The new addition

Welcome baby Addisson!!! Chad's sister Nikki had her baby girl March 10th and we were all finally healthy enough to go and visit her for a quick bit. She's beautiful and both her and Mom are doing wonderfully. Kale was ecstatic, to say the least, to go and see her. He's got a soft spot for little babies - it's the one moment you will see him be gentle!!! Congrats again, Nikki and Ryan.

The sweetness...could it stay this way forever??

Every day that I am home with Kale I find more reasons to appreciate why I am here. While he is so different from the girls in many ways, I truly appreciate the way he shows his affection. He was such a cuddly little boy for SO long and then it became less as he became more active. So now, I truly appreciate all of the special moments and his, very few and far between, displays of affection!! His latest thing he says to me is "Mommy, you my best friend". It completely melts my heart. I wish I could keep him this age and this sweet and innocent FOREVER!!

I had to take this picture of Kale while he was napping because it shows EXACTLY what he is like at every moment of every day. Not only are the tractors in a straight row (which is exactly how things have to be), but the fact that tractors are the only thing you ever see him with is what was SO funny to me. I remember the girls lining things up when they were little but Kale is so anal about it that it makes me laugh. Even when he gets on his battery powered gator, he will stop and get off to straighten the wheels by hand if the wheels ever turn!!! Such a funny kid.

Fun at home

The sickness just won't go away!!

I don't like to blog and complain the whole time - but I am EXHAUSTED!! It has been such a long few weeks. It all started with Chad dealing with some pain in his abdomen and literally being confined to the bed for a couple of days because he couldn't hardly move. I finally MADE him go to the doctor and after a whole afternoon of testing he found out he has diverticulitis. We're finally getting over the hump, but during that time of healing he had to finish out things for AgriGold and then start his new job!! Then a few days later Ana got sick with a high fever and nasty cough, then a few days later Kale got sick with a high fever an nasty cough, and now Mia is home sick with me today with yes, a high fever and nasty cough - but her's seems to be a very deep and loose cough and she's lost her voice!! If I get sick after all of this, I will be SOOOO mad!! I'll probably be the one to get sick right before St. Pat's because we have company planning to come!!! Knock on wood that I don't. One thing I DO know - the boys in this house are the worst patients when they're sick.

I have been terrible about taking pictures lately - I think it's mostly because of the winter blues. You don't have all of the fun places to take pictures when you're stuck in the house!! I've added a few new pictures of the kids, and even a picture of sick Mia!!

The girls have finished up swimming lessons once again so that's nice to have finished. You don't realize how much you enjoy having your evenings until you don't have them! During Kale's time being sick, he would take wonderful naps but one day I happened to have a tough time getting him to bed. Normally he will lay in his bed for about 15 minutes playing with his tractors before he would finally fall asleep - but this day it took me almost an hour to even get him to lay down. After getting him to settle down, I walked up stairs and sat down at the computer to check my email. About 15 minutes later, I hear Kale's little footsteps (in shoes, of course, because he HAS to nap with his shoes on for some reason!!) and he says to me "whew, Mom - I had a GOOOOOOOOD nap". I laughed so hard at his serious little man face and said "oh no you didn't - back to bed for you" to which he said "AWWWW, Mom....okay". He cracks me up!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day weekend and a happy, happy spring!!!!

I'm back!!

Sad to say that it's taken me this long to post but I'm finally getting it done and there's LOTS to tell. The first being that we returned last Sunday from Maui - our very last trip with AgriGold as Chad has accepted a Managerial position with Kerber Milling here in Emmetsburg. It was such a tough decision for him to make, but he is excited for the new adventure and opportunities. We are excited for him as well. Chad's final day with AgriGold will be February 27th. To all of our AgriGold family - we will miss you all so much and we will hold all of the memories very close to our hearts. It is with a very saddened heart that we will be leaving you all, not only for Chad, but for me as well as I have made very wonderful friends through the years as well. Please keep in touch with us!!

We had a wonderful trip to Maui and enjoyed plenty of time on the beach. They said that it had actually been a cool start to the week but it was still in the high 70's/low 80's on those cool days (cool, right?? HA HA)...not enough to keep US off the beach!!! We only had one day of rain so we ventured around to the surfing beaches and watched them and did a little shopping. It was nice to return home to 33 degrees compared to the -3 it was when we left though!!

The children were very excited to see us return. I believe that I heard Kale say to me "I missed you mommy" or "I lub you mommy" at least 10 times in the first 5 minutes we were home!!! I enjoyed almost a full week of wonderful behavior from the kids and an unbelievable amount of hugs and kisses. It truly does the heart some good to be gone now and then for us all to appreciate each other the way we should. But, we're slowly getting back in to the swing of fighting and screaming, etc. I should have known it wouldn't last too long!!! HA!! The girls are gearing up for level two in swimming lessons next week and soon soccer will be starting as well. The busyness will be in full swing again before we know it!!

I had to add these pictures of Kale - too funny. He has been obsessed with this little play ice cream cone for about a year now. One day after it had snowed, he insisted he had to take it with him outside to play. After coming in from playing, he realized he left his ice cream cone outside. I wasn't about to run back out in the cold after we had taken everything off, so I told him he'd have to wait until the next day. WELL, it snowed about 9 inches that night and the ice cream cone was nowhere to be found!!! That is, until now!!! It was absolutely gorgeous on Sunday, so Kale and I went outside to play. Immediately he said to "mommy, I try to find my ice cream cone!" And wouldn't you know it, there it was - exactly where he KNEW that he had left it!!! Now it's attached to him once again.

Who's in charge here??

Demolition has begun!! Actually, it has been a long and slow process. We've been trying to work on our bathroom in Chad's spare time and our very few free weekends we've had lately. Any time there are tools involved, you will find Kale - the little man in charge!! As we began to take the bathtub out of our bathroom, Kale was there to give his opinion and to help break out tile. We look forward to getting our shower in and some MUCH NEEDED storage. The next project is the guest bathroom (or the girls' bathroom) where this jet tub will eventually rest again. Oh so many projects, SO little time. Now if I can just find time to get my husband to help me with all the painting projects!!! And no, Kale will not be helping!!!

Winter is getting the best of us

I am so sick of winter it's not even funny!! I think it seems worse because Chad has been gone since Sunday and we've had two blizzards since he left. Let's hope the weather holds out enough that he can make it home today. With this wonderful weather, the girls have only been in school for 6 hours in three days (yes, they're home with me again today)!! Normally I love having the girls home, but it hasn't been long enough since Christmas break and their Christmas break was about a week too long for them!!

Being the dedicated Mom, I took the girls to Spencer for their dance class last night. It wasn't snowing when I left, but we left a little early because I had a few places I needed to go and knew I couldn't get it ALL done during their dance time. By the time we came home, there was over two inches of snow on the ground, it was snowing REALLY hard, the wind was blowing, and the highway was drifting something terrible. PLUS, the highway I was driving on was closed the night before because of semi's being in the ditches!!! Thank goodness the children sat quietly for me during the drive (but my knuckles were still white). An HOUR later, we finally made it to Emmetsburg. As we did, Mia said to me "Mommy, we're home!!! I was scared we wouldn't make it" to which I said "we're not home YET - we'll all feel better when the car is in the garage". There was literally a cheer of screams from the back seat when we pulled in the garage!!! I must say that I wanted to cheer myself.

I had to post this picture because this is Kale all day long - you never know what he's going to do next!!!