Walking down memory lane...

Before I start my entry for this blog, I need you to go back in time.  Go to the year 1986 to be exact.  I was 6 years old, and in Kindergarten.  I was going to the St. Charles Elementary School, and hated it every day!  Seriously!  If there was an award for the meanest, most cruel, uncaring teacher, it would have gone to mine.  Her name was Mrs. Jennings.  Being only 6 years old, I don't remember everything about her, but I do remember dreading Kindergarten.  I remember that she had an office attached to the classroom, and she would call me in there and yell at me until I was crying for my mom.  Now, after that depressing story, skip to the following year:  1987.  I of course was very apprehensive about school, but we had switched to Chatfield Elementary and I was a pretty optimistic kid, so I thought I'd give it a try.  (Not that I even had the choice, but hey!  I was trying! )  Anyway, I walked into the classroom for the first time, and received a big hug...FROM THE TEACHER!!  She was the best!  She complimented all of my work, pushed me to exceed what I thought that I could only barely accomplish, and she made me feel special.  Now that I'm an adult, I know that she probably made all the kids feel special in their very own way, which makes her even better.  I wish that I was able to thank her, but unfortunately I have no idea where she lives.  I do know, however, how much she got me to enjoy school.  Ever since that first day of 1st grade, I have loved school, and am trying to pass that love onto my kids.  Treyton is going into 1st grade, and although I always pray for a decent teacher, I know that he genuinely likes to learn, and I'm thankful that I seemed to have passed on my optimistic gene!  So, with that said, I will now go on with the original story.  Wait!!  You have to jump into normal time.  It's 2011 again!  :)

The other day I was feeding my kids lunch and had seen on Facebook that the Chatfield Elementary School was in the process of being torn down.  You can bet that I rushed them to finish, and am not even sure that I gave them that much time!  We packed into the van and drove down to the Elementary School site...and made it!  As sad as it is to say good-bye to the school, I know that I'm not saying good-bye to that wonderful teacher, or the memories.  I'm just saying good-bye to the building that it all happened in.

The Griswold Family Vacation!

I know I'm not very good about this whole blogging thing, but I'm hoping to get better...promise!  Well, I shouldn't promise because I'll probably continue to be bad about updating, but I promise that I'll TRY to get better.  I could say that I've been super busy (which of course we have been) but wouldn't that line work with every family?  And especially every family that has little people living under the roof?

Now, onto the subject of the those precious little people...
When you do have kids, you realize how hard it is to get away, and how impossible it is to go without them tagging along.  Well, we were not about to attempt the impossible, but we thought a nice family getaway would be attainable.

My in-laws have a condo in Wabasha and are nice enough to let us stay there, AND let us use their boat, basically whenever we want.  Awesome I know!  I'm so grateful to have them so generous, and especially the fact that Wabasha is so close.  It's nice to be able to just stay for the day even, and still be able to sleep in our own beds.  After my father-in-law helped Tim clean up the boat this last time, I'm hoping he's still as generous.  I mean, he can't be TOO mad about stepping on melted M&M's and sticky juice residue from a juice box, right?  And I'm sure the crunching of chips under his feet and the leftover turkey from a sandwich was no big deal, right?  Good thing he has a sense of humor, and a hose.  Both make cleaning a whole lot easier!  :)

Maddex LOVED the boat!  He just kept saying, "this is the best day of my whole life!"

For those of you know Hadlee, she is NEVER without a "princess dress."  The river is no exception.  :)

Treyton loves climbing on the rocks outside of the condo.  Not many toys, but what boy needs toys when they have landscaping like this!

And last but not least, the driver.  (Hold on everyone, because we still aren't sure if he can actually see over the windshield!)

And the frustration keep mounting!

As promised, I'm here tonight to show you the pictures of my kids.  I was unable to edit them, other than saturate the colors because of my computer.  The mouse pad will no longer "click!"  It's so frustrating when I can't edit pictures because of that one minor little thing!  I was going to bring the computer in to be fixed today, but they told me it could take up to 3 weeks!!  How can I possibly part with it for that long!  I know that I have to get it in, because of editing purposes, but really?  3 weeks??  Alright everyone, enough of me babbling, and onto the pictures.  Then, it's bedtime for me!  Enjoy and goodnight!  :)

Summer Fever

I was so tired of winter, and now I'm so tired of spring!  I just want some nice weather, with no wind, no rain, and no clouds.  I want bright, sunny days where my kids can run through the sprinkler.  It's almost June, is that too much to ask for??  Well, I did get my prayer answered, although only for a day or two, but you can bet that I took advantage of this.  I grabbed my camera and snapped some pictures of things that are proof that warmer weather is on it's way.  I'm going to use these pictures when I'm feeling pouty about the weather, and might even frame them for during those winter months.

I also got out yesterday to attempt some pictures of my kids together.  Big mistake!  Pictures is so frustrating for me, because my kids don't listen, and aren't as easily distracted as other kids are, who aren't used to me everyday.  The other thing is, I'm sure that my patience level is thinner for my own kids, because I'm attempting to get at least ONE good picture.  I haven't edited the pictures yet, but am hoping to tonight still.  I'll try to get a blog on here again tomorrow to show the outcome, including the bloopers.  I'm just thankful that you can't hear pictures, otherwise you'd hear Reeyin screaming, cars flying past us (I did them just off of Hwy 52), me yelling at them to look at the camera, Treyton whining about pictures, and Hadlee talking about some bird or how she likes the color pink.  Maddex isn't innocent though, as you'll be able to tell by his smile.  Ohhhh, well.  These are the pictures that I'll laugh at and treasure in the future...distant future.  :)

Happy May Day!

