Our Family Fun

2011-12-10T08:05:00.002-06:00

Here are some random fall pics of the girls. They were helping me plant me blueberry bushes in this picture. They are quite the crew.

Dan and Natalie on the Uncle Jeff's boat. We had a really nice trip to New Jersey this fall and enjoyed spending time with family.

We bought an RV this summer and this was our first major trip with the RV. It was really nice to take it to New Jersey.

Our girls posing with their cousins as we were getting ready to leave New Jersey. They had a good time together.

Kylie and Alyssia enjoying the ocean. We were at the beach a least a couple of days, so nice.

Gardening

2011-09-30T17:40:00.003-05:00

Gardening is something that I started this year. We had a pretty good size garden this year and things grew really well. I am going to have a much larger garden this next year. My girls have enjoyed this as well.

Amazing Grace ( My Chains are Gone)

2011-02-01T16:21:00.000-06:00

Pictures of our girls

2010-12-11T11:59:00.004-06:00

Here are current pictures of our girls.

School!

2010-09-12T22:56:00.003-05:00

We are homeschooling Kylie this year. She is in 1st grade and so far things are going well. This is a picture of the classroom that we have setup in our house for school. I had fun getting it all together.

Alyssia just started 4 year old preschool. There are nine kids in her class. I am excited for her to have this for her and she is excited to go.

2010-01-20T16:28:00.004-06:00

http://www.nmsi.org

This is a great place to go if you would like to help the people in Haiti right now. One of our friends from college, Mioche Rock, is a missionary there and they need our help. Please consider donating money and pray. You can give to support Mioche Rock or you can give to Haiti Relief, either one will be helping the people of Haiti.

Homecoming Week

2010-01-15T22:12:00.002-06:00

Thursday was class color, which hers was green. She also wanted her hair french braided.

Wednesday was western day. She was a purple cowgirl.

Tuesday was favorite disney charcter or super hero day. She was Cinderella but warm with layers,

Monday was Pajama day and wacky hair day. She liked this one.

The school has homecoming with basketball season since they do not have football. Fun week.

Lydia

2010-01-15T22:07:00.001-06:00

Lydia is now a few weeks old and growing fast. She is a great baby.

Lydia Kate

2009-12-28T10:00:00.000-06:00

She is Here!

2009-12-27T20:42:00.002-06:00

We welcome LYDIA KATE on December 22nd at 12:58pm. She was 8lbs 6oz and 20.5 inches long.

Kylie and school events

2009-12-16T21:54:00.002-06:00

This is Kylie's class at her Christmas program last night. She was the letter "T" in Christmas. She did a great job with her line.

Kylie was a little Indian girl for her Thanksgiving/Harvest day at school just before Thanksgiving break. She was really cute. I made her outfit out of some of my older clothes. It was fun to put together.

2009-11-26T19:03:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy Day!

2009-11-16T22:26:00.002-06:00

I had a doctors appointment today. I am now every week until this baby is born, we are at 36 weeks now. I am almost done with pregnancy. Bitter sweet.

Dan stayed home with Natalie and Alyssia so I could go get our grocery shopping done today. I just love to shop by myself.

After we picked up Kylie from school, we took all the girls to the local Health Department and they all got the H1N1 shot today. They will have to get the other half in a month.

We also moved Natalie upstairs yesterday so she can get use to sleeping up there before the next baby comes along. Dan says it is for him to get more exercise going up and down the stairs. She doesn't get up in the night but she still will wakeup crying some,looks for her pacifier and the assurance that we heard her and back to sleep she goes.

We still have to pick out a name for this baby, we just don't know yet.
Have a great day!

Name for Baby!

2009-10-24T17:22:00.001-05:00

We have not come up with a name for this next baby girl. If anyone has any ideas we would love to hear them.

Parent/Teacher Conference

2009-10-24T17:04:00.003-05:00

We had parent teacher conferences on Thursday with Kylie's Teacher. Kylie is doing very well. She said the Kylie has a sweet and gentleness about her. She is kind to others and is very respectful. She is also doing very well academically. I think her reading could improve. She can sound words out pretty well but it takes her a while sometimes and that frustrates her. Overall very good report and that, of course, makes mom and dad very pleased. Good job Kylie!

Getting caught up.

2009-10-14T11:29:00.002-05:00

Kylie took a picture of my belly for me. Alyssia had to be in it as well. I am getting a pretty good size belly.

Natalie loves our dishwasher. She loves to help me whenever it is open. I had emptied it and walked around the corner and this is where she placed herself. So cute.

Natalie got to enjoy the birthday cake that her sisters and I made for her 1st Birhtday. She didn't really eat that much of it though. She started throwing it so she was done.

This was Kylie on her first day of school. She was very excited of course to be there. Her teacher is behind her in the black and white outfit. She was standing by her table spot.

The girls all decided to cuddle with me on the couch one evening. Dan took the picture. The corner spot on our couch is the best spot to be in. Pretty soon we will be adding one more girl to the mix. So much fun.

2009-10-07T17:25:00.002-05:00

Natalie is 1 year old today. She is walking, says ma ma but does not have any teeth yet. She is so big. Kylie, Alyssia and I made a cake for her last night but we need to get home today to eat it tonight. Fun, Fun

2009-08-26T18:24:00.002-05:00

Kylie has her first day of Kindergarten tomorrow. She is very excited. I will have to get pictures of her first day on soon.
I have been missing in Action this summer on blogger. We have not had internet at our house all summer and probably won't have it until the corn comes down. So I cannot wait for the corn to come down. The fields around us are usually the last ones harvested though. Oh well, we will make it.

Summer Fun!

