Sunday

We had a project to complete! Earlier in the week we had six loads of dirt brought in and put on our septic system. We were told this would fix our problem of leakage. I am praying that it does.

Jason and I spent the morning digging up the dirt, laying down the grass seed and covering it back up. Now we have to make sure it stays wet. Hopefully it will start growing without the dirt and seed all washing down the hill!

The afternoon was spent at Auntie Kelly's. It was Mitch's 13th Birthday. We had a fun time visiting and eating horderves and cake:)

Here is our project before we dug it up

Grass Seed waiting to be put on

Jason took over my job once he came out

And I started seeding(Alexis took this picture)

Tuesday-Saturday:)

Tuesday I told Brian and Michelle they could drop the boys off and have a break from the kids. They decided to go to a movie. We all had a fun time running around the basement and jumping on the trampoline.



Lunch time: Nicholas, Alexis, Brayden and Riley



Nathan was in the high chair


Nicholas jumping

Nicholas saying cheese:)

We never did manage to get a picture of all four grand kids together smiling. So I decided to try but the kids weren't willing. (the kids had just woken up) Oh well maybe next time:)

Wednesday Brayden, Alexis and I went into town early to get my air conditioning fixed in the car before we go on vacation. We were also suppose to put new tires on but they didn't have all the tires when I arrived. We walked to the park since it was close and then came back to the library before we picked the car up. Alexis picked out a few books and Brayden played with a firetruck that they had there. So I grabbed a few books for him too:)

After we came home Brian, Michelle and the boys left to go see her family in Wisconsin. I had already laid Brayden down so we waited for him to wake up. I started to not feel good so I laid down. That night I went to bed early and still woke up with stomach cramps on Thursday:( Icky! I watched a couple of Lauras daycare kids that day too. By Thursday night I was feeling better. By this point the crud we caught had been through 6 of us that were together for the 4th with three more to come. My dad came home sick from work on Thursday. Also Riley passed it on to his mommy and daddy. Which put Tami in the hospital for the night because the baby was wanting out of her tummy:( So far she is fine but is having contractions still. Her doctor was hoping she would make it to the end of next week.

So that brings us to Friday. I had a physical in the morning so mom came in to watch the kids. She had an appointment right after me because she was still not feeling well. The kids and I got the tires on the car while we waited. Mom ended up being admitted to the hospital because she needed her gall bladder taken out. She had the surgery today and was looking very tired when we were there. But they are hoping to release her tomorrow already. Her and dad are suppose to be leaving next Monday for Alaska. So that gives her 8 more days to rest up and get better.

We cleaned house today to get rid of all the bugs. Hopefully they are gone because Brayden and Jason never caught the bug(knocking on wood very hard right now!)

Tonight after we came home from the hospital we went down to our lake access because our neighbors were shooting off some fireworks. There were some really nice ones. Alexis was a little scared because they were going right over our heads. But she was clapping and Oohing and Ahhing also:)

Wow I can't believe I finally caught up on the blog:)

Monday morning Alexis was feeling better so went down to the lake but Mom and Brian weren't feeling very well, so Michelle had a good idea to go to Chuck e cheese. So off we went to go have a little fun.

Monday night Michelle and the boys came up to play at our house.

If I would have let her, Alexis would have used all her coins on this horse:)

The merry go round

Nathan rolling the balls

Alexis played the fishing game

Hmmm.... What should we get?

The kids all decided on suckers

More 4thof July weekend fun

On Saturday Jason, I and the kids went over to Tami and Ryans house to help them prime and paint the garage they just added on. It only took us about 4 hours. After that we went out to the lake. It was pretty windy so we just hung out by the kiddie pool.

On Sunday we decided to do our family pictures early so the kids would cooperate. Alexis wasn't feeling good when she woke up so she was a bit glum most of the day. The pictures turned out good.

After the pictures Brian's family and ours went out and tubed and skied. We had a blast so much fun. It was like being a kid again:) when we got back moms side of the family came. They were coming to celebrate the 4th of July. There were lots of kids running around so our kids kept busy. There was a lot of boat riding, jet ski and paddle boating. Around 5:00 Alexis came to be and said she didn't feel good so we went inside and she got sick. Me and Alexis went home and she fell asleep on the couch right away. She was out for the night. That night Riley got sick and so did mom.(This was only the beginning of the sicknesses).

