that after going over "How to read a soil test" twice, I actually knew some of the answers to the questions they asked!!! On the way home from Des Moines the hubby and I were talking some farm'n(that's what we farmers say!) and he said he was super happy that I was excited about farming now. To which I said I would have to line up babysitters this spring so I could help with planting. To which he said, and I quote, "I was actually thinking you could take over the books." OH NONONO...I can't let all of my new found knowledge go to waste sitting at a desk, I have to get out there and run that dirt through my fingers, I was going to buy some bib overalls, for pity sake!!! He then pointed out that bookkeeping/record keeping is just as important on a farm as the work in the field. I agreed, but I would much rather drive a tractor!  Long story short...I'm going to be working on the books and I hope(finger's crossed)that I'll get a few rounds in in the tractor too!    Another bonus to going to these farm seminars is we got to stay at a hotel, go out to eat, all BY OURSELVES. We actually got up, showered, ate breakfast in 20 minutes Tuesday morning...I can't even think of the last time that happened!!!

Brian Hefty(he's one of those guys you could just look at all day...tan, black hair with gray sprinkled in, sorta have a crush on him, sorta!)there are better pictures of him HERE!

All the farmers, plus about 10 women

Both Hefty brothers!

I wanted to get my picture taken with them, but my husband said that "we(meaning farmers) don't do that". Whatev's.

New Glasses

2012-01-27T08:18:00.001-06:00

Last spring miss JJ started coming home from school complaining of headaches, almost every day! I took her to the dr and the dr said ~~"NO more monkey's jumping on the bed!"~~ she didn't see anything physically wrong with her and to go get her eyes checked. WELL...as a "good" mom, I figured it was almost summer, she wouldn't need glasses in the summer...So I decided to wait and see if she passed the school eye test in the fall. She did pass the school eye test and was only occasionally coming home with headaches. I decided after Christmas break when she didn't complain once of having a headache that I should probably just bite the bullet and take her in. Let me say, getting a stubborn child to take an eye exam/having them shoot the puff of air in her eyes was super fun! She refused to read the letters on the eye chart, I kept having to say, "What's the first letter? Ok, now what's the one right next to it?" And so on...super fun! We found out she has an astigmatism and she's a little farsighted(can't see things up close well). She's pretty happy with her first pair of glasses and hasn't come home with a headache all week!!

Brian's Birthday Present!

2012-01-25T16:24:00.000-06:00

Background info: There is a TV show on our local ABC channel every Sunday morning at 9:30am called Ag PHD. It's a farm show that two brother's put on and they give tons of helpful info to farmers. Ok, here's the story. We got a postcard in the mail a few weeks ago saying that these 2 brother's(the Hefty brother's) were coming to town to hold a winter Agronomy(don't ask me what that means) Workshop. I THOUGHT the postcard said it was at 9:30am AND 2pm. Brian asked if I would go with him, it's the day after his birthday, we could spend time together. Sure, for his birthday I'll do it, sign us up. He signed us up online and I asked him which session he signed us up for. He looked at me weird and said that there was only 1 session. I said, "The postcard says there's one at 9:30 and 2. He says, "No, it says 9:30 TO 2pm." AWWWWW CRUD. Well, on a bright note, my mom is watching the little girls so I get 4&1/2 hour break!!! Ask me Friday how much agronomy stuff I learned!! Happy Birthday, Honey, I love you and you owe me one!!

Chore Jars

2012-01-18T22:28:00.003-06:00

I have tried an assortment of different chore charts for the kids. We always stick with it for about 2 days and then I forget or they get bored. I first saw these chore jars on Pinterest. Then I saw a blog with the same idea(Sisters Playing House), theirs was an "I'm bored" jar, but it reminded me of my idea and I thought I would try it. Monday, the kids didn't have school so I had them decorate theAir jars with scrapbook stickers and then they each stamped their name on paper and cut them out. I used double-sided tape to attach them. Then they wrapped pipe cleaners around the top. The cost for these was $0. I had all of this on hand!!! Then for the chores I used some extra large popsicle sticks(also had on hand) to write different jobs on. I let them come up with a few ideas and then put some of my own in. Here's a few examples:
Pick up toys
Empty the dishwasher
Load the dishwasher
Set the table
Clear the table
Wash the table
Sweep the kitchen floor
Vacuum the living room

I found THIS blog and she had a reward "jar", so I stole her idea!

I had to buy the vase, because let's face it, I never get flowers! $1 at the dollar store. I used super glue to attach the ribbon and then tied the little cards on. I picked rewards that I knew they would be excited about. When they complete a chore(they have to pick 3 sticks(chores)a day, randomly)they put a bean in the jar. When the beans reach the ribbon they get to have whatever the reward is. The 1st one is to pick an item of choice at the dollar store, the second is a McDonald's date(where we actually go eat INSIDE!!), the third is they each get to pick out a movie of their choice at the video store! They also get beans for good behavior and beans get taken out for bad behavior. So far the kids are super excited about this and the bonus for me is I haven't had to do dishes for 2 days!!

Winter??

2012-01-06T17:28:00.001-06:00

Yesterday it was over 50 degree's outside on January 5th. We took advantage of the nice weather and played on the swingset and went for a walk. Emery LOVED the swing!!! I couldn't have asked for a better "winter" day than this!!

Our Sunday cross country excursion!

2011-12-13T11:21:00.000-06:00

I will admit, I LOVE being right, especially when it means my husband is wrong. It hardly ever happens that way because, I'll say it, he's smarter than me about a lot of things. On Sunday he wanted to go to Fleet Farm in Owatonna to get some cattle gates and then stop at Lowe's to get his mom a new dryer. I suggested we go to Rochester, which also has a Fleet Farm, but has Menards where we could get a dryer for a lot less money. Nope, he wanted to go to Owatonna, so our family of 6 piles into the extended cab truck(at 2pm). Trying to get 2 kids into carseats in the back of the truck is super fun and takes 10 minutes itself. We get to Fleet Farm and Brian goes his way and I go mine. We meet up about a 1/2 hour later and he informs me that they are sold out of the gates he needs. SUPER! Oh well, we'll go to Lowe's and grab a dryer. Load up #2. We go to Lowe's, Brian has Cyprus and Emery and I have Jaylee and Ella(who insists on walking), by the time I get to the appliance section, I see the look on his face. He says very softly, "Do you want to go to Rochester?" Sure, why not, we just spent almost 2 hours and didn't buy anything, let's go!!!! Load up #3. We stopped at Kwik Trip to get snacks for all and off we go. The girls all fell asleep(thank goodness), by the time we got to Rochester it was after 5pm. I told him to just run into Fleet Farm to see if they had the gate, saving on another unload and load of the kids. He was in there 5 minutes and came out and said they had 1 gate(we need 2). We load up the one and then he says that he wants to try Tractor and Supply Co. and see if they have the missing gate we need. Again, I have him run in there and sure enough they have 14, yes my friends, 14 gates. We load up and head off to Menards. At Menards we find the dryer we need $150 cheaper than Lowe's and we also buy a new entry door for our house(his way of kissing up for this trip...it worked!). We go to the lumber yard to load these things up and he goes in and he's in there FOREVER. Finally 1/2 hour later he comes out and I ask him what the heck happened. Well when they went to load the door they noticed it had a dent on it, so he ended up going to the service desk, and got $20 knocked off the price. Super, but meanwhile, I'm sitting in the truck with 2 screaming babies and 2 old kids complaining...By this time it's 6:30 and the kids are starving. We ate out for lunch so we didn't want to eat out again. Luckily I had bought a dozen m&m cookies at Kwik Trip, and yeah, that's what we fed the kids to hold them over. We got home at 7:30pm and I finally heard those sweet words, "You know, you were right, we should have just gone to Rochester in the first place."

Christmas Tree time

2011-12-04T23:26:00.000-06:00

Our family tradition is to go get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Well this year it was in the low 50's that day and Brian wouldn't go get it. He said it was too warm and didn't feel like Christmas. I was thinking it would be perfect with the 2 little girls, they wouldn't get too cold!! I lost the battle. The place we go to get the tree, Budd's Christmas Tree Farm, is only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's this year. So, we didn't go last weekend because of the warmth and then this weekend they were forcasting a rain/snow storm for Saturday. I asked if we could go on Friday, but Brian was busy hauling and spreading poo, so that was a no-go. Saturday he's still hauling poo and I'm watching the snow start to fall. I call and ask if we're going to go get the tree, and YES we are!!! He get's home around 4pm and we all pile in the suburban and take off. It had been snowing since noonish so the roads were kinda bad. Budd's closes at dark, so I was anxiously watching the clock and the countryside get darker as we got closer. We got there around 4:30 and they were still open(thank goodness, or heads were gonna roll!!)!!! It took us a total of 5 minutes to pick out and cut down a tree. It was actually(I hate to admit that he was right)really fun and put us all in the Christmas spirit!!!

Christmas Card Time!!

2011-11-26T15:27:00.000-06:00

This is my favorite time of the year!! I love Christmas and I love Christmas cards! I usually make my own Christmas cards, but last year since I had a baby 3 weeks before I would normally send one out, I went with a photo card! I love to look online and see what there is out there(if only I could use the pictures already on the card!!LOL!). Here's a few that I like this year!!

So cute, but like I said, I'd like to keep these kids
instead of mine!

                    I like this one, it doubles as an ornament!

This may be it, it has 4 spots for 4 kids!!

        Very nice, classy, and has the real Christmas message!

Oh man, if I had a newborn this would be it!!!
SOOOOOOO CUTE!!!

I like thes folding ones, but I don't know if I can
find that many good pictures of us!!

Tiny Prints   (http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/all--picture-christmas-cards.htm) is the place where I found these. They have over 400 to look at and I thought their prices are really good! We'll see which one I pick this year!!

Catch-up

2011-11-13T11:11:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile and a lot has happened in the last month, here's a few(ok maybe more than a few)pictures highlighting it!

Cyprus lost 2 teeth within a week of each other!

Ella "showing" me her teeth!

Brian carving Ella's pumpkin(LOVE IT!)

Jaylee's pumpkin!

Geez Cyprus...

Spooky!

Emery eating her first(of many)PB&J sandwich

Poser

Beautiful Bride

Fisherman

Butterfly

Ready to go!!!

So tired!

Emery turned one on November 4th!

Cyprus turned 7 on November 8th!

Double B-day party, Emery clapping while they sang "Happy Birthday"!

Cyprus congratulating Emery after she "blew" her candle out!

Emery 11 months

2011-10-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

Emery turned 11 months old on October 4th. I finally took some pictures of her yesterday(11th). She's super fun at this age. Getting into everything, pulling herself up, crawling super fast, climbing stuff! Her favorite thing right now is to say, "huh?" She loves to clap and dance(shake her head back and forth!).

I'm DONE!!!

Random September

2011-09-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

10 months old!

Playing in the laundry!

Static is so fun!!

Roasting marshmallows

It fit's perfect!

Emery started crawling this month and 2 days later started pulling herself up.

Ella "smiling" for Jaylee

Emery got into the craft basket...she's really proud of herself!

Lake Mazaska

2011-09-20T18:10:00.000-05:00

Sunday, September 11th, we decided to take our boat out for one last spin for the season(Emery stayed with my parents)! It was 80+ degrees and BEAUTIFUL. We travelled 10 minutes west of Faribault to lake Mazaska. Brian's grandparent's used to co-own a cabin on this lake but sold it in 1998 or 99. Therefore, I had never been to this lake. It was small, but big enough to ride around full speed and swim in.
There is no public beach on this lake so we had to jump off the boat into the lake...I asked Brian AFTER I was already in the lake how I was going to get back into the boat(smart, I know!)! Let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight him hauling me over the side of the boat!! Other than that, OH and him whipping really tight fast circles trying to get me to throw up...it was a great day!!

Checking out the lake when we first got going!

Eating lunch in the boat!!! The kids thought it was great!

Me and Ella

Me, Ella, and Cyprus

Me and all the kids...Cyprus and Jaylee didn't like it too much since they couldn't touch!

Ella "fishing"

Brian relaxing and Cyprus fishing!

Haha, daddy doing what he does best...looking for a number to call someone!

His grandparent's old cabin...it was up on stilts, the new owner is adding on a lower level!

Cyprus driving the boat

Jaylee driving the boat

Ella "driving" the boat!

First day of school!

2011-09-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know school started a few weeks ago, but...better late than never, right??