2009-08-26T17:59:00.003-05:00

Dan gave Alyssia a ride on a buggie board. We had a great time in New Jersey with Dan's family. We went to the Beach a couple of days while we were there.

Natalie was very good on the beach. She stayed on the blanket under the umbrella most of the time and played.

Alyssia loved the ocean. She, her sisters and cousins played very well together.

Dan's Uncle and Aunt's house had a dog that a couple of years ago was really jumpy but this year he was so good. He had mellowed quite a bit. He would follow Natalie around and lay next to her and watch her play. So very cute.

Here is Alyssia trying out the Buggie Board.

Alyssia was learning to jump with the waves as they came in.

We went to the fair this summer and the girls got to ride a lot of rides.

Natalie had her first experience in the grass this summer. She didn't want to move for awhile.

This was our 4th of July picture of the girls. We of course went to see the fireworks.

News!

2009-07-02T20:48:00.001-05:00

Dan and I are expecting our fourth in December. We will have an ultrasound the very end of July to possibly determine the gender of this baby. Pray all goes well.

Our June

2009-07-02T19:54:00.002-05:00

Look at this little girl! Natalie is now pulling herself up on furniture. She does not move around very fast yet but she is up and trying to take all she can from her sisters. Fun

Here are the lovely sisters. They had to have pictures of them when I took Natalie standing.

We enjoyed some time with our camp cook, her husband and their grandkids. The grandkids came to visit them for a couple of days so our kids made new friends. We had a campfire and roasted marshmallows.

The girls and I went to a wedding. The wedding was for a young man that I babysat alot when I was in High School. Crazy. They are very cute. So fun. We went to the reception and danced as well.

Outing with Staff

2009-06-06T11:39:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we had a staff outing with the camp summer staff. Most of the staff took out Kayak's. They had a good time. Our family took a canoe out first and it was nice to be able to leave baby and be able to canoe. Kylie and Alyssia were funny. Kylie was nervous the whole time because it would rock and she was afraid that we would tip over. She had Alyssia pushed to her side of the canoe so she was more in the middle. Alyssia was great. She had her paddle dragging the whole time (helping us paddle). She even sang songs which made Kylie even more mad. Crazy. So we took the canoe back and then took out a paddle boat. Kylie was much better in that. She was paddling with her dad some and was fine. Natalie was well taken care of by Cliff, Marcia, Ralph, Juanita and Jennifer on the shore. She is now almost 8 months old and crawling some. She gets around pretty fast.

This was before we went out on the canoe. The girls were really cute in their life jackets.

We had a fun day at the park. Dan, Kylie and I also played Frisbee for a little while before we went out for lunch with everyone. It was a great day to be outside.

Kylie in Mother's Day Program

2009-05-15T21:00:00.002-05:00

Kylie's class put on a Mother's Day program. They recited a few things and sang songs. They also gave all the mom's a flower and a brotch (pin?) that they had painted in class. Very cute. They of course did a great job.

2009-05-15T20:51:00.001-05:00

These are a few of the pictures that I took of the girls on Mother's Day. They were all cute in their dresses.

Happy 5th Birthday Kylie!

2009-04-26T12:52:00.005-05:00

Kylie and her many faces. She is so excited to be 5 today!!!!!!!

Fun!

2009-04-26T12:35:00.002-05:00

We put up the swingset this weekend. It use to be at Dan's parents house but they gave it to us. They had to try it out yesterday morning even though it was kinds sprinkling out. It will be nice to have.

After Kylie's birthday party, Kylie and Alyssia put some of the fun accessories from the party on Natalie. It was pretty cute and she enjoyed the attention.

Ressurection Sunday!

2009-04-12T18:26:00.002-05:00

Dan's brother and family were here for Kylie's birthday party this weekend. They stayed until this morning and then drove to spend Easter with more family.

Alyssia was not a happy girl until about the time we got to church. Busy weekend and over tired.

Here are our girls cousins, Hannah and Blake all dressed up today. They are growing up so quickly. Hannah was born the week before Dan and I got married. Crazy.

Natalie is in her pretty dress today. She is now 6 months old.

Here is my attempt with happy children to get a picture of them this morning. They still look beautiful even if not all happy at that moment.

Kylie's 5th Birthday Party!

2009-04-11T16:59:00.003-05:00

Rafael was holding Natalie during the party. She was well taken care of while I ran the party.

We had another Pinata at the party today. It was fun to get all 16 kids rotated through. They each got to go at least twice. Don't worry it looks like he was going to swing with the girl close but we were very safe and all kids were organized and far enough back.

I had fun decorating for the party. We had a Hawaiian Theme. Pine Ridge was nice and gave us the right amount of space that we needed. All went well.

This is Kylie's best friend from preschool. She is a cutie.

Kylie opened all of her gifts. She got wonderful things from all of her friends and family.

We had all the kids color their own beach balls and then later we let them blow them up and play with the beach balls.

Aunt Katie made the birthday cake. She made it so it went with the Hawaiian theme a well as have Tinker Bell on top of course. Turner out very nice. Thank you Aunt Katie.

Kylie had chosen the Hawaiian theme for her party today. We got her a hula skirt kit for her to wear. She really only wore it for a couple of minutes and did a little hula dance and then off she went.

Birthday Party Weekend!

2009-04-10T19:57:00.003-05:00

We are having a birthday party for Kylie this weekend. Right now we have Dan's brother and his family of four and my mom, my sister and her family of three running around our house. Grandpa Augenstine and some family friends are still coming tonight later. Then tomorrow for the party we are having quite a crew. Eight kids from Kylie's class at school are coming and most of the parents are staying with them. So in total we will have 15 kids and many adults. So we have a fun filled party planned.

Discovery Center!