Family picture

Our family

Brians family

Mom and Dad

Chris and Jill

Grandpa and his grandsons on the John Deere

Us on the tube

Nicholas and Alexis relaxing in the hammock

Michelle, Nathan, Nicholas and Brian on the paddle boat

Nathan and Brian out on the jet ski

Alexis playing with some of her 2nd cousins

4th of July fun!

Sorry I am a little behind on the updating. We had a fun 4th of July last Friday. We spent it at the lake.

Brayden getting ready to put the flags outside

Brother and sisterly love

Fun swimming in the lake

Nicholas, Brayden and Alexis getting ready to go boating

Nathan swimming in the pool

Yes this is my son during one of his many throw himself on the ground fits, I guess the pool was in his way:)

Alexis was so tired she fell asleep outside on a chair

This picture is out of order it is of all of us going out on the lake to watch fireworks on the 4th

Nicholas about to get in the lake

Jason skiing

Alexis skiing

The kids tubing

Brayden dancing with his Jammies on

Pre-4th of July Fireworks and exciting news:)

Last Thursday night(the 3rd of July)we went to see the fireworks in our local town. We parked the car out in a field and watched the fireworks from only a mile or two away. Alexis loved them, Brayden was wondering when we were going back home about a minute into the fireworks. He also decided a few minutes after we got there that he had to go potty and not the easy kind! So of course mommy helped him, luckily I had some wipes in the car:)

After the fireworks we went back to mom and dads just as Uncle Brian, Aunt Michelle, Nicholas and Nathan arrived for there vacation in Minnesota. When we were sitting around talking, Brian mentioned that they had some exciting news for us. They are going to be adopting a child from Ethiopia. They just started the paperwork but we are so very excited for them:)

A few pictures from the fireworks:

Look at the fireworks mom

Brayden kept falling in the field. He was trying to get on the road by me.

A couple pictures of the best fireworks. These were taken with dads camera.

Friends

Alexis bugged me all week last week to have her friend Grace over. So last Thursday we picked Grace up on the way home from gymnastics. The girls had a blast playing together. Here is a picture before we left for beginner ball practice. The girls were signed up for the same day and time but ended up on different teams. Grace is a few weeks younger than Alexis but about 6 inches taller:)

Lots of videos

The last couple of days have been just gorgeous. We have been outside and loving it. Last night we went out in the boat and all of us went skiing. Brayden even tried to ski. We actually got the skis on his feet he held the handle and I got him in the water with them on. Which is great progress. last year he didn't even want to get them on his feet. Although we did get him out behind the boat one time last year. He was very nervous but bribery works well with him:) I am a little sore today but not as bad as I thought I would be. Tomorrow will be the day I can't move!

These first few are pictures of ball tonight

Here are a few videos of Alexis playing ball tonight.

She is the second one to kick the ball in this first video.

Here she is trying to catch the ball:

These other ones are from the other day at gymnastics.

Here she is on the low beams.

And walking backwards on the high beams

Here are Brayden and Riley playing trucks when Alexis is doing Gymnastics

Another week has passed us by. The kids are keeping us on our toes.

Brayden is starting to test his limits with us these days. Which can be very frustrating for this mommy! He pretty much disagrees with anything you ask him to do and will let you know it in different ways. Starting out he will say NO in a loud voice, then the head goes down and he will get the lip out and the shoulders go down and he pouts. You ask him again and give him a warning and he gets worse so then it is off to the naughty spot. Which then brings him to the screaming at the top of his lungs which is more of a screeching scream which literally hurts your ears. I am so frustrated right now with him. It makes me very sad that we are having such a hard time right now. I just don't know what to do. I'm sure things will work out and maybe he is just in a phase right now? We will see.

We had another busy weekend. Friday we had a baby shower for my cousin Sarah who is due in I believe September. She lives in Lake Tahoe and was home for the weekend. Saturday I went shopping with mom and got home in the afternoon. I ended up getting a new cell phone:) Which I have been wanting to do for a couple months. I ended up getting the new service for 5 dollars less then what I pay now. It is a better plan which includes nationwide coverage and it actually works at our house! Yeah:) To top it off the phone was free. It has been fun playing with it.

Today we had another baby shower. Jason's niece is having a little boy and is due the end of August. It was a fun time and she received a lot of nice gifts.

Alexis keeps me running during the day. These are a few pictures from one of her days at gymnastics. The pictures aren't the best. Yes I need a new camera and we are very seriously considering getting a new one. Possibly even this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):):):):):)

Jumping on the trampoline

Alexis always picks the highest beam

Flipping off the Vault