The Beginning of Summer...

Seems like we have been really busy lately and the summer has hardly started. On Memorial Day, Mamo and Bampo took the girls to the Stolley Park Train! They had a blast riding the train, playing at Kids Kingdom and having a special treat from Mamo! Even Ella got to enjoy the train ride.

Ella has still been sick. We are not really sure what exactly is going on. She was running fevers 104.5 for about 3-4 days and took her in on a Saturday, and found out she had a UTI. They gave her antibiotics and we just finished that up and went back for a recheck and still not gone. Our doctor says very uncommon for it not to be gone and just as uncommon in 9 month olds. So tomorrow we are going to the hospital to run some more tests and have an ultrasound of her kidneys done. There is a chance she has reflux of the kidneys. We started a new antibiotic today also! Please keep her in your prayers!!

Since the weather has been so nice, Kristin and I decided we needed to get the kids to the park for a picnic. Today was an absolute great day to be there! All 5 kids had a great time!

We have some fun things coming up in the next few weeks. Addison is going to start Vacation Bible School, and camps. She is also going to be a flower girl in Eric and Angie's wedding. Eric is Tony's cousin. Addison is so excited to be a flower girl and dres sup like a princess again! She will be walking down the aisle with Londyn and I think a ring bearer. Now I can't remember for sure. Nevertheless, she is anxious for next weekend!

Time to Shine 2009

Addison had her year end gymnastics Time to Shine for family and friends! She has done really well in gymnastics and it has been fun watching her learn new tricks and start to excel in gymnastics! We have decided to take a break for the summer and do swimming lessons. I hesitate to stop because I know she is enjoying it and is doing well. We will put her back in in the fall and let her decide if she wants to continue. Check out all her tricks...(The lighting was terrible, so not many pictures! Sorry)

Olivia enjoyed jumping around in the foam pit. We are thinking she may get to do gymnastics this summer so she can have something for just herself. Addison will be in camp and swimming lessons and nothing for poor Liv!! So she will probably get to try it out and see if she likes it!

Soccer Season

I have mentioned before that Addison played soccer this spring! I am not so sure soccer is in her future, but I do think she enjoyed being outside and running; I mean doing cartwheels on the field!! She really had fun, and will still tell me that she would like to do soccer and take a break from gymnastics. I am not quite sure about her thinking there!!

The majority of the games were either cold, windy or rainy! Not real great weather to have Ella out in! But both her and Liv were troopers and made it to almost all the games!

Preschool Graduation

Addison graduated from Peace Lutheran Preschool; for the 2nd time!!! And we will have one more for Addison! This was a great school year for Addison; she really enjoyed her teacher and enjoyed the other kids in her class. She went to school this morning sad because she was going to miss her teacher! We assured her she would see her next year, but is one year closer to getting to kindergarden! We decided to hold her one more year! Olivia will start preschool with her next fall and is really anxious to be at school with Addison. Although right now, Olivia thinks she only gets to go IF she stops sucking her thumb. We are working on not really trying to get her to stop, but only sucking her thumb in her bed at nap and bedtime. Constant cues are required!

Happy Mothers Day

I had a WONDERFUL Mothers Day this year just being with my family and continuing to thank God for the 3 little miracles He has placed into our lives! I look at each one of them daily and say a prayer of thanksgiving for them! We do not know what the future holds for us, only He does, and I am so glad that He has blessed Tony and I with such wonderful children when we truly thought we would not have any of our own!

This year for Mothers Day, I got to spend not quite an hour laying in bed, trying to fall back asleep, but anxious to get up and see my girls. I dozed and finally decided it was time to get up and enter the chaos. After breakfast, I got to take a nap for about 45 more minutes and then up and at em for church! There has been a carnival in Grand Island for about a week, and Addison has been asking about going for well over a year since the last time it was here and we told her she was to little. It was kind of a dreary day, but told Addison that if after naps it wasn't raining we would go to the carnival. Once Ella and Olivia were up from their naps, we did indeed go, even thought it was misting! Addison and Liv had so much fun! They each got to ride 3 rides! We were glad we took them!

A wonderful day to spend with my family!!

Future Prom Dates....

Ella and Blake enjoyed some quality time together! We of course did not caputre the more funnier moments on camera! Ella was trying to crawl on top of Blake!! It was hilarious, the parents just sat their watching and laughing!! Blake is about 11 weeks younger than Ella. I think Kristin and I really hope they grow up loving to play together!