I have been working on finishing up the girls' room for about 2 months now, and today, I finished it!!  Well, it will be finished as soon as I get my Uppercase Living order, but then it will be complete.  Finally!  I ordered a cute saying that most of you have probably heard before:  "If you trip in life, make it part of your dance."  I have an awesome consultant, Katie, that is really helpful with helping me choose from the millions of sayings and designs.  If you need something, I strongly recommend her!  Her email is kate.novotny@gmail.com.  Anyhow...the room is finally perfect!  I picked up the fabric to make curtains, AND I even finished them!  Go me!  I am quite proud because even though curtains are just a straight seam, I don't sew.  Ever.  

This is a porcelain doll that Hadlee got about a year ago.  The shelf she is sitting on was painted blue to match the wall opposite.  

My brother is super talented and drew the tree for me to paint.  I then added the flowers using a hot glue gun.  As you can see, the tree stops at the ceiling.

My first curtains!!  (Don't look too closely...)  :)

This is their nightlight, which is mixed in with some yellow flowers from Michaels.  Notice the growth chart on the mirror in the background.  Each of my kids has a different color of a glass marker, and we mark their height on their birthdays.

I hot glued some butterflies on the wall, until Reeyin is a bit older, which is when I'll put up a 16x16 canvas picture of the girls together.  

After finishing up the girls' room, I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies to send out for May Day.  The kids took their job of ringing and running very seriously.  While I was baking, my book club girls came over and we had a fun girly visit.  :)  My house was a disaster, Hadlee was running around crying because of no nap, and the boys kept running in to get more "baskets" to deliver.  Wow!  What a day, but when I finally get to sit back and relax, I think what an awesome day it was.  Sure there were some bumps in the road, and while I was sewing, I had to step back and take a few deep breaths so my frustrations weren't taken out on the kids, but all in all, today was great.  I'm thankful for hectic days like these, and I'm thankful for the quiet nights like the one I am enjoying...right...now.

My busy, hectic, wonderful life!

I just started this blog, and already I'm slacking!  Sorry about that!  I have had a busy couple of days, and I regret to say that most of them haven't even been fun.  My hubby and I went to a Twins game with the neighbors.  That was a BLAST, even though the game got rained out, and rescheduled for July.  We took a bus up to the stadium, drinks provided, got to enjoy the food and drinks in the suite, but unfortunately no game.  I did get a really neat idea for Father's Day though!  I took some random pictures of the stadium, and what reminds us of baseball.  I'll be putting it together into a collage/storyboard and offering them on my Facebook page for Father's Day gifts.  Right now I will only have 11x14 but am hoping to expand it to 8x10 and 16x20.  They will be unframed and selling for $35 for the 11x14.  The other prices (if I get those sizes done) will be $25 and $45.  Here's a sneak peak at my work, obviously before the pictures are inserted.  

After the big game (or at least attempt of the big game) I noticed that Reeyin wasn't feeling well.  She had a temp and was wheezing.  I took her to the ER and waited for 3 HOURS!!  When they finally got us in, they diagnosed her with RSV (don't ask what that means, because I don't have a clue!)  and told me that there is nothing they can do to help her.  She has to get over it on her own.  Poor baby is miserable.  I took her to our family doctor two days later to get a second opinion.  The first opinion was right.  :(  She's miserable and all I got was a paper telling me to keep her comfortable and as happy as I can.  No kidding.  She's still not happy, and according to the family doc, might not be for up to 6 weeks!  

Now, just to top off the week I'm having, this morning I went to see the burial of my Oma.  I loved her so much and will miss her greatly.  I was with her during everything in the last few years of her life, and I wasn't about to miss this, as sad as it was.  So, in the freezing cold, misting weather, I took all 3 of the younger kids, and kept them in the van while I said goodbye for the final time.  I'm glad everything is done, and that Opa has his Oma so close to him.  I wish them both eternal happiness, and will see them again some day.  

Snow in April?

This morning I woke up grumpy, because I woke up to snow covering the grass.  Can you believe it?  We have snow in April?  Not even the beginning of April, but the 19th of April!  In a few days we have Easter, and the kids will be having to push the snow aside to find their eggs!  It has been snowing since I woke up, and it's now 7:30pm and still snowing!  As crabby as I am about it, I also know that there's nothing I can do about it.

Maddex decided that now would be a good time to find out that his Ninja Turtle is missing...outside.  Now before I tell you how we found him, let me tell you how big "Leo" is.  He's about 5 inches long and about 1-2 inches wide.  Well, considering we have about 3-4 inches of snow, I had to get creative.  I put Tim's winter boots on (yes, I was a little excited and packed mine away already!) and grabbed a rake.  I figured I could just rake the snow and Leo's arm or leg would get stuck and we'd find him that way.  Maddex was waiting patiently by the window waiting for me to yell that I'd found him.  Instead, after what seemed like a long time, I came into the house and told him that Leo called my phone and that he'd had to go to the doctor to fix his shell.  He was going to call when he was done.  I figured this white lie would buy me a few days and the snow would melt and we'd find him then.  Needless to say, he didn't believe me.  Tim went out after me and of course found him sticking his arm out from beneath the snow!  He did still use my idea with the rake, but in the end, I don't think the rake helped at all.  Oh, what Mother's don't do for their little boys!  I'm off to get the kids ready for bed, with the hopes that I'll wake up to at least SOME grass peeking out from under this white stuff.  :)