Cyprus ready to go meet his teacher on "Day One".(BP has you come meet your teacher and

drop off your supplies on the first day and then you go home. Sorta nice!)

Jaylee SUPER excited to meet her teacher!!

Jaylee on her actual first day of kindergarten!(this pic is taken at 6:30am, she's super excited!!)

Picture with the sweatshirt and backpack on!

Dora

Waiting for the bus!

Waiting for the bus...she's way more happy than Cyprus!

Getting on the bus...bye-bye baby!

(love how the lens fogged up...)

Where were you?

2011-09-10T17:01:00.001-05:00

Growing up I thought it was hilarious that my mom could remember the exact moment she heard that Elvis had died. Nothing of any huge importance had happened in the world in my short little life, so basically, I just couldn't relate to it. However on Sept 11, 2001 that all changed. Here's my "where were you?" story.
I was 22yrs old and working with a friend doing daycare out of her home. I was driving to her house in my 97 Pontiac grand am, listening to the Christian radio station. It was almost 8am and I remember they broke in and said a airplane crashed into the World Trade Center. They thought(at that time) that it was a accident and just a small single or double engine plane. I was on the frontage road off I90 by East side lake, it was a sunny, cool, fall day. I got to her house a few minutes later she was standing at the sink and I asked her if she had the TV on. She said no, I walked into the living room, turned the TV on, and the first thing I saw LIVE, was the second plane crash into the second tower. I remember falling to my knees. I knew a lot of people were dead or were going to die. It never occurred to me that the towers would fall. It was a crazy day. We pretty much watched the TV all day and I remember feeling dazed. It was horrible. I drove home that day and the world felt really weird. I don't really know how to describe it, but it felt like everything I thought to be true about our country was shaken. I looked at the big flag blowing in the wind at Perkins and started crying. A guy was standing on the bridge over the freeway waving a flag(he did this everyday for weeks). I got home and on TV they were talking about gas prices/shortages and I was on empty so I drove back to town to get gas. Everybody else had the same fear and there were long lines. NOBODY was talking, it was the weirdest thing...it was dead quiet.
As the rest of the week wore on, I, like the majority of Americans, was glued to the TV. None of it made sense. I would look at the little kids at daycare playing and think, they have no clue what happened, this is going to be history to them...I'm going to be able to tell them the exact moment it happened, where I was, what I was doing.
The biggest thing I remember is feeling super patriotic and super grateful to God. Even though a lot of people lost their lives that day, many more people were saved because of this tragedy. People who had no faith, lost faith, turned to God. Churches were full in the weeks following this. I'm really praying that since prayer is not allowed at the 10 yr remembrance services tomorrow, that God will show up in a big way, and everybody will feel His presence.
That's my "Where were you?" story, and I know I will remember every single detail for as long as I'm on this earth.

There's something different about this baby

2011-08-30T10:25:00.000-05:00

Emery turned 9 months old on August 4th(I know, I'm really late posting this!). I took a few pictures of her on that day! I can't believe how big she's gotten this month. She's almost crawling the regular way, she does her own version and gets where she wants to go! She's a super happy baby and will play for hours on the floor!

Here's the something different! This is the first picture of Emery with a pacifier in her mouth!!! I tried for about 4 months to get her to use one. She refused every one I tried...believe me, I tried every paci made on this earth. The weekend she turned 9 months old I found her sitting on the floor playing, with a paci in her mouth! She's been hooked ever since. She will also now take bottles. I'm not sure what switched for her, but I'm really happy about it! I know parenting "experts" would be horrified that I started my baby on a paci at 9 months old, but I like to sleep and this is so much easier than popping her old paci in her mouth in the middle of the night...that old paci being ME!!

Lake Pokegama

2011-08-27T16:26:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago we were fortunate to go on our second family vacation this summer!(lucky ducks, I know!) We had found a cabin big enough for all of Brian's immediate family on Lake Pokegama, which is by Grand Rapids, MN. Here are some of the pictures from the week, I'll do another post to do the rest of the pictures!

First day, perfect weather. Cousin Maddie, Jaylee(A princess, who her cousins pulled around), Cousin Meghan

Cyprus on Larry the Lobster

Cyprus Kayaking(he has some "helpers")

Jaylee attempting to Kayak with Aunt Steph's help

Emery having fun on the deck

Sister's watching the boats on the lake!

Ella took this, she did a pretty good job!

Jaylee getting ready to go tubing! Aunt Ang and Maddie went too!

Here she goes! She LOVED it!!

First boat ride in our "new" boat!!

Emery's best friend of the week, Aunt Steph!

Most of the cousins looking at a couple woodpeckers in the trees!

Aunt Amanda playing Boccie ball with the kids!!

Meghan showing off her neck muscles!

Jaylee trying to do the same ;)

Brian's BIG fish(Yes, Ella is naked!)

Ella after eating a s'more!!

Our Cabin and all our junk!!

And...the "Cabin"to the left of ours...Yeah...

1st Annual Cousin Camp

2011-08-03T08:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we held the 1st Annual Cousin Camp at our house! After our weekend in Wisconsin we brought back our niece, Meghan(almost 10), and Robert(almost 8), to spend a few days with us. I decided to hold a cousin camp for all of my nieces and nephews on both sides, 10 kids, not counting Emery. It was tons of fun to plan and then to host. I wanted to have T-shirts made, but after a trip to the local t-shirt making place and finding out it would be $12.50 a shirt...I went to Wal-mart and bought matching shirts for $3.88 and stenciled on them. Considering they got covered in dirt and paint, I'm glad I didn't spend $12.50 on them!
The day stared with a rousing game of water gun tag. I bought water guns for everyone at Wal-mart on clearance for $1.50(YAY!!). After that we had a scavenger hunt and then we painted rocks! It started raining when we were painting rocks so we headed inside for lunch. After lunch we went to the basement and we played a few games for about a 1/2 hour and then it cleared up and the sun came out! Time for WATER BALLOONS!! I spent an hour the night before filling up 120something water balloons. We played several games and then I just let them throw them at each other. It took a total of 15 minutes before they were all gone! Next we ran in the sprinkler until it broke! We then made nature paintings on thick fabric(can't think of what it was). These were a better idea in my head, than they actually turned out to be. Painting with leaves and rocks wasn't a huge hit with the kids...but I gave in and gave them brushes and they turned out better!! Next they played in the pool and some finished painting their rocks. Then it was time to GO HOME!!! I'm calling it a success and we will do it again next year(I'm already planning!)!

Water gun fight!

Natalee

Painting rocks!!

Painting!

Our picnic lunch inside!

Sprinkler

Finishing up their rocks

Nature paitings

Meghan and Aidan nature painting

Maddie, Meghan, Liam, Aidan, Robert

Meghan standing on the swingset so it doesn't flip up with the

heavy kids on it!

COUSINS!!!(Ella is sleeping and Cece didn't want to stay so we're missing 2)

Silly Cousins!

THE END!!

Between a mowhawk and 2 staples to the head!

2011-07-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

Life has been nothing but exciting here this week!!

Cyprus has wanted a Mohawk since a few years ago when boys started sporting them again. Brian has said no all along, but I thought, what would it hurt to give him what he wants, in the middle of summer, when nobody sees him. He LOVES it, but hates the attention it brings.(he's the kind of person that wants to blend into the crowd!)

Then Wednesday night I was crafting at the dining room table. Ella was standing on a chair watching/trying to get into the paint I was using. She decided she wasn't close enough and tried to climb up on the table. In doing so, she pushed the chair away from her and ended up flipping backwards and nailing her head on the edge of the chair before falling flat on her back to the floor. When I picked her up there was blood EVERYWHERE. Brian was out mowing so I told Cyprus to run out and get him. Cyprus comes back in and says that Brian said, "I'm not done, I'll be in in a little bit." So then I told Cyprus, "TELL HIM THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!!!!!" He did and Brian came in a few seconds later :) After a quick call to my mom, and waiting for her to get here, we took her in to Urgent care!! It wasn't bleeding anymore so I thought they would pat us on the back, tell us she was fine, and send us home. Nope...she got 2 staples. They put some numbing cream on it and the girl never flinched or cried the whole time we were there.

******The following picture is not for those with weak stomachs!!******

In other news, on Sunday we took some cousin pictures at my moms. These are what we got!!!

One of the good(er) ones!!

From left to right: Cece(8)holding Emery(8&1/2 months), Aidan(10)
holding Ella(2) and Payson(15&1/2months), Cyprus(6), Natalee(3), Jaylee(5)

Apparently Jaylee cannot smile without the assistance of her hand!

OH...Cece and Aidan are my BIG brother Aaron's kids

and Payson and Natalee are my little brother Chris' kids

Just the boys!!

Just the girls...one crying, one with her fingers up her nose...and one smiling!

Our Family!!

Vacation! The warm day(yes, the ONE warm day!)

2011-07-18T22:38:00.000-05:00

WOW, it's taken me awhile to get on here to post more vacation pictures! The whole week was cold and rainy, but on Friday the sun FINALLY came out and it was warm! Here are the pictures from that day!!

On the dock!

Fishing!!

Snack time!

Watching the boats come and go!

Another snack time...Yes, we eat a lot on vacation!

Enjoying the lake while wearing regular clothes!

Natalee catching some rays!!

Grandma babysitting!!

Jaylee going for a kayak ride with uncle Chris.

Twins(hehe!! Love you mom!)

Jumping off the dock!

God's creation is sooo amazing!

Pontoon boat ride!!

Yay for the warm vacation day!!!

Happy 4th from the Schleicher's!

2011-07-04T14:09:00.000-05:00

8 Months old today!!

It was a cold week!

2011-06-27T16:58:00.000-05:00

We were on vacation last week at beautiful Lake Vermilion MN. It was a cold cloudy week! Saturday-Tuesday it was dry, but at about 3pm Tuesday it started raining. It rained and rained and rained...until Thursday night! Here are some of the cold cloudy day pictures!

Sister's, happy the first morning there!

60 degree water, 55 degree air temp, YES PLEASE!!

"Wing, wing, wing, gampa!" This was Ella's favorite thing to do! Thanks

to grandpa for pushing for HOURS!

COUSINS!!

The Marina had stocking hats. Only pink, I think he pulled it off nicely!

My nephew Payson, almost 15 months old!

Watching Dora!

Playing on the top bunk, listening to music!

Ready to go fishing! Did I mention it was cold??!!

Eating a snack!

Happy Cousins!

Sitting with grandpa on the steps looking down at us!

Blowing bubbles...that lasted about 2 seconds!

Love the crossed feet!

Playing with water in measuring cups...we had to start getting creative after a little while!

Top 5: Favorite beauty products

2011-06-13T17:01:00.002-05:00

I have never done a post like this, but as a busy mom of 4, I thought I would share my top 5 beauty products. These are the everyday things I use that I think make me look presentable! Ok, maybe not presentable, but they help me feel confident heading out the door!!
1. Aveeno Positively Radiant Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30
I LOVE this!! It not only moisturizes, but it has a tint to it, so it covers up blemishes. PLUS it has an SPF 30 so you don't have to worry about adding sunscreen!!! It says after 4 weeks it evens out your skin
tone, but I noticed it after about 1 week!!!!! YAY!! You can get it for around $12.

2. Mascara...I have learned a few things about mascara over the years, dollar store mascara DOES NOT CUT IT!!! I thought I was being so frugal, but it ended up all over my face and I didn't even cry or go to a waterpark! Also you have to replace it more often than say, every 3 years!! Spend a few extra bucks for the good stuff it will last all day!!! They say to replace it every 3 months, but I let it go for a year...so for no bugs crawling in my eyes(that I know of)!! I usually just get whatever is on sale!!

3. Glow, shimmering body silk, Island Breeze. By Pure Romance
I love this too!! I got invited to a Pure Romance party(if you click on the link you will find out what kind of party it was!!) I ONLY bought some good smelling stuff, REALLY!! I use this instead of perfume, it smells so good and it shimmers!! It has added pheromones in it to "attract" the opposite sex, but so far I haven't had any strange men following me around when I go out! The 4 kids counteract the pheromones, HAHAHA!!!

4. Bath and Body Works Lip gloss
This is yummy stuff!!! If you like to actually lick your lips and have it taste good, this is the best, smells good too!!!!! I have the vanilla flavored(which apparently they don't have anymore!)!!!

5. Dial NutriSkin Lotion
I use this everyday, it really keeps your skin baby soft!! It smells good and it's only around 5 bucks!!

There you have it!!!

Seven months old: A few tricks!!

