Real quick

We are having a blast playing in the lake, enjoying the random rain showers and Evie Jean's Botique (more on that later). Ashlynn created and hosted the cutest picnic with the neighbors, including dessert, games and crafts! She will officially be my new party planner! I'll check back soon, it's time to go fishing and this blackberry takes forever :-)......

I know, I know,

It's been forever and a day since I blogged. I realize my lameness, but if you were a fly on my wall, you would understand. You could see it's not all bon bons and soaps. Well, ok, maybe you wouldn't wat to be a fly in my house, you'd probably be dead. Those pesky things have increased in this warm weather and I keep the swatter within reaching distance at all times. The kids are getting pretty good at it too....

Back to my point.

We have been getting read for our annual trek up to the lake and it has been CRAZY around here. So before I go (we leave tomorrow morning for two whole weeks!), I'll give you a glimpse of one of my days this week:

• 5:45am Wake up, get ready.
• 6:30 Meet my friend Carrie for breakfast (aside from riding in the car, this will turn into the only time I sit for the day).
• 8:15 Head back home, make waffles for the hungry kids and hubby.
• 9:30 Finish up dishes and see Randy off to work for an unexpected overtime shift.
• 10:15 Pile the kids in the car and head to Old Navy in hopes to find a pair of shorts.
• 10:35 Give up at Old Navy and try Kohl's. Let's just say a trying on clothes with four kids in a dressing room is....interesting. I'll just leave it at that. No shorts, but I did get two really cute summer dresses for 70% off!
  
• 11:35 Get gas (the gas light is screaming at me from the dash), drive through the bank and make a deposit.
  
• 11:45 Head back home to make the kids lunch.
• 12:30 Finish up lunch and get Ashlynn and Ryder ready to go to a friends house to swim.
• 1:00 See Ashlynn and Ryder off.
• 1:15 Nurse Addie and put her and Gage down for a nap.
• 1:45 Pick up the family room and exercise (thanks Colie for the Chalean Extreme!)
• 2:40 Eat lunch, finally.
• 3:00 Head up to my sewing room to finish some mending projects for friend.
• 3:30 Call mom out of frustration, my machine is not doing what I want it to do. She refers me to the manual, um, I guess I could have tried that first. Thanks mom!
  
• 4:15 Race out the door to drop off the finished mending and pick up Ashlynn and Ryder.
• 4:35 Drop off mending, pick up kids, head home.
• 5:25 Arrive home, speed to make dinner for the boys to pick up (I make dinner Monday-Thursday for Randy's brothers-just a little side job that helps with the grocery bill).
• 6:35 Randy is home from working overtime and we eat dinner.
• 7:25 Start on dishes and get Addie ready for bed.
• 8:00 Put Addie to bed and head out with Gage to pick up a portable DVD player for trip.
• 9:15 arrive home and put the kids to bed, Randy was not feeling well either, so I tucked him in too.
• 9:30 Work on some more laundry and pick up the family room, which is a disaster for the twentieth time of the day.
  
• 10:00 I can still hear the boys awake and I give them a "warning" to quiet down.
• 11:30 Head to bed.

There you have it, my life lately in a nutshell. And now we are off the the wilderness of no computers, traffic, dealines, errands, to-do lists and so forth. If I get a chance between relaxing on the shore watching the kids play in the water, going for coffee and the cutest Little Gift House in the world, hitting golf balls with Ran, fishing and eating, maybe just maybe I find some wifi and blog a little. Maybe.

Otherwise, I'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Gage-man turns three!!

Now we officially have a one, three, five and seven year old in the house! Here is our birthday boy with his requested "oatmeal for breakfast":



We love your expressions and how serious you can get-it just cracks us up!! "Are you ready momma, are you ready?", your crinkled brow and scrunched up nose with that intensity in your tone-can't resist it!!

Happy Birthday Gage-man! We pray you continue to display your amazing passion for life and totally unique character, you put a smile on our face every, single day!

My baby turns seven....

The following is what I wrote in my pregnancy journal on the morning of Ashlynn's birth day:

07-01-02: Hi Baby! Well we are still waiting!! You should hear how much the phone rings everyday with people wanting to know if you are here yet! I have finally told everyone I am not going to answer anymore until you are born! Your Grandma Debbie, Grandma Linda and I are going to Lawrence today. It's a cute town nearby with all kinds of shops and restaurants. It should be a fun day, but would be even better if I started labor. The doctor wants to induce labor on Wednesday, but we have decided against that. I want you to come in your own perfect time as God chooses-not what works for the doctor's schedule. Hope to see you soon though!

At 11:22 that evening Ashlynn Faith was born. My labor went better than I could have ever imagined or planned and Randy was the world's best coach, allowing me to squeeze his hand as tightly as possible and keeping up with me as we made laps through the hospital. He knew when each contraction was coming over me because I wanted him to rub my back but my pace would pick up so much he jokes he was at a "light jog". We joked they were going to need to replace the carpet when our stay was over and when we returned for Gage's birth we noticed the carpet had been replaced with linoleum floors!

And now, our baby girl is seven years old. The joy and blessing we felt welcoming her into the world was indescribable. All throughout my pregnancy I prayed that our baby would be filled with the joy of Jesus and it would be contagious to all of those around her. Ashlynn truly reflects that, she befriends those some might not, she sees people through such loving eyes and has so much compassion.

I love that within five minutes of meeting a new kid, she has made best friends and wants to include them in everything. She is who she is. She would rather have her hair put in a ponytail, wear her favorite pants (they are seriously the rattiest things you have ever seen) and just play with all the joy in her heart. This is who Ashlynn truly is.


I could have posted a picture of a perfectly coiffed little girl, but I chose this from yesterday instead. We made green smoothies and she begged me to take a snapshot of her with her green mustache. I love her!

Happy Birthday Ashlynnie!