Outside Fun

The weather has been beautiful lately and we have tried to take advantage of it and be outside as much as possible! The girls planned a wonderful weekend of birthday celebrations for me! We spent the morning outside doing chores, planting flowers, riding bikes and riding the Barbie Jeep. Neither of the girls are real good at driving, but they sure have a great time whipping each other around and riding in circles. We did realize this weekend, that some of the crazy driving the girls demonstrate might not be ALL their fault. Looks like one of the wheels on the Jeep is turned outward. That is what happens when you get it at a garage sale! Needless to say though, they love it and it suffices just nicely and fits within the budget!! Olivia enjoyed helping plant flowers and wanted to plant her own. She went around to all my pots that already had dirt in them, collecting her own dirt for her pot! Addison just wanted to ride up and down the street on her bike! We are so glad we got her a new one, she enjoys riding this one and is doing well! Ella even got to enjoy some sunshine after her morning nap! She seemed to not be minded by the grass at all! She did not even try to eat it! We went to the doctor this morning for her 9 month check-up and she weighed in at 20lbs 11oz!! She is still smaller than her big sisters at this time. Well she weighs less than Liv and a few ounces more than Addison, but is much shorter than either of them! Sleeping is getting better for her, and she is eating better and the next thing we are going to start working on is getting rid of the bottles!! Our goal is to be bottle free by the end of July when we go on our family trip to Pittsburgh!! Should be attainable! At least we hope so! She does love her bottles and her pacifier a bit too much for this mommy!!

Have you been wondering....

Have you wondered where we have been or what we have been up to? Me too! Seems life is passing us by in a rush! We are on the go, the girls are on the go and there seems to be no stopping! Since Easter, Addison has started soccer; yes, along with gymnastics. She is enjoying it. Although I am convinced she is not sure what to be doing out there. She is the only girl on the team, and those boys really know what they are doing! We kind of fell into a great way for her to experience it with minimal cost to us, so that has been very helpful! Addison has successfully learned to ride her bike; with training wheels. We bought her a new bike, and she is really enjoying it now. I am not sure what was wrong with the other bike, but she just could not manuver it well. She is hesitant to ride on our driveway becasue there is an ever so slight grade to it, and she just takes off. "mom, I don't like riding my bike real fast".

We got to see The Chapman girls of Wichita! Tyler and Latisha and family came to York for a weekend visit. We took the older 2 girls (Addison and Londyn) to Lincoln to watch the NCAA gymnastics championships. I think Mom and Dad had more fun than Addison! She enjoyed watching the big girls flip through the air and jump on the balance beam. The uneven bars were on the opposite side of where we were sitting as was the vault. I think Addison did enjoy it; even though she kept asking me when we were going to leave. I told her numerous times we could leave if she wanted to. "No mommy. I just wanted to know when it would be over"! Addison and Londyn really enjoyed playing together and had some fun times over the weekend. When Tyler and Tish told her it was time to go home, Londyn protested a bit and said she wasn't ready to stop playing with Addison and Liv!! They really did play well together and had a great time! I think this may be the 1st time, that they all played together and didn't want to stop playing!

We have had some unusally nice weather lately and the girls have been playing outside. Last week, Addison had her friend over to play. There were so hot playing outside, they wanted to come in. I had Olivia and Ella sleeping insde, so I let them play with the hose to pass the time and keep cool!! They played outside for almost 3 hours straight!

And one so you can check out what Ella has been up to...growing and no sorting through her clothes and deciding what she wants to keep and what to get rid of.

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend; spent at home. It was nice to just be home and not feel like we were running all over. Our Easter celebrations started with an Easter egg hunt at one of Addison's friends churches. Unfortunatly, Addison got into some trouble shortly before leaving and did not get to participate. Olivia, however, had a great time searching for Easter eggs and loose candy on the ground. Depending on how many children were participating in each age group determined how many eggs the kids got. Liv got to find 11 eggs, and pick up all the loose candy she wanted. Dad wanted her to find as many Reese's Peanut Butter eggs as she could!! After lunch we tried to head to the Heartland Events Center for a Family Fun Day. Turned out they were overwhelmed with the response, ran out of food, ran out of goodie bags and we never made it in. We wasted some time at the mall and then headed home for a warm Easter dinner.

On Easter morning while we were at church, the Easter bunny came and hid eggs and a few gifts and baskets for the girls. Poor Ella, she just got to watch!! The Easter bunny thought she was too young to participate!! We went out for breakfast following church and then home to start the egg search! Naps and then outside to play before Grammy had to head for home. A great weekend was had by all and we are so blessed with our 3 beautiful miracles. They are the reason I can get out of bed in the morning, and the reason I can lay my head down at night with a heart full of thanksgiving. I am constantly reminded of how awesome each one of them is, and the true miracle they are.

Our goal for this summer after this weekend is to get Addison more comfortable riding her bike. She is still learning to pedal and learning to not be so distracted. The little boy down the street has learned to ride his bike without his training wheels and he JUST turned 4!!! Nothing like a little neighborly competition!! Ask us in a few months how it is going!

Randomness.....

Playing with some new software on my computer!!