2011-06-04T18:50:00.000-05:00

NO GLIS LOD!!

2011-05-30T15:55:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago a sign with these words, NO GLIS LOD, appeared outside of Cyprus' room(he has no door, but that's another story). I had to look at it for a few seconds before I finally figured out what it said. NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!! As the solitary boy in the sea of 3 girls, I wasn't surprised to see it, but WAS surprised at the sign next to it, it said, Cyprus an Emery, Ella, Jaylee. I asked him what he meant by "no girls allowed" if his sisters were allowed in there. He says, "My sisters can come in, but NO other girls are allowed." He's the BEST BIG BROTHER in the world and he melted my heart!

Minimizing Part 2

2011-05-24T17:23:00.001-05:00

You may remember this post from last month! I was determined to downsize what we have for clothes. I'm VERY HAPPY to say that I have finally accomplished this! Two weeks ago I switched out the girls winter clothes for summer ones and put Jaylee and Ella's into the same dresser!! They all fit perfectly. To avoid getting the clothes mixed up, I designed handy dividers out of an old diaper box!

This system worked perfectly for about 5 days when Jaylee informed me she was out of capri's. Part two of minimizing was that I was going to have to do laundry more often...OOOPS, I forgot that part! I had to adjust my laundry schedule, but we got right back on track. This worked perfectly until 2 days ago when I was looking for clothes for Emery in the basement and came across a tote of summer clothes for Jaylee and one for Ella. There is no room for these clothes and we don't "need" them. ~~So I took them straight to the Salvation Army.~~ There are cute things in there, so here we go again. I'm NOT putting their clothes back in two dressers...but I have a feeling the drawers will soon not be able to shut all the way!

Mother's Day

2011-05-16T10:17:00.000-05:00

I know Mother's Day was a week ago, but this is the first chance I've had to post about it!
I was so excited 6 years ago for my first Mother's Day. Growing up my dad always bought my mom flowers, we bought her gifts(with our own money), and we made her cards and other little crafty things. Now I understood my 6 month old was not going to make me anything, but I thought my husband would at least buy me flowers. I was so sad that day when I received nothing. So the following years, I wasn't ~~very~~ disappointed when I again, received nothing. Last year Cyprus was in Pre-K and he made me a hand print flower, so that was a definite improvement! Oh, and I almost forgot, Brian took the older 2 to ShopKo to get me presents. They came home with 3 lilac bushes, a grape vine, and a blueberry plant. Yes, I finally received Mother's Day gifts, due to me coaching the kids for a week previous. I was happy with my gifts, but it's just not the same when you have to be the one to "mention" it over and over again!
This year I was really excited! The kids started talking about Mother's Day weeks ago. I knew they were making things in school and they kept telling me I was going to LOVE THEM!! I knew I would, because, let's face it, I've been a mom for 6 years and this would be the first one I wouldn't have to hint, hint, hint about. They were telling me that they would do everything on Mother's day, I wouldn't have to do anything but feed the baby! I didn't really have my fingers crossed for that one! So the big day arrives and the kids come in our room(bright and early) to get dad and tell him they need help making me breakfast. Ten minutes later they bring me breakfast in bed, 2 eggs(Brian made) and 2 pieces of toast(they each made 1). Best breakfast I've ever had! Then they bring me their gifts they made in school. Jaylee had a cup with flowers growing in it and her hand print sticking out of the cup. Cyprus had painted me a sunflower picture. Their school had an artist come and teach the kids how to really paint, on canvas, with real paint. I love this painting, he did such a good job, and was really proud of himself. (Jaylee also painted one, but they didn't bring it home until later that week. Hers is equally as good!!) This was the best Mother's Day EVER! I love my kiddo's, it's not about big extravagant gifts, it's about them being so excited and proud of what they did for me. That makes this momma happy!
Oh, they forgot all about their plan to do everything for me that day and were fighting 10 minutes later....baby steps ;)

Cyprus' painting

Jaylee's flowers

Jaylee's painting

Oh how I wonder!

2011-04-29T17:28:00.001-05:00

"If I saw You on the street and You said, 'Come and follow me.', but I had to give up everything...Would I love You enough to let go or would my love run dry when You ask for my life?"

This is the beginning of a song I heard for the 1st time on the radio this afternoon. What a question. It really got me thinking. Here's the song, listen to it:

I have always said to myself that God would never ask me to leave everything and follow Him, like He asked of the disciples. Now, the Bible does not say if the disciples had wives and children. But regardless, they had families, that they left, IMMEDIATELY. I believe that God would NEVER ask a husband or wife to leave their spouse and children behind. I believe if God calls me to something He will also call my husband. If I believe we should go be missionaries in Russia, my husband should also believe the same thing. Ok, regardless of this belief, WHAT IF Jesus came up to me and said, "Let's go, right now." Would I say, "But, I need to go get my make-up and my clothes. Oh and I have somewhere I'm supposed to be tomorrow. Can we do this next week? I'm pretty busy right now!" I believe God calls me to do things for Him all the time and I consistently use these excuses(not the make-up and clothes one). I also will add these excuses to the list:
I have the kids with me, it will be too hard to stop, not to mention, dangerous, to get some food for the guy begging on the corner.
I'm already in a hurry making supper for my family, I can't possibly get another meal ready for someone else.
I can't give this money to them, what if I need to get fill in the blank and don't have enough for myself.
And the one I use the most often is just simply: I don't have time right now!!!
I could go on and on, these are just some of the excuses I have come up with when I feel like God wants me to do something. I also use these when I feel like He wants me to open His Word to receive His direction.
What a shame. I know I'm not alone on this(I hope). I have often wondered if God ever gets sick of asking me to do stuff when I consistently say, "NO". What if He stops asking me??? I do that with my kids. I ask and beg for them to do something and finally I just do it myself or ask the other one to do it! What if God has gotten sick of asking me and He asks someone else to do it? It hurts Him and it hurts ME. He wants to bless me and I'm not letting Him. OH MAN...I want to say this is going to be a life changing moment for me and I hope it is...I'm going to start praying for opportunities to be used, I just hope when one pops up, I don't look the other way.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come follow me." Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." AT ONCE(my emphasis) they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and IMMEDIATELY(my emphasis, again)they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
Matthew 4:18-22

Easter!

2011-04-29T11:32:00.000-05:00

These pictures really show how crazy life is with 4 kids!! They all had new, cute Easter outfits...but I failed to get any cute pictures!! I will hopefully recreate the day soon and get some good pictures!!

In typical Jaylee fashion, she wanted to hold Ella but Cyprus already

had her, so...

Yeah, Happy Easter!

Now she's happy because it's a picture of just her!

He had a blue ring pop at church, he's not low on Oxygen!!

Cyprus took this, I think! It's better than the one I got!!

Baby Emery!!

Too Long!!

2011-04-29T11:18:00.000-05:00

It's been way too long since I have posted on here! I've been out of the blog loop mostly because I didn't think I had anything happen this last month...UNTIL, I looked at the camera and realized I had taken over 60 pictures. OK, so stuff has happened!! I won't bore you with all the pictures, but get ready, there are quite a few!!

Palm Sunday with the Taylor family, we also

celebrated Grandma Jane's 90th birthday

Here she is with 20 of the 21 great-grandkids!

Ella with Daddy's snowmobile helmet

We actually did have snow in April!!

Jaylee reading to Emery

(sorry it's so grainy...I didn't want her to know I was taking a picture!)

So sweet!!

This is how I get stuff done!!

New Bumbo...love it!!!(Thanks Monica)

Dying Easter eggs...so fun!

Jaylee's Glitter eggs! It was just a little bit messy!

Cyprus, man he's getting big!!

One evening Cyprus "babysat" Emery for a 1/2 hr

so I could get supper made!!

Lastly...Ella wanted EVERY flower clip we

own in her hair! I think she pulled it off nicely!!

5 months!

2011-04-11T16:26:00.000-05:00

The baby is 5 months old! She is rolling everywhere and has started to wave. I'm not sure she knows what she's doing, but she waves nonetheless!

Minimalist, my new middle name :)

2011-04-03T12:32:00.000-05:00

I've decided we need to become a minimalist family. WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. Over the last month I have taken 2 big boxes and 8 garbage bags of unused stuff to the Salvation Army. I have a long way to go, to get us to be real minimalist's(we will never really be there), but we're on our way. Why do all 4 of my kiddo's have dressers packed full of clothes, plus closets? Because, my friend, I hate to do laundry. Plain and simple. My kids have to have 8 pairs of jeans because I only do laundry every 7-8 days. So here's my plan, we're going "Little House on the Prairie". I believe in those days, they had 1-2 everyday dresses, that they wore over and over and 1 Church dress. Now, I'm not really going that extreme(the school would really start to wonder!). BUT, I want my 2 bigger girls to share a dresser. This is going to take some work converting their 2 full dressers into 1. I'm going to have to say good-bye to some cute outfits, but in the name of sanity, it has to be done. I do realize this will entail doing laundry more often, but the total amount of loads should stay the same(close). I will let you know how this goes...I don't think my 5yr old who changes her outfit 6 times a day is going to be happy ;)
Meanwhile, here's what 1/2 of my living room constantly looks like(I hate to fold and put away!):

My Mandy

2011-03-22T14:59:00.000-05:00

When I was six years old, I donned my favorite Strawberry Shortcake dress, and went to the hospital to met my new cousin, Amanda Jo DeVries. I think we called her Mandy from the beginning, that's all I've ever known her as. My mom watched her while her mom worked so she quickly became a permanent fixture on my hip. I was a burly 40lb six yr old and Mandy was a chunky baby, so we looked pretty funny! I remember staying overnight at her house when she was a baby, and going to Wal-Mart to get her picture taken. Her mom said I had to come with because she always smiled for me(don't know if that was true, but it made me happy!). My mom watched Mandy until she went to kindergarten. We were two peas in a pod, whatever I did, Mandy was right with me! I made her mac-n-cheese and we ate it at my little table, we rode bike together(my banana seat bike, with her sitting behind me), we played church together. When she was 6, her family started going on vacation every year with our family. I have SO many great memories from all those years. I was really sad when Mandy started school, but we still saw each other a lot, my mom would watch her(and her brother) when they had days off, or if their daycare was closed. I always knew Mandy loved me and I loved her. She looked up to me, I knew she did, so I tried to be the "coolest" person for her. I'm not sure when, but somewhere along the way I started looking up to her. I think it was when she graduated from high school with a 4.0gpa! She went away to college and I only saw her every so often at family things. I went to visit her in college once and was so proud of her(and her still 4.0gpa). I had 2 kids by that time and was really wishing I was smart like her so I could have gone to college too(and been successful at it!). Then she went to Florida for a semester(because she graduated early)before she started pharmacy school at Ohio State. Her life has not been perfect and she has had her share of heartbreak. She has handled it all with dignity,grace, and maturity beyond her years. She has been a constant in my life and I hope she can say the same of me. My Mandy is graduating from Ohio State as a pharmacist in June, I couldn't be more proud of her if I had given birth to her myself. Luckily for me, she just landed a job at the Mayo Clinic, so she will be close for now. Did I mention, my kids LOVE Mandy(who wouldn't). Nothing makes my heart sing more than when my kids are all piled up on her lap!

Me and Baby Mandy

Me carrying her, I'm sure she can walk in this picture

but why would you?

Sleep over!

Playing church!

Catching some rays!

One of our fun up-north times!!

My senior year!

Maid of honor in my wedding!!

4-12-03

3-12-11

I'M 5

2011-03-17T12:39:00.000-05:00

Jaylee turned 5 last Wednesday! We had a party for her on Saturday!! She was so excited and had tons of fun!! She got lots of great gifts, her favorite is her CD player! She carries it everywhere and plugs it in wherever she is playing at the time!

On her actual birthday opening presents from us!

Makeup SOOO EXCITING!!

At her birthday party opening gifts!!

Pretty necklace from Mandy!

She helped make all the decorations for her cake!

Blowing and blowing...she kept blowing putting her bottom lip

over her top lip so all her air was going up, she did

eventually get it!

My girls keen fashion sense!!

4 Months old and other nonsense

2011-03-11T20:37:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I posted last, here are some pictures of our last few weeks!!

4 months old already...where does the time go??

Bath time, mom got a little crazy with the hair!

Favorite thing to do!

I figured out how to roll over!!

My head is SOOO heavy!!

New toy...I like it!!

I like it too!!!

SWIMMING!!