2009-03-27T20:14:00.002-05:00

This in an impression of Kylie and Alyssia's bodies in this. They had fun putting hand prints and body prints.

There was a play area that was set up as Papa Johns Pizzeria. Kylie really enjoyed taking orders and making deliveries. She met some other kids and played with them as well. Their were 5 phones throughout the room and you could actually call back and forth to eachother.

This was a slide that Alyssia had fun on going down and back up as you see.

Alyssia also played at this water table for at least an hour. She loved it. We sat and played here while Dan took Kylie to the Planitarium show. Kylie loved being able to see the stars and the constellations.

There is a huge play area outside that our girls explored. They didn't play to long since there was so much to see inside.

Kylie and Natalie really liked these gears. Kylie sorted them by color and then lined them all up. Natalie was so facinated by these. I would put her close and she would get them turned a little.

They liked walking on the big piano. That was one of the first things that we saw so they were just getting use to what this place was about.

We all put our hands in this before we left at the end of the day. We had a great time. Afterwards we ate at Perkins and it was a night where kids eat for free (yeah) and the balloon guy was there. He was one of the best balloon artists I had ever seen. Kylie got a butterfly and Alyssia got a dog. All fell asleep on the way home so ended well also.

The Kids

2009-03-23T22:47:00.002-05:00

Natalie is getting bigger and doing a little more. We have started her on baby foods. She is funny about food. She loves it.

Alyssia is so funny. This girl keeps us on our toes.

Kylie had to pose with her items. Today she posed with Ariel and an airplane she got out of the prize box at church. Cute.

Somewhat Nice Weather

2009-03-01T17:52:00.003-06:00

My parents came to visit for the weekend. My mom was originally coming to watch kids for me because I had something else to attend for the weekend but that did not take place but my parents came anyways. It was nice to have them here. They were a big help with the kids and my dad helped get a few projects around our house completed.

The girls played outside on Wednesday while they waited for Grandpa and Grandma to arrive. The weather was sort of nice so it was good to be out. It was in the 50's.

Kylie loves to pose for pictures. She is so funny

Here is Kylie and Alyssia in their dresses. Kylie especially likes dresses and so I occassionally during the week will put them in dresses. They enjoy being able to get back outside.

Update on children

2009-02-16T21:01:00.003-06:00

Today we went to Natalie's 4 month Doctor appointment. She weighed 13 1/2 lbs and was 23 1/4 inches long. I forgot to see how that compared to the chart and to my other two at this age so I will get that in three weeks when we go back.

We have to return because she had been running a fever and we discovered that she has an ear infection. Poor thing. So we have to give her amoxicillin for the next ten days.

The good news is Dan and I can finally return to work tomorrow and get back into our normal routine.

Thanks to all that have been praying for us and our girls this week. Dan and I have tried to, through everything, remember that our problems were very small compared to others and we were very thankful that we live in a country where we can get our children the doctors and medicine that they need at any time when they need it. Thank you Lord for usually very healthy children.

2009-02-14T16:37:00.002-06:00

Alyssia is home. She is still thin and weak but getting back to her normal self. We are glad to be home though. She had a virus. We are thankful nothing else was wrong. Thank you all for praying for her.

We hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Alyssia in the Hospital

2009-02-12T19:06:00.003-06:00

This the room that we are in. Alyssia is in the hospital with some dehydration. She will be here until morning. She has had several tests taken but we do not know results as of yet. Kylie, Natalie and I will be going home to sleep tonight so Kylie can go to school tomorrow for her Valentine's Party. She seems to be doing better already but we will keep everyone posted as to what is really going on. To catch some of you up Alyssia has been throwing up for 5 days and is a little dehydrated so we took her to her Doctor again today and so after 5 days of this we are in the hospital making sure that nothing else is wrong. Hopefully she will come home tomorrow and start to bounce back to her crazy self.

Kylie and Alyssia are watching a movie while sitting here in the hospital.

Alyssia is hooked up to an IV to get fluids into her. She is doing really well.

Family Fun Night!

2009-02-08T19:45:00.004-06:00

Our friend Mike came with us and took the girls around to games. He became the balloon man at this point.

My sister and Emma came down for the fun night and we had a good time with them. My sister was a great help with Natalie as well. Always good to have them here.

Kylie and Alyssia were decorating cookies here. The cookies were pretty good.

Alyssia LOVES the pick-a-duck game. She did last year as well as this year. I got her to go get a balloon animal and as soon as she got it she said "Now can I go back to the ducks?" and took off. She is so funny.

Kylie loves to go fishing. She probably did this the most. The seniors did a good job. I think this was the best Family Fun Night we have been to in the three years we have gone. Except for the part where we probably picked up our household sickness.

Sick, Sick,Sick

2009-02-08T09:32:00.002-06:00

Alyssia is so sick. She was up every couple of hours last night throwing up. Dan is so good. He got up with her everytime. He is very good at the disinfecting stuff and he also kept the laundry going all night since she got it on blankets and towels some. Hopefully this will not go through all of us. Also, my sister and her daughter were here for the weekend so we pray they didn't take it home with them.

We had a family fun night at Kylie's school and so we took all the kids. It was a lot of fun, however, there have been quite a few kids out sick this last week at school and Dan heard one dad say that his son had thrown up at 2:00 that day and was not in school that day but he brought him to the family fun night. He was in line in front of Alyssia. Dan was NOT happy at all. I wonder how many other kids could possibly be home sick.

So to all parents out there, if your kids are sick, keep them home. If they are not in school do not take them to special events. Please.

2009-02-05T13:08:00.002-06:00

We have a TV in our kitchen now and so our girls often sit here at watch Word World or something while I make supper. They were cute all sitting here watching together.
Natalie was given this Bumbo for Christmas and it works really well for her right now. I love it because it is easy to transport around and I can sit here anywhere. I sit her in it on my desk at the office as well. Then I can talk to her while I work and she is right next to me to keep an eye on.