2011-02-28T15:54:00.000-06:00

We went swimming at the Ramada in Rochester yesterday for my mom's 60th birthday(she wanted to do something the kids would like!). It was a fun place for the kids!! It must be a popular place in Rochester because there were tons of people there. I liked everything about it, except they allow people to bring food in there, so there was food on the floor, YUCK. The kids could have cared less, but I'm really anal about my feet(and ears, but that's a different story)!! It was a nice break from the LONG winter we've had!

So excited to get in the water!

Jaylee going down the little slide

Cyprus going down the little kid slide

(he was a little big for it, but we couldn't

get him to go down the big slide!)

Testing out the water

Relaxing

My niece Natalee, she laughed

the whole time we were there.
She said, "It's a funny place."

Guess so!

Some of my professional editing(haha)

made this picture turn out super cool looking!

He had fun playing catch with dad!

Getting sprayed by the turtle!

Trying to talk Ella into getting out for a second.
Her teeth were chattering and she was shaking,

BUT she wouldn't get out!

Grandpa on Baby duty!!

Wanted: BFF for a SAHM

2011-02-23T14:56:00.002-06:00

This is an actual comment I made to my husband last week. "I don't have any friends.". To which a long discussion ensued, mostly of me feeling sorry for myself. This winter has been horribly long and with an infant, I rarely leave the house. What made me realize I don't have any friends is when my parents went on a 10 day vacation a few weeks ago. My phone NEVER rang the whole time they were gone. I'm not joking, I realized I talk to my mom all the time and nobody else. Ok, I talk to my husband too, but in our conversation, I had to remind him that he doesn't count, I HAVE to talk to him ;) So of course my lovely husband says, "call somebody". Ok, who am I supposed to call? Should I just look through the phonebook and pick out a girls name and see if she's looking for a BFF too? Don't get me wrong, I do have friends that I talk to now and then. I'm just looking for someone to talk to about everything, good and bad, and to vent about life with. It's a little hard to talk to your husband about your husband...he just doesn't seem to get it! Then Brian says, "I don't have any friends, either." PA-LE-ASE. He's always on the phone with his buddy, Murphy. Our cell phone bill, one month, OVER 200 minutes just to Murphy. I'm lucky if I use 30 minutes a month. I also pointed out the time he spends with Murphy at his "shop". "Well, we're WORKING on stuff, it's not like we just sit around talking." Getting huffy, he was. I told him I would love to work on stuff, (by stuff I mean scrapbooking or crafting)with a friend. See, this is exactly why I need a BFF, he just doesn't get it(I know I already said that, but he really doesn't get it!). This mom needs another mom to talk to and do stuff with. Anybody? ANYBODY?
That was a week ago, while I'm still feeling ~~a little~~ sorry for myself, I also realize that I have many friends, and that I need to get over myself, and just give them a call.

Schleicher kid update!

2011-02-20T12:45:00.001-06:00

Cyprus is almost 6&1/2 yrs old. He is 80 days away from being done with his first year of school(they keep a countdown in his class). He is learning how to read and I have been going into his class on Thursdays and the kids read to me. It's been fun to see his class in action! When he's not at school, he loves to play outside. If he's not outside he is building something or drawing pictures of semi's. I probably have 100 pictures of semi's that I can't get myself to throw out! Today he made pictures with hearts on one side and the other he wrote "I luv you, Jaylee From Cyprus". He made one for each of his sisters and one for Me and Brian. What a sweet boy he is!!

Jaylee is days away from turning 5! We have been talking about her birthday party constantly, and the gifts she is sure she will be receiving! She is almost done with Pre-K and looking forward to Kindergarten. She loves school and as much as she knows and talks about her teacher, I'm sure she's glued to the poor lady's side . Her days consist of playing with babies, and drawing/writing. She drives me crazy all day asking, "Mom, how do you spell caterpillar?", "Mom, how do you spell butterfly?". I know it's good that she wants to spell things, but after 3-4 hours of this, I get worn out! As I'm writing this, I'm thinking a dictionary might be a good birthday gift for her! She is a big help with her baby sisters and with doing chores around the house!

Ella is almost 21 months. She is still super tiny, but makes up for it with her personality. She will bully her big brother and sister until they are crying. Lately she has been screaming to get what she wants and will throw things when you ignore her. Time-outs have been introduced and she HATES them. She can be super sweet and freely gives kisses to anyone. She LOVES her baby sister and wants to "lap"(hold) her all the time. She is starting to say a lot more words and putting sentences together. It's so cute to hear her talking!

Emery is almost 4 months old. She has really calmed down from her screaming days the first few months(THANK GOODNESS)!! She is almost rolling over and loves to sit up(not by herself). She smiles and laughs at most of our silly antics. She loves to sit and watch her siblings play. She sleeps for 6-7 hours straight at night, but only naps for 20 minutes here and there during the day. It's a trade-off I'm willing to make, since I love to sleep!

Emery is 3 months old!!

2011-02-10T14:59:00.000-06:00

Can you believe how big she is
ALREADY???

Winter!!

2011-02-05T16:54:00.000-06:00

I finally got Ella outside for her first time playing! She wasn't sure what to do and I had to carry her around for most of it.
Here are some pictures of our adventure and I threw in some other ones too!

I think I finally have it all together!?!?

2011-02-02T21:28:00.000-06:00

I think I finally figured out how to be a productive stay-at-home mom/person. I have been married for 7 yrs and 10 months and have been a mom for 6 yrs and 3 months. I have really struggled with keeping the house clean, even picked up really. I have also had a hard time figuring out meals and then grocery shopping, we won't even go into that. Ok we will go into that...in a minute. I have tried numerous different ideas and I have stuck with them for about 3 days and then they are out the window. As I have mentioned before, life with 4 kids has been really challenging, supper time especially. I would be trying to figure out what to have and then preparing it while all 4 kids are demanding my attention at the same time(AUGHHHHHH!!) I finally decided to make a weekly menu on Saturday or Sunday and then during the day, usually during nap-time, I can whip it up and then just pop it in the oven or whatever. I know all kinds of people do this, but I just thought it sounded like a lot of work...and I didn't think I could come up with 5-6 ideas, not sure why I thought that. It's been 2 weeks and this has worked AMAZINGLY!!!!! As for the grocery shopping, I have NEVER shopped with a list, EVER. Again, not sure why, just thought it was too much work, I guess. Since I did the menu thing though, I kinda have to have a list so I can get what I need. AMAZING!!! Makes life sooo much easier at the grocery store, especially when you make the list in the order of the aisles(now I sound like my mom!!). Now the house cleaning thing. I cleaned my house from top to bottom 2 weeks ago. I am now doing a 15 minute(approx) tidy every night, putting stuff away, cleaning up the kitchen, and sweeping a floor that needs it. This is making a huge difference. The bigger jobs, like bathrooms and mopping I do as needed during the day, but just one job a day. Just keeping on top of the clutter has really made me a lot happier with life.
This new organized me is working really well, although I'm sure at some point things will get away from me, but for now...

End of an Era...

2011-01-25T16:20:00.000-06:00

Cyprus found a hat of Brian's when he was 1 and has worn it ever since. I think he started wearing it full-time when he was 18 months. When I say full-time, I mean ALL the time. He wore it all day AND night, no matter what he was doing. He would take it off for baths, swimming, and that's about it. When he was 4 he took it off for preschool and church. When he started school this year he would wear it on the bus, put it in his backpack for school and then put it back on afterwards. He even wore it to bed. We have tried for at least 2 years to get him to wear another hat, but he refused. It's ripped and torn and looks dirty even though I wash it every once in awhile. WELL, yesterday I finally convinced him to get a new hat. So far he's worn the new hat to bed and all day today. He's still carrying his old hat around with him, but we are making progress!!

Here is the first picture I have of him wearing it, it's dated 11-5-05, right before his first birthday. All nice and clean!!

This is the last picture I could find of him wearing it, at Christmas!

(notice the torn bill)

YAY!!!! NEW HAT!!!

My Jaylee!

2011-01-24T15:09:00.000-06:00

My second born child is a blond haired blue eyed firecracker. She will cuddle and love you up one minute then yell and scream until the vein in her neck pops out the next minute! I love her to death!! She reminds me of myself so much it's scary! Here are a few Jaylee'isms from last week, I just had to share!

She loves to sing and her favorite song right now is, "I'm Trading my Sorrows"(Yes, Lord). I overheard her singing: "I'm trading my fever". It's actually, "I'm trading my sickness".

Her singing "I've got Peace Like a River",(standing on a chair) "I've got peace in my liver, I've got peace in my liver, I've got peace in my liver in my soul". Which, I guess, you would want your liver to be a peaceful place!!

Last but not least, the kids take turns at night with going first to get their vitamins, Cyprus goes first on odd days and Jaylee on even days. So Jaylee asked if it was an odd day or and even day and I said it was an odd day so the odd child gets to go first(I'm so funny, I know!!). Jaylee starts crying and says, "I want to be the odd child!"

She's so cute!!

So what!

2011-01-17T22:08:00.000-06:00

So what if it take me till noon(sometimes later) to get a shower
So what if I have a pile of laundry waiting to be folded every single day of the week
So what if it takes 45 minutes to get from starting to get ready to go somewhere to actually getting into the van
So what if I usually wipe spit-up out of my hair more than once in a day
So what if I have to have my 6 yr old push a cart in Wal-Mart because the other one is full of babies
So what if I break up more than 50 squabbles a day
So what if I want to pull my hair most of the time
So what if 2 babies are crying at the same time
So what if 4 kids are sleeping on my floor
So what if I haven't had a 8 hour night of sleep since...um...I can't remember
So what if my house is never clean and my legs are never shaved
Life as a mother of 4 has been super challenging. I haven't really talked about it much because I'm waiting for it to get better! It never fails that the baby starts screaming when I just get something started, or the big kids start fighting when I'm trying to cook supper. Ella has started throwing fits whenever I tell her no, super fun! I love these kids, I really do, but my days are EXHAUSTING. Brian, bless his heart, hasn't come out and said it, but I know he has to wonder if I do anything all day. Some days I can get the dishes and a few loads of laundry done, some days! I know it will get better, it has too!! A lot of older women tell me to enjoy these days when they're young and I'm trying!
My new attitude is going to be what I mentioned above. I'm not going to sweat the small stuff anymore...ok, I'm going to try!

Finally and then...

2011-01-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited...
Nineteen months ago our house got damaged in the tornado that hit Austin. A big branch came through the roof, into Cyprus' room, through his wall, and into the bathroom. Brian screwed big drywall patches over the holes that night and that has been what I've been looking at for the last, yup you guessed it, nineteen months! Last week I asked a man in town who is having financial problems if he could fix it for me and we would pay him. Finally there are no more holes!! I'm so excited to repaint both rooms different colors!! We've only lived here 4 years and we painted everything then, but I'm ready for new colors!
But now, my project is on hold, because sickness has struck our family. Cyprus tested positive for strep today and I have a really bad sore throat myself! It's just a matter of time before the other girls get it too! Today I saw Ella putting her fingers in Cyprus' mouth, of course I yelled at her to get them out, but they were already in there! I hate sickness, especially when you know it's just going to get passed around to everybody! I guess my painting can wait until spring!

Emery is 2 months old!

2011-01-07T22:30:00.001-06:00

Can you believe it? She's getting so big, she had her DR's appointment today and she's 12lbs 12oz! Here she is:

Dag-gum-it

2011-01-05T18:21:00.001-06:00

Day 2, 6:16pm of my sugar detox and I just put 3 whoppers in my mouth without even realizing what I was doing!!!!! I came to as they were sliding down my throat, and for a split second I thought about throwing them up(crazy lady!). I did soooo good yesterday and REALLY REALLY good today. I was at a funeral and they had trays of different kinds of cakes. I wanted some so bad, but I didn't do it, only to be ruined by 3 whoppers! Oh well, I haven't started having convulsions or anything, so I think I'll be fine. I'll do better tomorrow! By the way, no headache today and I feel remarkably great!

Detox

2011-01-04T14:23:00.000-06:00

I figured out a few days ago that I was horribly addicted to sugar. We had so many Christmas treats sitting around our house. We made some, my mom made some, and a dear Church lady made a whole bunch. I was eating them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, everything in between, and even before bed(THE HORROR). I found an article online yesterday that said it takes 3 days of no sugar to get your body acting normal again. I CAN DO THIS...I did it once before, before I got married. I cut sugar out of my diet, not natural sugar, but anything with sugar or sugar substitutes added. So here I am, 1:42pm day one. I haven't had any sugar today, and boy does my body want it. I have a horrible headache and I feel like I'm going to fall asleep at any moment! I'll let you know if I make it the 3 days with no sugar...

On a lighter note, I thought I better add some pictures of the kids at Christmas!!

Cyprus SUPER excited to get going!!

A semi, what he "always" wanted!!

New kitty!!

Barely awake!!

Happy with her new baby bed!

So sleepy my first Christmas!

20 Things!

2010-12-28T18:07:00.001-06:00

I was listening to KJCY, the local Christian Radio Station, running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get stuff done for Christmas. I don't know who was speaking or what he was talking about, but he said to make a list of 20 things you are thankful for. Don't think about it, just do it as fast as you can. I thought, at the time, that I didn't have time for it. Now that things have calmed down, I realize I should have done it at the time, because I was out of control last week. My voice was hoarse from yelling at my kids, I went shopping everyday(yes I said EVERYDAY) trying to get the perfect gifts, my house was a complete disaster, I was mad about everything that happened that was not on my list of things to happen...So finally, here I am, ready to do this, realize what a fool I was last week, and see the really important things in my life. Here we go:
1. My husband
2. My kids
3. My God
4. Salvation, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and everything that goes with it.
5. Family
6. Warm house
7. My van
8. All the stuff/junk I have(most of which I don't need)
9. My Bible
10. Friends
11. Chocolate
12. My families health
13. Opportunity to live close to most of my family and my husbands family

14. Laughter of my kids

15. Ability to run and play with my kids
16. Random hugs and kisses and I love you mom's from the kids
17. Nights out with just the hubby(few and far between now!)
18. Music
19. A working washing machine
20. Living in a country where I am free to express myself and worship freely

That was incredibly easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought I would only be able to come up with 5 things easily and that the rest I would have to think about. But as soon as I typed one, another one popped into my head :)

Looking at the list, none of the things that I was worried about doing last week are on that list. Which to me means, they really weren't important, and my life and my kids' lives suffered because of that. Hopefully the next time I stress about something, I can remember this list and ask myself if it's really important.

Why?

2010-12-22T16:47:00.001-06:00

I love babies! I have four of my own, so I must love them! My childhood scrapbook is filled with pictures of me lugging babies around! I started babysitting when I was 11 and my neighbor left we with her 2wk old daughter when I was 12(what was she thinking?!). When I got pregnant for the first time I was super excited, I worried about a miscarriage, but once I made it past the 12 week mark, I wasn't afraid of anything else going wrong. I was scared to death of childbirth, fear of the unknown, I think. I never once thought that maybe something would go wrong and I wouldn't come home with a baby. Women have babies all the time, right? When Jaylee was born she had the cord wrapped around her neck numerous times and she was BLUE...She didn't cry right away and fear that she wouldn't make it took hold of me like I've never felt before!
In May of 2008 a friend of mine from high school lost her full-term baby. That hit me like a rock. What do you say? Nothing. I just gave her a tight hug and told her I didn't know what to say and that I was praying for her. I thought about what it would be like to give birth to a baby you know is not alive, and then leave the hospital without a baby to come home to a house that is all ready to welcome the little one home. Not to mention all the people that saw you when you were huge and are now wondering where the baby is. I still cry when I think about the pain they went through. After that happened I found out that another friend from high school(in our same group)had lost a baby at full term the year before. Now I really started thinking about it, what are the chances that out of our group of 6 girls that 2 would have stillborn babies? Not likely, but it did.
Fast forward to this week, a girl that I grew up with and went to church with, had a stillborn baby.
I feel horrible, as I look at my newborn, and think about all the joy that she brings me. I feel blessed and to have had 4 healthy pregnancies with 4 healthy births. My heart breaks for those moms that love their babies just like I do, but will never get a chance to see them grow-up. I wonder why God would let them feel their babies move, see ultrasound pictures, hear that everything is perfect, only to have heartbreak in the end. I don't have the answer to that and I wish I did.
It is so easy to get caught up in my own little world and not think about others, but I'm really trying to remember that there are people all around me who are hurting. So tonight I will hug my kids extra hard and long and say a prayer for those who are mourning.

First smiles!

2010-12-20T12:36:00.000-06:00

There is nothing better than the first smiles!! It lets you know that even though they can't tell you with words, they love you and thank you for all the sleepless hours you've put in!!

Fun times!!

2010-12-13T14:34:00.001-06:00

Last Friday, I took my mom, Ella, and Emery over to Rochester to get the baby girls' pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. I was worried about Emery(she's a screamer), but it ended up being Ella who wasn't too thrilled about getting her picture taken. Here are some of the pictures!!

So CUTE!!

Emery's falling fast in the box!!

She loved sitting all scrunched up in this box!

I'm thinking about buying one for home!

The photographer was acting crazy to get her to smile.

She's not impressed!

Seriously, NOT IMPRESSED!!

This really shows off Emery's mowhawk!!

Love this picture!!

REALLY LOVE THIS!!

Sisters!

2010-11-29T17:50:00.000-06:00

I always wanted a sister...

I'm glad my girls get that...

Emery Amanda's birth story!

2010-11-23T17:33:00.000-06:00

Emery(who remained nameless up until 6 hrs before birth), was due October 28th. The day came and went, which was no suprise to me. I went in for a Dr's appointment on November 1st and I was dialated to 2 so he decided to induce me on Thursday the 4th. I was supposed to come in at 7:30a.m.. I got everything lined up for the kids for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then on Wednesday I got a phone call from the hospital that they were full and to come in at 10:30a.m. instead. OK, fine, no big deal! On thursday, I got a phone call at 8:30a.m. to come in at noon and they would do a non-stress test and maybe send me home if everything with the baby was fine! OH NO WAY, I wasn't leaving once I got in there!! So we went in and the Dr checked me and I was still 2 cm so he said he would give me a pill to start contractions, wait 2 hrs and see if anything changed. I was really hoping and praying that it would work, I did not want to go home! At 3:30pm he checked me again and I was 4-5cm so he broke my water!!! Let the good times begin! Usually, with my other kiddo's after they broke my water it only took 2 hours until they were born. That's what I was expecting with her or even to go faster. Well, she had a different plan than that. At 6p.m. I was dying so I had a shot of Demerol that made me super dizzy and really didn't do much for the pain. The contractions were like nothing I had ever felt before. Instead of feeling them in my whole belly, it was all in my pelvis...it felt like it was breaking in two. I couldn't handle it, so I asked them to check me to see how close I was. At 6:30p.m. I was 6cm. I have never had an epidural before, but I had also never taken this long or had that severe of pain. I couldn't do it, so I went for the epidural. First try with that, the anesthesiologist didn't like the spot, so I got 2 shots in the back in 2 different vertebrae...that was fun. Fortunately the second spot worked like a charm. I felt sooooooooooo good, until about 9:30p.m., that's when the right side started wearing off. It still wasn't that bad, just a little uncomfortable. Then the baby's heart rate started dropping, and the nurse kept coming in having me roll from one side to the other, readjust the monitors, and she just wasn't saying anything. Since this wasn't my first rodeo, I knew things were not good and that it was going to be go time soon. She checked me at 10p.m. and she didn't really say anything, just that she had to go get the dr. I told Brian, who wasn't really paying attention, that something was wrong. The Dr came in and checked me and said we needed to try to push. I did for a few minutes, but she was still high so he wanted me to wait and see if she "birthed down". Not sure what that means, but we just waited. Then we started pushing again at about 10:40pm(I think) but since my epidural wore off on the right side, that side wouldn't fully dilate. He asked a nurse to get the vacuum and he sucked her past the lip that wouldn't dilate! Now, I thought a vacuum was like a real vacuum, like you plug it in, and it makes noise, but it was just a suction cup thing they put over her head and then he pumped a few pumps of air in and released it and her little head came just as far as it needed to. Then 1 push later she was out!!!! Thank goodness!!! Emery Amanda was born at 10:54pm weighed 8lbs 7.7 oz, was 20 inches long. Oh, the reason the nurse went to go get the dr(when I thought something was wrong) was because when she checked to see how dilated I was there were some blood clots that came out, which can mean the placenta is breaking away from the uterus wall. After Emery was born the dr didn't think that was the case, I'm just glad everything went semi-smoothly! She's here and she's healthy and we are thanking the Lord for that!

Pumpkin Belly!!

2010-10-26T21:40:00.000-05:00

I wanted to do this when I was pregnant with Cyprus(he was born Nov 8th), but Brian wouldn't do it! So, I figured with this baby the kids would get a kick out of painting my big belly! They did, and they wanted to do theirs too! It was a fun night, and now the baby can come out!

Brian decorating mine, I couldn't quite see it!

Me and my pumpkins, Ella's belly was

destroyed by this time!

My Huge scary belly

Ella had a little fun when we were done!!

You know you're 9 months pregnant when...

2010-10-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

~You can't see your feet unless you lean forward, but doing that throws off your balance and you almost fall.
~ You go anywhere with your family they are walking at least 20 ft ahead of you saying, "come on mom.".
~Trying to get comfortable in a bed, chair, couch, car, etc, is just about impossible.
~You realize you can't get your wedding ring off your finger(oops).
~You put on a shirt and it no longer covers all of your belly, which is a style for some preggo's, just not me!
~Your pelvis feels like it's literally going to split in two.(Dr says that's a "good" sign!!)
~You want to paint your toe nails, but realize even though you can get your leg up high enough, the baby bump stops it just out of reach!
~Even though you've given birth before you start to get nervous.
~You would do just about anything, I mean anything, to induce labor!
~You are soooo excited to meet and smooch the new little girl/guy you can hardly contain it!

School time and baby time!

2010-09-19T17:31:00.000-05:00

We have survived the first two weeks of school!! YAY!!! Cyprus likes going, he hates getting up at 6:15am(I'm not a fan either), he likes the bus, and playing in the gym! He is going every other day for the month of September and then in October he will start everyday. At first I thought it was a stupid idea to not just throw them into school from the beginning, but I'm really glad now for this "getting used to it" period! Jaylee LOVES preschool. She goes 4 days a week and she has been doing great riding the big bus home on days Cyprus isn't in school. Pretty much all of my worries have been put at ease, so I'm thankful for that!

Baby # 4 is coming along nicely. I'm 34 weeks and while I hate thinking about labor/birth, I can't wait for this baby to be here!! I took a picture of myself, because I'm still in a little bit of denial about how big I am. We don't have a full length mirror in the house, so the only time I really see myself is in a reflection at a store or something! Of course my kind husband keeps reminding me how huge I am, but I still thought I better take a picture so I could see for myself. So, yeah, I have a big belly! I was hoping for a plump little 7 pounder, but I think my hopes of that happening are out the window! Oh well!!!

Oh, as for Ella adjusting to the big kids being gone, she really hasn't noticed. Jaylee is home in the mornings with her and I lay her down for a nap when Jaylee leaves and when she wakes up the kids are home! She doesn't even know what happened!

My boy!

2010-09-04T19:05:00.001-05:00

I love my son. He's definitely one of a kind and he does and says the funniest things. One thing that we noticed right away about him is that he attaches himself to things quickly and will not let them go. He got a blankie when he was a few weeks old and he took to it right away. He still has that blanket, fortunately he just uses it at home now. I will have to post a picture of it, it has seen WAY better days, but it's still his "B" and he won't give it up.
He has a green hat that he has worn everyday since he was about 15 months old. I have 3 scrapbooks done for him and all of them are full of pictures with him and this hat on. He takes it off for swimming, baths, occasionally for bed, and now that he's older, for church. I have bought him new green hats, I have tried to give him one of his dads, but we just can't get rid of it!
For his 5th birthday last year he got new work boots and yes, he slept wearing them that night!

So here's the latest thing. His kindergarten only meets every other day for the month of Sept.. That being said, he can't go to Bible Study with me on Wednesday because he's too big, and he doesn't have school that day! He's going to ride in the semi with Brian for the morning hauling sand for Ulland Bros. The drivers have to wear orange or neon green vests and hard hats if they get out of the trucks in the sand pit. We went to Fleet Farm this week and we were walking by the hunting stuff and Cyprus spotted a orange vest for kids. He HAD to have it because he's going to be working with his dad and he NEEDS a safety vest(he already has a hard hat). It was $13 and I was thinking he's only going to wear this thing for 2 hours and then it's going to be in the bottom of the toy box. Well, knowing him, I should have known that was not what was going to happen. We bought it for him and well....here you go!

I had to do it!