Alyssia is now getting into our refigerator. She has learned to open it and get what she wants. A great thing to learn but NOT as well. She is constantly going in the fridge and getting apples, cheese, strawberries or whatever and so we are constantly having to go close the fridge and pick up the apples. She doesn't always eat what she gets. The apples she likes to play with as people. She acts out scenes with them. Creative but why does it have to be something from the fridge. Dan is in town today for camp so I hope he can find a fridge lock while he is out.

Natalie is also learning to giggle. It is really funny to hear her giggle. She giggles at her hands, sisters or if you tickle of course. Very cute.

2009-01-27T23:49:00.003-06:00

I have been shopping for swimsuits for my girls online. Kylie really wanted this first blue one from Gap.com. She says it looks like silver mist from Tinker Bell and so this is one that we got. I also got one from Target that was a little cheaper that is a basic blue stripe but cute. I couldn't get a picture of that one, but oh well.

I really liked these from llbean.com and I do have gift cards to use there, but we didn't get these. I thought I would share them because they were so cute. So if you are needing a cute swimsuit and are willing to pay a little bit these are good ones.

This and That

2009-01-18T15:44:00.003-06:00

I have started putting Natalie in this walker. She does really well with blankets around her for a little while. It makes her look so big even though she really isn't. Kylie and Alyssia played outside today for an hour. They had a lot of fun. It was nice for them to be outside. They made nests, I guess.

I have started putting Alyssia's hair up in a pony again instead of cutting her bangs. So nice to have her hair out of her face.

Kylie has worn her hair up quite a bit lately. She wants her hair to look like Tinker Bells. I like it also since hair tends to have a lot of static going on. I am not the best at the whole bun thing.

My kitchen

2009-01-18T15:27:00.002-06:00

I finally found the right picture to go above my stove and painted the walls behind it as well.

We got a cabinet from Dan's parents house. I like it in my kitchen. It is nice having the extra storage.

We now have a little TV and different stools as well. As you can see I am still not finished painting. I still have some areas taped off. One of these days I will finish.

Just another kitchen picture.

3 Months

2009-01-10T17:32:00.002-06:00

Natalie is now three months old. The past three months have gone quickly. She loves to smile and talk to us. At night she sleeps well so I cannot complain about that. I don't want her to grow up too quickly but I am looking forward to her at least being able to sit up and entertain herself some.

Christmas Fun

2009-01-05T09:25:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we went out to eat with our friends Jeremy, Terri and kids. We also exchanged gifts with them. Here Julia, Kylie and Alyssia were checking out some of the Christmas decor still up in the restaurant.

Dan and Natalie were watching the kids open their gifts.

Jeremy helped Trent open his gifts. He got a John Deere book and Tractor. He LOVES Tractors.

Alyssia opening her gift. Natalie got a Duck from them and of course Alyssia has not let go of it since yesterday. Good thing Natalie doesn't care yet.

Kylie opening her gift and no she did not get baby wipes. Our kids received several outfits, some stickers, books and more. All very nice. That is our friend Terri behind her. They gave me a label maker. I am so excited, I am going to have labels on everything in my house now.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T23:00:00.002-06:00

2008-12-29T23:55:00.002-06:00

We pray you all had a great Christmas and that you enjoy celebrating the beginning of the New Year.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2008-12-25T16:11:00.000-06:00

Bowling Fun!

2008-12-23T21:34:00.002-06:00

Kylie and Alyssia got to bowl for the first time. They were doing pretty well by themselves in the end.
My mom bowling.

My dad bowling. We all enjoyed the bowling today. It had been quite awhile since Dan and I have been bowling.

Kylie was on the floor a lot watching her ball slowly make its way down the lane. She was kinda sad that she didn't win today (She is kinda competitive).

My brother, Greg, and his wife, Vanessa, also here for Christmas. My sister and her family had work and school today and were not able to be with us today but are coming back for Christmas Day.

Alyssia!

2008-12-15T16:36:00.003-06:00

Alyssia loves to sit on the vents on the floor. We have a couple of the big ones. I use to do this in our bathroom when I was little as well. So cute.

We had a baby shower for Natalie with our church yesterday. We received many nice things for her. Both Kylie and Alyssia were given baby strollers and babies. This is the stroller that Alyssia got and we put Natalie in it. She fit, is was funny.

2008-12-03T20:28:00.001-06:00

Here is what Natalie was doing while we decorated the tree.

Kylie, Alyssia and I decorated our little Christmas tree tonight. They had fun. Kylie was the only one besides me to put any ornaments on the tree. Alyssia just wanted to play with them.

2008-12-02T21:06:00.003-06:00

Natalie is now eight weeks old. She is getting more alert and awake. I also think that the girls have finally adjusted to having her around. Kylie took this picture. Actually she took about 30 pictures and several turned out pretty good. This is one of them.

Snow!

2008-12-02T21:01:00.001-06:00

Dan and Kylie got to enjoy the first snow that accumulated. They made frosty together and then Dan had a great idea to pull her on her sled behind the golf cart. She loved it. It was nice for Kylie to have that time with her dad also.

Good Job!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T21:58:00.003-06:00

Today was Kylie's Thanksgiving program at her preschool. Her class made applesauce and butter for everyone to have as part of a snack after the program. They did a good job, it tasted good.

They sang lots of cute songs and told the story of the first Thanksgiving. They had made props and they all did a great job. None of the kids seemed shy and they all knew their stuff very well. Two kids from her class were not there today. This is a big class for the school and most of the families have younger kids as well that will be Alyssia's age as well as four new babies coming this school year so if they all stay at the school all of my kids should have good size classes. That is if we can afford to send three kids to a private school. It won't be cheap once we have them all going. We will have to re-evaluate this money thing in a couple years.

I am so proud of Kylie. She did such a good job with the songs and actions. She was excited that so many came to see her today as well. Dan's Dad, both of my parents, Dan and I, and
Jessica and Joel (two of our camp staff) all came to see her today. We all went out to eat a Applebee's afterwards for lunch as well. Fun day.

2008-11-18T21:16:00.002-06:00

I am excited because today I had a doctor appointment and I weigh 3lbs less than I was when I got pregnant with Natalie. I also was able to get our Christmas picture ordered. I really like how it turned out. I guess I got a couple things done anyways.

2008-11-12T22:33:00.003-06:00

Kylie and Alyssia got their flu shots. They both did really well. Kylie would not take her bandaid off so I quickly took it off when she got in the tub tonight. Natalie got weighed today at the Health Department and now weighs 9 lbs. 14 oz. That means she gained 3 lbs in 5 weeks. She is doing well. When we got home we stayed home today so I really cleaned my house. It looks a lot better. I needed some time to clean so glad tha I got so much done today. I could use a few more solid days but I will take what I get. We got new rock poured on our driveway the last couple of days. Dan got it spread better today. It will be nice to have. We are interviewing a few people for a job at the camp this weekend. It will be interesting to meet the candidates. Pray all goes well.

2008-11-06T22:12:00.002-06:00

I got this great new insert for Natalie's carseat for the winter. I really like it. It is super warm and soft. It will be so much better than using so many blankets that can be a pain.
Natalie is now a month old tomorrow. She is getting a little bigger. She is still pretty easy.

Today is Dan's Birthday and so the girls and I had made him a cake and sang to him. They love birthday's and it was fun for them.

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-06T08:26:00.003-06:00

Happy 36th Birthday to the best husband and father. We love you very much.

2008-10-25T20:34:00.002-05:00

Here is my attempt again at getting all three of them together. I am going to have to get something figured out for outfits soon for our family pictures we are having done.

Natalie is now 2 1/2 weeks old and doing well.

Visit from Cousin Emma!

2008-10-18T15:13:00.002-05:00

Today was a beautiful fall day so we took advantage of it and got all four of the cousins together for a fall picture. They were so cute.
Emma has been so excited to hold her new baby cousin so she got to hold her a few times while they were here visiting.

Grandparents Day!

2008-10-18T14:59:00.002-05:00

They started working on the letter "H" today. Kylie is coloring her "H" here. Her teacher said that she is kinda a perfectionist when it comes to her coloring. She did a good job.
Here they were doing circle time. They do the calendar, weather, verse and some songs. All the Grandparents sat behind to watch them. They were very cute and the teacher does a great job with them.
Here is Kylie sitting at circle time. She is very well behaved and follows directions well. Overall the day went well.

Natalie Lynn

2008-10-12T12:34:00.002-05:00

Here is Natalie Lynn. She is now 5 days old. She has lighter hair than Kylie and Alyssia had. I am not sure yet who she looks like. We will have to see as she gets a little bigger.

Kylie and Alyssia helped us take the pictures today. They love their baby sister and are so good with her.

New Baby!

2008-10-11T08:46:00.002-05:00

Welcome Natalie Lynn. She was 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Delivery went very well. They had induced on Monday but she did not come until Tuesday morning at 10:51 am. So far she is a very good baby. We were home from the Hospital on Wednesday aftenoon. It seemed so fast but nice to get home. I get more sleep at home. With all the student doctors, nurses, regular doctors and nurses there was someone in our room at least every half hour. Did not get much rest so I was glad to get home. I am feeling very good. We will get pictures now that we are home on here soon.
My mom is here helping with the girls. She has taken Kylie to school and stayed here with the girls while we were in the hospital. Kylie and Alyssia are very nice and excited to have their baby sister here. They are very good with her.
They each got to hold her at the hospital when they came to visit on Tuesday. Grandma brought them up to see us.
Grandma Carri also was able to come and see her on Tuesday in the hospital. We also had some friends stop in and see us while in the hospital as well. We are trying to get into a routine now and will get you updated on us soon.

Parade!

2008-10-05T22:59:00.002-05:00

Today was the Autumn on Parade near us and Kylie was going to be in the parade. She was so excited. Her school had a float that she was going to ride on. The weather pre-parade was raining so the school decided that they were not going to take the foat in the parade since they had electronics on board. Kylie was a bit upset but we have great friends and the husband was driving a truck for his job in the parade. They kindly let Kylie ride with them in the parade. So here she is in her first parade. She had a great time.
She was so cute and did a good job waving at the crowd. Turns out the weather was great during the parade.
Dan, Alyssia and I watched the parade together and had a good time. Alyssia even collected candy which she has not done at parades up till now. She also wanted to eat it all as she collected it. We had a fun day.
We will keep you all posted as to how tomorrow goes at the Doctor's Office.

Belly Picture

2008-10-04T20:43:00.003-05:00

I decided since we may be delivering this baby this week that I should get one more belly picture taken. Kylie took this picture of me. I go to the doctor 9:00A.M. Monday morning and they may decide to induce if things are not better. I have higher blood pressure, protein in urine and have had a lot of swelling. They are concerned that I could be developing Preeclamsia or Toxemia. Since I am so close to my due date they said they may just induce since that is really the only cure for this. I am really puffy tonight since I have been over at camp all day. I need get my feet up. I didn't really have these problems with the first two. Oh well, I know all will be ok. We will find out Monday morning what the plan is. Have a great weekend.