2010-08-25T17:42:00.000-05:00

Jaylee had long bangs when she turned 1 and I can't exactly remember when I cut them off...soon after her 1st birthday! With Ella I was going to let her hair grow and grow. I think little girls with no bangs are so cute! However, I quickly remembered why I chopped Jaylee's off at 1. Both girls hair just grows straight forward on their heads, is doesn't part and neither would let me put anything in it to hold it back. The last straw with Ella has been food in the hair. The hair in the eyes would bug her when she was eating and she would "try" to push it away. Such a pain for me. So I did it, I chopped them off last night, I HAD TO DO IT!!

And he's off...

2010-08-19T21:43:00.000-05:00

Funny story. We have been trying to get Cyprus to ride his bike without training wheels since spring. He is such an anxious guy that he would just start crying every time we brought it up. When he would ride his bike, his training wheels never even touched the ground. We knew he could do it! Well, today the mom of the 3yr old(almost 4yr old)boy that I watch told me that he had started riding his bike without training wheels. When they left I told Cyprus and that was all it took. There was NO WAY he was going to let Jonathan out-shine him, since he's 2 yrs older than him. When Brian got home the training wheels came off. Mind you, he wanted me to take them off right then, but can you just see me trying to waddle(run)behind him?!! Anyways, he waited for dad and he took off right away. I had to hold the tears back, he's just getting so big, I'm going to be a mess the first day of school!! Here's some footage of his big night!!(sorry mom, I know you can't watch it!)

Kindergarten? Where for art thou, Kindergarten?

2010-08-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

We're struggling here at Schleicher Farm. We are T-3 weeks until school starts, but I don't know if' we're going to make it! Cyprus and Jaylee are fighting like cats and dogs, from sun-up to sun-down! I try to keep them busy, but if we're playing games or playing outside, they fight. I think God knew I was yelling way too much at them, because last Friday I lost my voice. It hasn't come back, which they LOVE, "What, mom, I can't hear you?". So I'm really, REALLY trying hard. There has been a lot of prayer going on here on my part and on theirs. It's super cute when Jaylee asks God to help her not throw fits! Anyways, I thought I would put this on here so I can look back in 3 weeks. I know my post in 3 weeks is going to be a sad mom, missing her kids. I will need this little reminder that school is a good thing and I need a break!

Because I'm a stay-at-home mom

2010-08-09T16:46:00.000-05:00

I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but when my husband and I were dating and then engaged he told me there was NO WAY I could stay at home when we had kids. We were getting our insurance through me(hubby's a farmer)and we couldn't lose the extra money I brought in. After Cyprus was born I went back to work when he was 2 months old. We didn't have money for daycare and I didn't want him in a daycare, so we had to work it out with daddy, my mom, and Brian's mom. After about 1 month of working full time I asked if I could work 4 days a week. Then after 2 months I asked if I could work 3 days a week, 1 day during the week and Saturday and Sunday(I worked at Shopko Pharmacy). Then the next month I asked if I could just work 4pm-8pm 2 nights a week and either Saturday or Sunday. So you get the idea, I didn't want to work, I was missing so much. I hated when I went to pick him up from my mom and she said, "He rolled over for me.". Besides missing stuff, I hated having to arrange who was going to watch him and when. When Cyprus was 7 months old we found out we were pregnant with Jaylee, I gave my 2 week notice.
I just heard a lady(working mom) on the radio saying that she hates when SAHM's make her feel guilty for working. She said she "has to" work. There is "no way" they can make it work for her to stay home. Oh...statements like that make my blood boil. IF you want to stay at home, you CAN make it work. You may have to give up things. I gave up my precious 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. I get weepy thinking about it. That was the first brand new car(probably last) I ever had. I went from my Jetta to a 1989 Dodge Caravan. That was a huge shock to me, but I did it, because I wanted to stay home. Brian and I often talk about the boat we would like to have or the vacations we would like to take, but we will wait, until the kids are older. I think about the clothes I would like to buy, the toys I would love to get the kids, but we don't need it. There are ways to make it work, you just might not get to DO all the things you want or HAVE all the things you want. I personally think I have the best job in the world!
Disclaimer: If you are a working mom and loving it or one of those mom's who has to get out and just doesn't like staying at home...I think it's great! This was for those mom's that hate working and wish they could be at home!

Pool fun!

2010-08-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

We bought one of the "Easy set" pools last summer. It's not a huge one, 10'x30", big enough for Cyprus and Jaylee to splash around in and not too deep where I have to be in there with them everytime! Last summer we got it all set up and ready to go and it got cold. They swam in it maybe 5 times last year. This summer, however, we have certainly gotten our money's worth out of it! They have swam every day it hasn't been raining! Here are some pictures I finally took of them enjoying a hot summer day!

Third child syndrome

2010-07-28T15:23:00.000-05:00

Before I had kids, I would wake up and decide how my day was going to go. Most days I was in a good mood, and only work(or boy) problems would get me down! Now 3 kids later, this simple pleasure is out of my control! I hope other mom's can relate to me, but I can tell within 5 minutes of the kids waking up if we are going to have a happy day or a day full of fits, time-outs, etc.. Now, I can still decide how I'm going to be, but I will admit I become a crabby mom most of the bad days! I had a happy, easy-going baby for 12 months and 2 weeks. Something switched with Ella a few weeks ago. She wakes up happy, but after about a 1/2 hour, she's squawking. I use the word squawk because it's not a whine or a cry, but a combination that grates on my nerves. She has started throwing herself backwards kicking and flailing her arms if she doesn't get something she wants. If I'm carrying her and I start heading somewhere she doesn't want to go, she will dig her little nails into my cheek and pull. Brian says I let her get away with too much and that's why she acts this way, but how do you punish a child with a vocabulary of 5 words? I tell her "no", try to distract her, have gently slapped her hand, but nothing is working. I'm hoping this is a stage that only lasts a few more days(weeks at the most!).

What a sweet baby!!

A couple things about being pregnant with baby #4

2010-07-12T17:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have been pregnant for 24&1/2 weeks, had 2 ultrasounds, heard the heartbeat numerous times, and am constantly up at night due to feet(or hands)pushing into my ribs. However, last weekend my sister-in-law(who was crocheting a blanket at the time)says, "I will have to make a pink one next for my new niece." To which I say, "WHAT? Your brother is having another baby?". She started laughing and I just looked at her until DUH...I'M HAVING A BABY!!!!! Oh. My. Goodness. I felt(feel) horrible! I will admit being pregnant for the 4th time has not been super exciting! I'm excited to HAVE the baby, but I haven't been consumed with this baby like I was with Cyprus or Ella. Jaylee was a surprise too, Cyprus was only 7 months old when we found out she was coming. I was so busy with Cyprus I just don't remember a lot about being pregnant with her either! Ella I was really consumed with remembering everything because she was going to be my last pregnancy. I savored every moment...

So now, since I have horrible mom guilt for forgetting about this baby that is ATTACHED TO ME, I'm becoming more ponderful(not a word, but I like it!). So here's a picture of me at 24&1/2 weeks pregnant! I'm putting it as my desktop background, so in case I forget again, I will at least be reminded the 3 or 4 times a day I sit down to check facebook!

Vacation

2010-06-30T11:46:00.000-05:00

Last week we were on vacation at beautiful Lake Vermilion. I love that place! We(my family) has been going to this lake since my dad was a child and I have gone every year since I was 15 months old! The place we stay is not a resort anymore, but since my family had been visiting there so many years, when the resort closed (20+ yrs ago) the family has invited us back every year since! It's so fun to tell my kids stories about when I was a little kid on vacation and now they are making memories at the same place! This year was a little different, Brian was able to come up the whole week, which was GREAT for me and the kids! Aaron and Aidan came up for 2&1/2 days, and Chris and Natalee came up for 4 days. Nancy and Payson stayed home because he was just released from the hospital 3 days before vacation started! We all had fun though!!

Ella Jo, LOVED the water...she crawled right in. I just had to be quick to grab her when boats went by and big waves tried to knock her over!

Cyprus caught his first Walleye! He was so excited, but wouldn't even get close to it!! We ate it and after a little convincing he tried it and thought it was delicious!

My bathing beauty!

Best cousins!! Jaylee and Natalee!!

Last morning...right before heading out!

Ella is 1 year old!

2010-06-15T16:38:00.000-05:00

Where did this last year go? We had a birthday party for Ella on the 5th, since we were out of town her birthday weekend. The day of her actual birthday(the 11th) she got to ride in the van for 6 hours to get to Quincy IL. What a birthday!!
We went to the Dr on Monday the 14th for her well-baby check and she weighs 18lbs 14oz, 16th percentile. She's a little peanut, but she always has been so they are not worried about her size as she keeps climbing the charts at her own little pace.

She is such a happy girl, climbing on EVERYTHING! She is kinda walking(holding on to stuff), but can get places just fine crawling! She's been such a blessing to our family, reminding us of the simple thrills in life, and the joy of a baby laugh! We are excited to see where the next year of her life brings us!

On a more serious note...

2010-06-07T17:50:00.000-05:00

I joined a Bible Study this summer, we haven't actually met yet, but I got the book and workbook and already did the first chapter(over-achiever, I know!!). Really, I was so excited to start it, I just couldn't wait. It is Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. I had never heard of it before, but was anxious to see what it was about. When you say, "Holy Spirit", to me I automatically think of people dancing wildly, throwing themselves on the floor, screaming in some "language" nobody can understand. I was really hoping this was not going to be a book about how we need to be more like that! It's not.
In the first chapter of this book the author said something that made me really think. (This is not a quote, it's my explanation)He basically said if you had been raised on a deserted island with only a Bible and then at age 20 you were found and brought into America(don't ask me who took care of you as a baby or how you learned to read) and walked into any Church, what would you think? Would you be totally amazed at how different the Church is compared to the Church described in the New Testament? Would you be shocked at the people that call themselves Christians, but have no hope, no joy, no power, compared to the early Christians. If we could all go back, erase everything we have ever been told and believe as truth, and just have the Bible, how different things would be.
So my thought as I start this study is to lay aside what I think I know and really study the Bible and see what God wants to teach me about the Holy Spirit.

Messy Eater!!

2010-06-02T11:04:00.000-05:00

I shouldn't say that Ella is a messy eater because I'm the one who has been making messy meals the last few days! She LOVES big people food. Loves to eat it, smear it all over her face and hair, and throw it when she's done!

What to do on a HOT MAY DAY??

2010-05-24T15:21:00.000-05:00

This is what us Schleicher's do...

And THEN....I left them outside by themselves for a bit...

Ella Jo is 11 months old!

2010-05-12T17:46:00.000-05:00

My little baby turned 11 months old yesterday. I can't believe how fast this past year has gone. I just realized I need to start weaning her off the bottle and formula and start introducing more "big people" food to her! She is starting to cruise around furniture and lets go thinking she can do it herself, but so far she just falls! I can't wait for her to walk so she can go outside to play! She sits at the patio door screaming at the big kids because she wants to join them so bad. I would take her out more, but she won't sit in the stroller or swing. She wants to crawl around and stuff her mouth with anything she can find! Hopefully when her eyes are a little higher off the ground, sticks and rocks won't find her mouth so fast!
Here's a few pictures I took of her, she did really good!!

Baby Butt

2010-05-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

I just had to share this...This is Ella's favorite position to sleep in lately and it's just so cute!!

Cyprus' CBS(Bible study)Graduation

2010-05-03T13:22:00.000-05:00

My big guy graduated from CBS last Wednesday! He started in the 2yr old class and has "made it" all the way through! The first year of Bible study he struggled. He cried every time I dropped him off at his class. EVERY TIME for a year, even the very last day! The next year I was ready for it the first day of class, but he went right in and we never had a problem. He has learned so many great lessons about Jesus and so many great songs. I hope he will remember the fun times he had at "school".

His class

Ms. Heidi talking about him!! He looks soooo big!!

Shaking hands receiving his diploma

Sorry it's blurry I was video taping too!

Cyprus walking out with his "trophy"

His teacher Mabel is behind him

Baby # 4 is on the way...

2010-04-20T10:31:00.003-05:00

Here's the story of how baby #4 came to be...

On a cold winters night, just kidding!!