2008-09-29T21:02:00.002-05:00

I had a doctor appointment today. I am not doing to bad but my blood pressure was up a little so they are having me come back in on Thursday to check blood pressure and urine. I have had some swelling and they want to make sure that I am not getting pre-clamsia (however that is spelled). Then I go back on Monday unless she decides to come before then. Other than the swelling, I have been feeling pretty good. Pray all goes well as we prep to have this baby.

2008-09-27T22:15:00.002-05:00

The weather has been so nice lately. The fields that surround the farm are being harvested. It is fun to watch the combine work. They get it done so quickly.
I got a new carpet cleaner. I have one already but have gotten a new one that is better. I really like it so far. Will have to try to do more with it tomorrow.
Hope you all are enjoying the outdoors like we are while the weather is so nice.
Haved a great Sunday.

Nature...

2008-09-20T20:09:00.003-05:00

We had our first deer of the fall come into the yard the other day to eat the apples that are on the ground. We should have quite a few deer through the winter. Alyssia likes to make noise and scare them so they did not stay long this time. Fun to see them back though.

Kylie had a field trip on Friday to a nature center. They had a couple of real turtles and an owl that the kids loved. The rest of the place was animal skins and bones, things that were real but not alive. Kylie really enjoyed it though. I went along but forgot my camera, so no pictures.

2008-09-13T20:21:00.002-05:00

Kylie had her first show and tell at her preschool on Friday. They were to bring something that starts with the letter "A" or "B". She wanted to take Alyssia but I thought that might be a little to distracting so she took the next best thing, Ariel. I snuck in to take pictures of her. She did a great job answering all the teachers questions and telling about Ariel.
Her teacher says she is doing very well and by the papers that come home she looks like she is doing a great job.
Alyssia and I have discovered the Library in town. They have a great setup for her age. There are lots of toys, puzzles, or course books and we will probably go on Wednesday's like I posted earlier for there great story time. She loved it and did very well. We went on Friday to show our friend, Marcia who was with us on Friday.

2008-09-10T21:26:00.003-05:00

Today while Kylie was in preschool, I took Alyssia to the local library story time. It is for kids 3 and under so it was perfect for her. She loved it. We will have to do that every Wednesday. I have been trying to fill our time with things while Kylie is in school so I don't drive home. We live a half hour from the preschool so to save gas we have just stayed in town. I may begin to carpool some with another mom that lives in our direction. We will see.
Kylie loves school and seems to be doing well.

2008-09-05T14:33:00.002-05:00

I am now a mini-van driving mama. I was not a fan but after doing our homework, this was the best value with all the things that we needed. Most of all we needed more space with girl number three on the way. This is a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. It is really nice to have the space. We are in the process of selling our Grand Prix. We are fixing a couple of things before we turn the car over.

Kylie's First Day!

2008-09-03T21:21:00.004-05:00

Kylie had a great first day at Preschool. She got to be the line leader for the girls to the bathroom. She also got a sticker today, which means she was good or well behaved. She is excited to go back. There are 13 kids in her class, which is a good size for this private preschool. This a 4 year old class and they do a great job with Kindergarten Prep. We had visited several preschools this spring and felt this was the best option for Kylie. We are proud of our big girl.
Dan and I both went this morning to drop her off for her first day. We were there to help her get her school supplies in her basket, find her cubby, and this is her spot at the table where she sits. We really like this preschool and are excited about all she will learn.
While Kylie was in Preschool today, Dan and I went to a few car dealers in town and ended up finding a good deal on a minivan. So, we bought a van. We needed more space than our car offered with girl number three on the way. I will take a picture to show you later.

Weekend with Family

2008-09-01T21:10:00.004-05:00

My girls both cuddled with Grandpa during a campfire in our backyard.
Here is the campfire we had in our backyard. We made s'mores and enjoyed seeing all the stars. It was a beautiful night.
We had a great time in the pool. Everyone swam. We were in the pool everyday and the temp was perfect. So nice to have.
We were given a blowup jet-ski that moves pretty slow but fun for Emma and Kylie to ride around in the pool with. They did really well with it.

2008-08-28T18:41:00.002-05:00

I had another ultrasound on Wednesday. The doctor was concerned that the baby was not in the right direction. She is not quite where she needs to be but they were not concerned because I still have enough time and she was close. They did determine that she is still a girl. I also got to her through a 3D image thing. Very Cool. I am doing well. They think that she weighs about 4 lbs and 6 oz. at this time so good.
My family is coming this weekend for a get together. Should be fun. My brother and his wife had planned on coming home this weekend to visit and we decided that our place would be nice since we have room and since I am the pregnant one at this time, I get to stay put.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Grandpa

2008-08-17T21:01:00.002-05:00

My Grandpa passed away on Friday. He was 90 years old and we will miss him greatly. We will be making a trip to my home area for the funeral this week. We praise God that he now can be done with his earthly body and enjoy a new life in Heaven.

2008-08-09T10:04:00.003-05:00

We have power back again and we are rolling. We have begun getting quotes from tree harvestors and other tree companies and hopefully this process will roll along pretty quickly. We plan on keeping most of what is on our calendar at this point so that is good.

Pregnancy... I am starting to feel my body changing. I wake up sore every morning and I am getting bigger everyday. I need to get another belly picture on here. I am really wanting this baby to come early (not too early) but I am ready.

Have a great weekend.

Camp Storm!

2008-08-06T15:01:00.003-05:00

We had a nasty storm hit the camp we are at on Monday night. We have no power yet but am working with generators. Here are a few pictures of what camp looks like right now. We had all of the campers safe in one of our building so noone was hurt just buildings. We are doing good but cannot work on cleanup until the insurance company gets here and that will be a couple more days. Fun around here.