Let me start by saying it took me 2&1/2yrs to get Brian on board to try for a third and final baby. Ella Jo was my baby, my last baby, and man have I spoiled her, using the excuse that she's it!! Well, November of last year Brian went to his DR for a sinus infection and came home and said his vasectomy was scheduled for January 15th. OK, that's great!! The vasectomy went off without a hitch and about 3 weeks later I started feeling sick to my stomach. It went on for about a week and a half, and I said to Brian, "I just can't shake this flu-bug, it's just been hanging on forever.". To which he said, "Megan, I think you should buy a pregnancy test." WHAAAAT??? NO WAY, there was no way I was pregnant. To prove him wrong I went to the dollar store and bought 6. I took the first one and it was negative for about 10 seconds and then a faint line appeared. Number 2, same thing. I thought to myself, "these are cheap pregnancy tests, they can't be accurate!". I waited a few hours took 2 more, same result. I called Brian,(who was in Duluth with a buddy!) he just laughed and laughed, while I cried and cried! I called my dr and told his nurse and said I wanted a blood test done, not another pee test. They obliged and the next day I went in for that. The results were, "low level" pregnancy hormone, so I would need to come back in a week to see if the level had gone up. I waited 6 days and took the last 2 pregnancy tests and they turned bright positive right way. I didn't need to see what the next blood draw said, by this time I had accepted it. The kicker is, I thought my husband was upset that whole week(from one blood draw to the next) he didn't really say anything about the pregnancy, or possibility of it. Then after the 2nd hospital positive he said, "I'm actually happy, I secretly wanted 4, but I knew you wanted to be done." WHAAAT? I was an emotional mess that whole week and he was "secretly happy"? Now I was mad at him...for a few minutes, but then I got excited! We were really doing this, 4 kids, can I handle 4 kids?? I guess I don't have a choice, we're doing it now!!

So, about the vasectomy, I got pregnant right before the vasectomy. We know this is a God thing, and we're excited to see what this little bugger is going to be!

That's the story of how baby #4 came to be!!

kids

2010-04-16T16:43:00.004-05:00

Ella Jo turned 10 months old this week! She's getting so big. She waves when you say, "bye-bye", when you say,"Do you want a ba-ba?", she starts clicking her tongue(I taught her that!). She says, Hi, dadda, momma, and I think she says Ella, kinda sounds like it. She is still doing her army crawl most of the time, but this week she started crawling regular style! Oh, if you say to her, "I'm not listening.", she'll cover her ears and shake her head(i need to get a picture of this)! We started a tradition a few weeks ago at bedtime, that when I pick her up I carry her to Brian and he gives her a kiss and says, "Nigh-night baby". Well she's so smart, she knows what that means now, so every night when he says that to her, she starts crying! Brian thinks it's so funny, that during the day now if I'm holding her he will come up and say, "nigh-night baby" just to make her cry! He's a mean daddy!

Cyprus is almost 5&1/2 yrs old. He has been a handful lately, spending a lot of time in time-out! He is full of adventure this spring, outside from morning until night! He has grand plans for a tree house this summer, he has the spot all picked out and is making piles of sticks that will be good for building! He's ready for "graduation" from preschool, I'm not sure I am!!

Jaylee(4) has been a handful lately too!! She is right there with her brother outside all day. The only difference is she can't handle being wet or dirty, so she routinely comes in saying she needs a change of clothes. I have put the kabosh on this, mommy can't do a load of just "JJ laundry" a day! She is loving playing with Ella now, and she will walk by her and say, "come on Ella, let's go to my room.", and Ella will follow her in. They will play forever in there, without me hearing a peep out of them! It's so sweet! The only problem we had once was Jaylee put Ella on the bed and Ella fell out(the mattress just sits on the floor, so it wasn't that bad!). So now we can't do that!
Jaylee's "snake"

I just wanted to update you on what all the Schleicher kids have been up to lately...

Easter and Such!

2010-04-13T11:53:00.003-05:00

Easter was great this year! It's an amazing thing when your kids are finally old enough to understand the true meaning of the holiday. On Good Friday I asked them what the day was and both kids knew it was the day Jesus died on the cross. Then Jaylee piped up and said, "But He didn't stay dead, He's alive now!". Brought tears to my eyes then and now again as I'm retelling it. Of course they were excited about the Easter bunny coming, but I think they get that the gifts are just a bonus!! In the past I have just set their baskets on the coffee table and they have came and got us BEFORE they rip into them. This year I thought that they probably wouldn't come get us, just rip into them and tell us later, so I "hid" them. I didn't want to hide them too hard, they are only 4 and 5 yrs old, so I hid Cyprus' behind the couch with a tote hiding it, and Jaylee's in the far corner by the steps going to the basement! Usually they come out to the living room and turn PBS on and watch cartoons. I was half awake when I hear them patter out to the living room and then screaming, "I got a water gun, what'd you get?" WHAAAAT? They must have radars, it took them 2 seconds, not even, to find their baskets. So, I jumped out of bed, but I was already too late, everything was scattered everywhere!! No pictures of them opening the gifts this year. I guess they are more able than I gave them credit for, next year they are getting hid a little harder!

First attempt at getting them all together

then I told JJ to look at the camera

so...crying ensued!!

And then there were 4(sometimes 5)

2010-03-27T15:08:00.005-05:00

About 2 weeks ago our lives changed with a phone call. My sister-in-law's water broke and she was in the hospital. The problem is, she was only 27wks along. She is on bed rest in Rochester, hopefully until wk 34. That's 7 weeks!! Her and my brother have another little bugger who is 23 months old, Natalee. Life since that day has consisted of Chris(my brother) dropping Natalee off on his way to work at 8am and my mom picking her up anywhere from 3pm-4pm depending on when she gets done from work. People told me once you have 3 kids having more doesn't really make a difference. I beg to differ...it's NOT Natalee, she's a little angel(most of the time). It's the trying to get 4 kids out the door, 2 of whom can't walk down the steps or climb into the van on their own. Then my 2 big ones, who are perfectly capable of getting their own shoes and coats on, start acting like they are 6 months old again and can't do anything! We are adjusting, as people can attest, my house is a DISASTER...I haven't vacuumed in over a week, I finally folded clothes yesterday, that had piled up on a unused couch for more than 2 weeks(that took about an hour to do!). I did clean my bathrooms because I was HORRIFIED, really horrified when my sis-in-law Gina came to help me one day and she had to use the bathroom!!! I'm really trying to enjoy this time with my niece, because I know all to well these weeks are going to fly by. I now understand why some people wait to have the 3rd and 4th kids until the oldest ones are 9 or 10. What I would give to have a "tween" here right now!! So, until wk 34(May 4th) we are a family of 6 most days, sometimes 7, when my neighbor boy that I watch is here too!! Please pray for us!!

Here's some pictures of Natalee, Jaylee, and Ella!! Cyprus was at school, sorry big guy!!

Natalee on the "big girl" swing!

Jaylee "trying" to pump

Ella super excited, she found "outside"

when I had the front door open she sat

there and banged and shrieked for a half-hour

Whoa!!!

2010-03-15T12:55:00.005-05:00

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I have been on here. We had the flu...that's my excuse!!

Jaylee turned 4 on March 9th. We had a "girlfriend" party on the 5th and a family party on the 6th. It was fun, she had a mostly good time!!

Opening gifts...Cyprus took the pictures, he was super funny, he would say, "mom, move that bag, it's in my way.". Then he would say, "Jaylee, hold that up, I need to see it." I think he did a good job!

Happy girl...........................

uh oh we're losing her..............

ok...we lost her!

school!!

2010-02-19T17:39:00.002-06:00

Update...I have been doing my cleaning chart for 2 weeks now. I did ok the first week, I did Monday and Friday I think. Then this week I cleaned on Tuesday and Thursday. It's working well for me, I'm accepting that my house will never be clean all at once, but I'm ok with that!!
This week we have been trying to decide where to send Cyprus to kindergarten. We were set on Blooming Prairie, but then he came home from preschool with a packet from Hollandale Christian School. My sentimental feelings returned, I would love to have my kids go to school there. I realize it is not the same school as when I was there, but to have my child walk the same halls and have the same Kindergarten teacher I had...ahhhh picture perfect. However it costs a lot to go there, it is a small school(cliques, gossip, etc.), and I really worry about the transition from 8th to 9th grade public school. I posted my query on facebook
and WOW, people are very opinionated about where your kids should go to school(which I should have known!).
So here's what we have decided, he's going to Blooming. He can grow up with the same kids his whole school career and the Bible stuff we will teach at home and he can get at church. We are confident in our decision and so the big school debate is officially over!

Ella is 8 months old

2010-02-15T10:50:00.002-06:00

Can you believe it?

Here's the big one's too, can't leave them out!!

utter chaos(story of my life)

2010-02-06T15:47:00.004-06:00

Every Saturday growing up we cleaned the house(unless we were on vacation). I hated, hated, hated, it. However, we always knew what we were doing that day!! My mom now admits that it was a little over the top and more often than not, it was a hugely stressful time at our house. You could always count on fighting on Saturday mornings. It got worse when us kids became teenagers. Somehow the boys were able to slip out of it and I was stuck doing more. My mom would get super mad when I would sleep past 10am(the horror!). On top of this we did a big spring and fall cleaning too. We would wash all the windows inside and out, wash all the walls and ceilings in the house, and more...augh!!! I said I would never do this to my kids, of course, when I got married, I defied the notion of a "cleaning day". I was going to just keep the house clean by doing jobs during the week. That worked ok until the babies started coming. I'm horrible at keeping the house clean! Most days there are crumbs on the floor, both the laminate floors and the carpet, toothpaste stuck to the sink, not to mention dirt, and piles of clutter everywhere. It drives me mad, I've tried everything(I thought!). My delightful hubby has told me many times when I rant, that he doesn't care what the house looks like as long as it's not cluttered!!! Good luck! He makes fun of me when it takes me a good week to get the house in order for one of the kids' birthday parties. Since I'm a sarcastic person, I jab right back with the, "Why do you think I wanted a third baby in the middle of the year?". It's somewhat funny, but it does make me feel like I'm doing something wrong. Why can my house be clean one day and the next day(hour) it's a complete disaster. I blame the kids(and my hubby). I know it's one of the things I have to let go, but it just drives me nuts walking around and seeing the disaster of a home we have! I've thought about implementing the Saturday cleaning day, but looking back on my childhood, I cringe at the thought. So here's my new idea I'm going to try this week. A room a day. I did a chart, I'm going to tackle a room a day. With this plan the whole house will never all be clean on the same day, but I can live with that!!
I will let you know how it goes!
Oh...I was reading in a magazine, a few years ago but it stuck with me, a lady was telling her most embarrassing cleaning habit. She said she only scrubs her shower every 2 weeks. WHAT???? I can't even remember the last time I scrubbed my shower!! My hubby and I are in it everyday(separately)with soap and water, it's getting clean enough, right??
Wish me luck!!

in the year twenty-ten

2010-01-26T12:05:00.007-06:00

Wasn't it just the yr 2000 a few yrs ago? I know they say the older you get the faster time goes by, well I now believe it! I hate it, but I believe it! We started with Christmas celebrations the first weekend of December and finished them up the 2nd weekend in January. We were able to travel to Illinois to be with my mom's side of the family for Christmas day. We haven't been able to go down there on Christmas since 2004. Since I had celebrated every Christmas of my life down there up until then, this Christmas FINALLY felt like Christmas to me! The weather had us wondering if we were going to be able to go, but we made it and I'm glad we were able to go!

Now that things have settled down, we are back to the old routine and things are going good. We have been sickness free*knock on wood*, besides a few sniffles!!

Cyprus went back to school and is learning to spell his name, numbers, and letters. Finally I'm not hearing the "I know everything, I don't need to go to school" anymore!! I'm really impressed with how well he is writing his name. Although I think we should have named him Cyrus, because he routinely misses the P in his name:)

Jaylee is sassy as ever. I cut her hair before Christmas due to the fact that she never let do anything with it! Now Brian says she looks just like me!! Poor girl!

Ella Jo is getting so big(7&1/2 months old). A few of the tricks she has learned in the last few weeks are: clapping, playing peek-a-boo, and just last night she started getting up on all 4's! We're in big trouble now!! Brian asked me last night when I was going to stop spoiling her...I said, "Not yet". It will have to start soon...just "not yet".We are anxiously awaiting spring. Our road has been a patch of solid ice since the Christmas storm, and I'm REALLY SICK OF IT. However, the kids have been loving the snow and Cyprus spent over an hour out breaking up the ice for me the the other day...he's so helpful!!

That was just a quick update, and like I have been saying for the last yr, I'm going to try to do better!!

H1N1 and Halloween

2009-11-02T17:29:00.003-06:00

The other night after brushing my teeth and going to the bathroom I washed my hands, really well. Ii then walked into the bedroom, rubbed my nose, put hand sanitizer on, and climbed in bed. Brian said, "why did you put hand sanitizer on after you washed your hands?" To which I replied, "I rubbed my nose." Made total sense to me, but I started to see my obsessive compulsive tendency's come out. This flu thing has me totally off balance. I wash my hands, touch something and think,"I have germs ALREADY". Please tell me that some of you think this way, it can't just be me?? RIGHT? I can stop myself from repeatedly washing my hands, so don't worry I'm not sick in the head!!! After much debate and research, all of us got our H1N1 vaccine on Thursday. We got the nasal mist, the kids screamed like they were getting a needle stuck in their nose, but we survived. There are SO many stories going around about this vaccine that I don't know what to believe. Well we did it, and we aren't looking back!
About Halloween, we had a Army guy, a ballerina/fairy, and a cute little ladybug. I got the kids all dressed up to go to a Halloween carnival at the American Inn and when we got there, (20 minutes early)the parking lot was full and there were cars parked on either side of the road down to the corner and around it. So we just drove by. The kids were horribly upset, but I made it all better by stopping at Hy-Vee gas station and getting them bug juice to drink. We came home and took our costumes off and waited for a few hours to go back out. They had a good time and got a lot of candy!

Side note, I wrote the above on Nov 2nd. Now it's November 11th.
Ella is 5 months old today and I can't believe how big she is getting. She is rolling over and over and over to get places and she is taking regular naps, and I started giving her baby food. Time sure does fly!

Cyprus turned 5 on the 9th and we had a birthday party for him the night before. I made him an allis chalmers cake...it turned out ok, the black frosting I had to use for the wheels and other stuff tasted super gross so we scrapped that off. Otherwise it was good! The little stinker raked in $90 that night, CRAZY!!! He's going to save it for a new bigger bike next summer!

Brian got me a leaf blower and I have been blowing leaves the last few days. We had leaves 3-4 inches thick in our back yard! I got them all off, now I just have to burn them(it's been too windy!).

Brian was finally able to get all the beans out of the field, so he is a happy camper!! Now just the corn to go and we will be all done!

Just a little update, more to come soon!!

change...

2009-10-22T17:12:00.003-05:00

Well, I haven't been on here for a long LONG time. I have really good excuses, but I won't go into them.

A lot has changed in the Schleicher household, like...Ella Jo was born June 11. We had a tornado hit our house 7 days later. We went on summer vacation and put up a new pool. We only got to swim in our new pool a handful of times, the weather just did not cooperate this summer!! We made trip to WI and IL and then Cyprus started preschool. Now we are currently doing preschool MWF and we have Community Bible Study on Wednesday mornings. I took the summer off of watching my little neighbor boy, but he started coming back at the beginning of September. WE ARE BUSY!!! I don't know what I'm going to do next year when I have 1 in Kindergarten and 1 in preschool(I know, people all over have more than 1 kid in school!)we will just have to adjust again!

We've been doing a lot of adjusting, and just when I think we're well adjusted something new happens and we start all over again! Oh well, makes life interesting!!

I won't go on, but I'm going to start blogging again, but I think it will be different, I think I'm going to make it a mommy blog, a place for me to talk, not just tell everyone about the day to day events!! We'll see how I do on that!!

May days...

2009-05-04T09:39:00.004-05:00

Wow... it's been a really long time since I posted anything on here! I won't bore you with the details of what's been happening in Schleicher land, we've been getting by...

We're counting down the days till baby girl comes, and enjoying all the nice weather we can! Here's some spring pics for you to enjoy!!

Jaylee's Easter Eggs

Cyprus' Easter Eggs

(notice JJ's are pink, purple, yellow

Cyprus' are green, orange, blue

They didn't want to share colors!)

Easter Morning

Playing outside, in windy MN

My big belly, 35 wks, April 27th

March

2009-03-25T21:15:00.004-05:00

Since I've last been on here a lot has happened! Jaylee turned 3 on the 9th! I can't believe she's 3 yrs old! She has really gotten "big" the last few months. She loves to play mommy with her baby's and she is always telling me how she's going to hold the new baby and help me. I hope she actually wants to help once the baby comes!! We had a birthday party for her and she had a great time. She wanted a Scooby Doo cake(not sure why!), but she got her wish! She got lots of babies, barbies, and just girl stuff in general! I will say, a few days after her birthday I was trying to zip her coat up to go out and she pulled away from me and says, "I am 3 yrs old, I can do it myself." She's also been heard saying, "I'm 3, I'll do what I want!". Now I know, I started saying that probably when I was 13, I just can't believe she is ALREADY saying it!! I'm in for it....please pray for me and Brian!

We were able to enjoy some nice weather after her birthday. The yard was a complete mud hole, much to the kids delight! However, since then we have been sick for the last week and now it is cold again!! It started last week, I got the flu on Tuesday and then Jaylee got it on Saturday and Cyprus on Monday! After the icky stuff stopped, they both started with colds. After the weekend I will take a runny nose and cough!

As for the new baby, I have an appointment on Monday! I will be 31 weeks at that point, we are really getting down there! I was just thinking today about how our life is going to change DRASTICALLY when baby arrives. I have 2 preschoolers who dress themselves, are pottie trained, walk everywhere we go, entertain themselves, eat with a fork and spoon, undress themselves, take showers, and sleep all night! I'm in BIG trouble! I'm loving the stage they are at right now, they are so fun...don't get me wrong they fight like crazy and some days I wish they were in school already, but I love hearing the things they say and how fast they learn stuff!

Speaking of learning, I took Cyprus to Blooming Prairie for his preschool screening and he blew me out of the water with everything he knows. There was stuff the teacher asked him and I didn't think he would know and he did. The funny part was she had him finish a sentence, so she said, "A brother is a boy, a sister is a...?" Cyprus says, "girl". Teacher says, "A horse is big, a mouse is...?" Cyprus says,"Tiny and dirty, we don't like mice." Teacher says, "A table's made out of wood, a window is made out of...?" Cyprus says, "glass, glass is sharp if you break it." He was way too cute and here I was worried about him being shy! I'm not worried anymore!

Well, I'll end now, I'm trying to remember all the cute stuff these guys say, cause I know soon I'll forget it all!

Time...

2009-03-05T08:26:00.003-06:00

I don't know where the time goes...I always feel like I don't accomplish much in a days time, but yet when I look back 3 weeks have gone by. Oh well, what can I do about it!
I am excited to say that we are on the big downward slide with baby # 3. I'm so ready... It makes me feel great when I reach the 28 week mark, because the baby has a really good chance of survival after this point. I've never had any pregnancy problems with any of my kiddo's, but regardless, I worry!(it's a mom thing!)
I can't wait for this baby to arrive, this is going to be my mellow, calm baby. I am really setting myself up, I know I'm dreaming, Brian and me do not have personalities to produce calm children!
On to the kids, They've been doing really good, except for sicknesses going around! It's all because I said at the beginning of Feb. that we had been really healthy all winter! This past week Jaylee had a ear infection. She had been sick with a cold for about a week and seemed to be getting better. She took a nap on Tuesday and woke up screaming that her ear hurt! I really didn't know if I could believe her or not, you just never know! So I took her in and she was super funny. I took Cyprus in too, because he took a nap that day and woke up with a fever. Anyways, the Dr looks at Cyprus first and asks him, "does your ear hurt?" Cyprus says, "no". So the DR goes through the whole list of does this hurt, to which Cyprus says no to everything. Then it's Jaylee's turn, he starts with asking about the ear, she says yes, throat, yes, stomach, yes, headache, yes, legs, yes, feet, yes, arms, yes...you get the picture. So she ended up with an ear infection. He goes to check her lung sounds and he asks her to take a deep breath, so I show her how. She does it 1 time and then says(in her little girl, very whinny voice)"I just can't do it!" I'm glad the DR got a kick out of her, probably made his day a little more bright! I take her back in next week for her 3yr check-up, we'll see what she does then. I hope the dr then doesn't ask her any questions about her home life, who knows what she'll say!
Well, I'll go for now, don't want to bore you!!

24 week pictures!

2009-02-08T20:39:00.002-06:00

Here's pictures of me at 24 weeks with baby # 3

I look awful because I just got out of the shower

I should have waited until I looked a little better, but oh well!!

Jaylee had to get in on it too!!

Jaylee's first "real" haircut!

2009-01-21T21:10:00.003-06:00

BEFORE

She's really got the pitiful

"before" picture look going!

Before

the back

AFTER

Much happier

After

the back

Cyprus

he wanted in on the action

his "after" picture!

EVERYBODY

we got everybody all trimmed up!!

Cyprus is crying and trying to smile at the same time!

Ok, here's the story of Jaylee's haircut! Last night Jaylee got her kiddy scissors and cut some of her hair. It wasn't the top layer it was underneath. She also got some around her face. I've been fighting this little monster for months now, trying to comb, wash, do anything with her luscious locks, so I was ready to chop it off. The ends would always get all tangled up and I've tried everything on the market that "claims" to help comb through ratty hair. None of them have worked. So since she cut her hair all different lengths, I took the opportunity. Brian wanted me to cut more off, but I think this is good for now. She looks like a "big girl" now...

Outside fun!!

2009-01-20T15:59:00.002-06:00

I'm King of the Mountain!!!
Happy little Eskimo!!

Making tracks in the snow!!

Rosy Red Cheeks!!

I think he can see!!!

Our Week!

2009-01-17T17:18:00.005-06:00

We had a crazy week here in the Schleicher house. First, over last weekend Brian decided he wanted to go look at a combine in Plymouth Illinois, which is about 20 minutes from my Grandma Steele's house. On Monday morning we decide to take off, we were in the middle of a Winter Storm Warning as was the state of Iowa, which we had to drive straight south through. Brian HAD to go see this combine RIGHT AWAY so we left. I wasn't so worried about Brian's driving, it's the other people on the road that scare me. We made it with little to no problems, it just took us a little longer than normal. When we got to IL the temp was 40 degrees, we were in heaven. We haven't seen 40 degrees since November! We stayed overnight and then went to look at the combine Tuesday morning. By that time it was -5 degrees, back to the real world! Long story short, we bought the combine and made it home just as the snowflakes for the next winter storm started falling! We had fun visiting grandma, Uncle Jeff, and Aunt Janet while we were there for our short visit!

Now the temp just kept dropping, so me and the kids were couped up from Tuesday night when we got home, to Friday night! We all went a little crazy, being stuck at home, but it was just plain too cold to go out! Poor Cyprus kept looking out the window and seeing the sunshine wanted to go out to play. It was -25 out with windshields in the -40 mark, we just had to wait it out! So last night we went out to eat at Perkins and then this A.M. when we woke up it was +22 degrees. We were sooooooo excited, we went to the library and went to get grocery's. Life is good, we are back to normal and hopefully next week I can send my rambunctious kids out!!

IT'S A.......ultrasound results!(don't look aunt Jan, if you don't want to know)

2009-01-08T11:46:00.003-06:00

We had our ultrasound on Monday(the 5th). Everything looks great, the baby is the right size...for what I don't know!! I should have asked, she said it was 9 o.z., which is right on track. I wanted to say, "right on track for a 6 pound baby, or right on track for a 10 pound baby?". I know it won't be 6 pounds unless I go into premature labor, which I don't want! Cyprus was 8lbs 3oz and Jaylee was 8lbs 12oz, so if this continues, new baby will be 9lbs5oz which is way too big, if you ask me!

Ok, here's the results of finding out the sex of the baby! It's a GIRL!!! She checked 3 times to make sure and was sure of all her findings!! I thought it was a girl, for some reason I have always felt like Cyprus would be the only boy! Don't know why, but just have felt like that!

So now we have to decide on a name. I like Ella Jo, Brian doesn't like it...so I have to come up with other names to present to him.

That's the news here...nothing else to report!!

Christmas

2009-01-01T11:06:00.003-06:00

Quick overview of our Christmas' so far.

We have one more too go on Saturday!

DeVries Christmas 12-22
Jaylee got new slippers!

Cousin picture...

Cyprus didn't want to get too

close and Cece was

elsewhere!!

Chrismas morning...
Exciting times!

Monster Trucks!!!

Christmas afternoon...

in WI

Brian got a box of homemade

goodies from his sister!

Happy kids in WI!!

Aunt Amanda and Jaylee

patiently waiting!

Cyprus got his construction set he wanted.