Pregnancy Update...

2008-07-22T20:11:00.002-05:00

I had a doctor appointment on Monday. I am now offcially in the third trimester. This means that I am now going every two weeks for appointments. My due date still seems so far away but it really isn't all that long. This appointment was the diabetes test where you have to drink the sugar drink thing and then get blood drawn. Well, that test came back just fine. I still have not gained a lot of weight. I have gained probably 12 pounds so far. I feel good and eat a lot so I am just fine with that. I do have a little ways to go so you never know. Anyways, all is well at this point in time and enjoying my sleep while it last.

2008-07-22T19:48:00.002-05:00

Kylie has been asking to get a pair of Rollerskates. We bought a pair for our niece for her birthday and Kylie really wanted to use them. So, today we went back to Shopko and bought both Kylie and Alyssia a pair of Rollerskates. They are very excited about them. Here they are trying them out. They were cheaper today then they were a few weeks ago. They were on sale so I saved five dollars a pair. Less then I expected to pay so that was nice. Kylie has pretty good balance and does well with them. Alyssia is not bad for her age and balance but she walks along the wall or something stable.
Alysssia was about to fall in this picture. Overall they do pretty well. Kylie wants to try them outside now. We may have to take them to camp and let them go on the sidewalks.

Sandbox!

2008-07-16T20:44:00.002-05:00

Dan built a new sandbox for the girls that extends off of our new back deck. It is pretty big. It is 10 feet by about 8 1/2 feet and pretty deep. We had a truck deliver the sand since it took so much sand to fill it. They have played in it once so far. Dan leveled it out while we were at the farm. Hopefully it will bring about lots of fun for them. It is nice. We have to cover it as well so that it does not get used by outside animals. Fun, Fun!

Happy Birthday Emma!

2008-07-16T20:29:00.002-05:00

Emma had a princess birthday party so the girls put on their princess stuff. They were so cute. They got to make the crowns for their head.
The pinata was great fun. Alyssia did a good job and knew when it was her turn. Kylie did not participate in this event. She is so funny about that stuff. She loves to watch though.
My dad found new kittens in the barn and so he brought them in the house for the kids to play with. They loved the kitten and we had to learn how to hold them.
We went out to spend time in the barn while on our visit to the farm. They loved seeing the cows and the barn and once again the kittens.
Alyssia had fun being able to hold the kittens. Our cats at home are not lap cats which I like but fun to have kittens to play with. They were scared out of their minds I think but they were fine.

2008-07-05T21:58:00.003-05:00

Here all the kids and I watching the fireworks. Alyssia was not to sure that this was a good thing at first but then said they were pretty.
We had two other kids with us. Julia and Trent are our friends kids that we took with us while their parents went to a wedding. This is Trent and Alyssia eating Fourth of July cookies. Trent was trying to say cheese. We had a great hill next to us so they rolled down the hill and ran in circles. Fun.
The fireworks were nice. They did a good job with them this year and great to get this tradition going with our girls. We went last year but they will remember them more and more each year as they get older. Kylie remembered them and was excited to go see them.

2008-07-05T21:29:00.002-05:00

Kylie had a great time collecting candy.
We all stood as the service members and flags went by.
Kylie was excited to see the bands. She likes to pretend that she is in a marching band sometimes.

2008-07-05T09:32:00.002-05:00

Kylie really liked the flag and wanted a picture with the flag. We got to take it home with us when the parade was done as well. We had a great spot along the parade route where are girls were the only little kids in that area so they didn't have to compete with tons of other kids. Alyssia was scared at first and just sat on Dan's lap but waved a lot by the end of the parade. She didn't collect any candy, Kylie did it all herself and had a great time.

2008-07-05T09:16:00.002-05:00

Here was my attempts at getting a picture of the girls in their 4th t-shirts. Alyssia sat on her sister so we took a few, they were funny.

2008-07-05T08:56:00.002-05:00

We had a really pretty rainbow at our house about a week ago. We could see the whole rainbow but my camera couldn't. Thank you God for your promises.

2008-06-29T22:09:00.003-05:00

I am putting a website on here that is about a good friend of ours, Kim Shade. She has cancer and is having surgery this week. If you want to go to the website to find out more and keep up with her progress go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kimshade. They are in between ministries and are going to be moving very soon as well. Pray that all goes well with her surgery and with the chemo she will have to go through after surgery.

Slip-N-Slide

2008-06-25T18:22:00.002-05:00

Alyssia did really well going down the Slip-n-Slide. The High School campers had a slip-n-slide today as part of the afternoon fun so my girls joined in with our staff and campers.
Kylie usually went down on her bottom.
Dan took the girls down to get them started and ocassionally after that but he was able to spend the entire afternoon with the girls. It was very nice for them to have that time with Dan and I worked in the office whilw they played with dad.
Everyone had a good time on the Slip-n-Slide.

2008-06-24T16:02:00.003-05:00

Today, some of the church ladies met at a park in the town our church meets in. We had lunch and let the kids play. It was fun to talk to the ladies and the kids had a great time. The weather was perfect as well. After supper tonight we are going to swim in the camp pool. We haven't swam much in that this year yet, mainly our little kiddy pool at the house. It should be fun.

2008-06-21T17:17:00.002-05:00

Today we played in our pool outside and when we needed a change I decided to wash the car. The girls helped on this side of the car and then they were done. It was beautiful out again and the guys were working on our roof today as well. Fun outside.

Pool Fun!

2008-06-19T19:41:00.002-05:00

It was a gorgeous day outside today so we just had to get the pool out and swim the afternoon away. The girls had a great time playing in the pool. Kylie also got a beach ball that you hook a hose to and then it sprays like a sprinkler. We had fun with that as well. I tried to get some sun as well and used the sprinkler to cool off every so often. What a great afternon.
I think we have a leak in the green part of our pool. I kept having to reblow that part up. Oh well.
When the girls needed a change from the pool. I let them play with Moon sand. They enjoy playing with that and it was nice to do it outside. Easier the clean up after.
Moon sand does not come off of you when wet like regular sand. It sticks even harder. I gave them a bath after all our outside fun to get the sand off of them. It took a little extra cleaning and they needed a bath anyway.

Carnival

2008-06-17T21:21:00.002-05:00

Alyssia was not sure about this at first but she liked this ride. We had a small town carnival in the local town so we took the girls to ride rides. We went with three of our summer staff and one of the board members. The rides were pretty expensive so we rode a few rides and had some food and that was our enjoyment.
Dan took the girls on this berry-go-round. The summer staff thought it was funny since Dan does not like stawberries or stawberry flavor of any kind. Kylie did all the spinning her self. She did a good job.
The ones that drove were the ones that Alyssia liked the best. She was not as fond of all the rides.
I rode the carousel with the girls and all was well for the first few rounds but then Alyssia was done and wanted off. I ended up holding her the last few rounds. What fun we had at the very expensive carnival. Maybe I am not up to date on prices but it cost $1.00 a ticket and the rides were 3 or 4 tickets each, each person. So it was $6.00 per ride and $9.00 for the one Dan and I rode. I don't remember it being that expensive last year. We had fun anyway.

2008-06-17T21:15:00.002-05:00

A few of our summer staff gave our girls these huge lollipops. They loved them of course. They will also last quite a while, I think.

2008-06-17T21:03:00.002-05:00

June is full of birthday's in our family.
Happy Birthday to Uncle Greg and Grandpa Vern as well.

2008-06-17T20:44:00.002-05:00

Not only did Alyssia turn 2 years old but Dan and I celebrated out 8th anniversary on the same day. Alyssia was or gift 2 years ago. We were not able to do something together on our anniversary this year due to our schedules but we were able to go out to eat and spend some time without kids the Friday evening before, so that was our time out for our anniversary.
I am blessed to be married to an amazing man that loves God, his wife, and his family. A lot has changed in the past eight years but it has all been wonderful because we have made such a good choice in the person we married. Thank you for the past eight years Dan.

Happy Birthday Alyssia!

2008-06-17T20:34:00.002-05:00

This is our adorable now 2 year old. She is so much fun, full of energy, and is a mud/dirt magnet. She talks very well for her age and loves to keep up with her sister. For her birthday the girls and I were invited to go to a zoo with some friends of ours. The girls had a great time.
We saw a lot of animals for the size of zoo tha we went to. Elephants, zebras, giraffe's, and smaller animals like birds, snakes and more. Fun!
The zoo had a small petting zoo that was more hands on. These were some weird looking chickens.
Alyssia loved this turtle and would have stayed here all day. The turtle was walking along the fence trying to get out I think. She would touch it and talk to it. So cute.

2008-06-17T20:17:00.002-05:00

We have been without internet at our house for about a week now since we are getting a new roof on our house. The roof is not yet complete but Dan put up our bridge again temperarily so we could get online and get caught up. Hopefully I can get caught up tonight with posts.

2008-06-07T16:23:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of our baby. We are proud to annouce that we will be adding a baby GIRL to our family this fall. So we will have three little girls. The baby is doing very well. We are trying to now come up with girls names so if you have ideas please give them. The baby is very active as were the other two but she would not stop moving. It took the tech awhile to get pictures because she moved so much. Dan is very out numbered, still. He loves all his girls very much and is an excited Dad.

2008-06-04T20:04:00.002-05:00

Ok here is the first belly picture I have put on. I am looking pretty pregnant already. We have an ultrasound on Friday. This is the anatomy one so we may be able to tell gender. I am looking forward to this one. It is always fun to be able to see the baby. The baby is moving quite a bit so I am feeling very pregnant now that I have size and movement. I will show you more after Friday.

2008-06-02T21:14:00.002-05:00

Alyssia had her 2 year old doctor appointment today. She isn't 2 for another week but close enough. It was fun to see where she stands on the charts. She is doing very well. Verbally she is doing very well. She speaks in complete sentences and we understand almost all of what she says.

She weighs 32 lbs and is 36 inches tall. So she is roughly in the 95th % area for her age. She has grown so quickly and we have another on the way already. Seems to have gone so fast. Crazy

I'm finished!!!

2008-05-31T14:32:00.002-05:00

I have finally finished the landscaping that I started earlier this spring. I love how it came out. I am all about low maintenance and this is. This is what I started with.
The plants had not quite started to bloom when I started and they are full now so that changes the look as well. I had to pull up a lot of old mulch, weeds and old landscaping paper. What a mess. I am glad I did this.
The girls have been a great help. The first day is when they learned about worms. Kylie helped me roll out the new landscaping paper and put the steaks in as well. She is a good helper. Alyssia loves dirt so that was her area.
Here is how it turned out. I used Red Lava Pebbles instead of mulch. I don't have to add more every year so I like that. The rock really is about the same price as mulch as well.
This picture I have rotated and for some reason it keeps going back to this direction so, sorry. I really am happy about how this turned out. I like the simple look this has. LOVE IT!

2008-05-30T08:46:00.003-05:00

I was up EARLY this morning. My girls are still sick but I needed to get some work done at camp so I got up at 4:30 am and went over to work before my family woke up. I got home at 7:30 am so Dan could then go to work like normal. I am doing well at the moment but I may need to take a nap later today. I think my girls just keep passing this whatever sick thing back and forth. I hope it will end soon so we can get back to a normal routine.