June 2014

June was a productive month for me.   I am happy with the amount of things we did and the things I accomplished since it was our first month of summer vacation.   Things are getting easier for me with four children, because I remember past years in June I spent the month adjusting to summer vacation and me feeling very frazzled.

I did a lot of dyeing this month, check out my post about those projects here.

A friend asked me to make her daughter a rainbow skirt for her birthday.  Her favorite color is pink so I reversed the rainbow and put the pink on the bottom so it is more visible and because I can never make the  same thing twice.  I always have to mix things up!

Spiderman was in the house when I needed a model and

he was pretty good at twirling around.

I had helpers planting my hanging baskets and flower pots.  I am usually picky about what color flowers go together and how many get planted in certain pots.  Not this time.  Lately, I have challenged myself to “let go” of the middle steps and be happy with the finish product – planted flowers.

I got my garden planted this month.  And my garlic is looking awesome!

Since I am so late at getting this post done I am able to include a comparison picture of the garden a little over a month later.

Jack had some company while he changed the oil in his car.

 

Henry had his 4K graduation.  I also wrote a blog about these awesome socks Henry is wearing.  (Click here to read that)

 

 First day of school, September 2013.  

Last day of school, June 2014.

 

Our strawberry patch was going strong this year.  I didn’t have much time to pick them all when they were ripe.  So I often sent kids outside to “eat as many strawberries as you can!”

Nola Mae playing in her kitchen.  The hole for the sink (was a plastic bowl) is a common place for her body.  She usually goes from standing on the stove, to standing on the narrow shelf, back to the stove and then into the sink area.

Aunt Susie came over and switched up our dinner table seating arrangements.  Henry worked it out so he and Nola Mae could share the piano bench.  And they were pretty cute together!

My sister, Becca, is training for the Madison Ironman this year.  She is amazing!  My Mom, our sister Danna and I went to cheer Becca on at the High Cliff Half Ironman race that she participated in this month.  All I can say is “WOW!”

Our cousins came to visit with us for a couple of days.   I had a wonderful time with a house full of children, seven kids – 10 years old to two years old.  Although I had to share my time with Jessie and seven kids, it seemed much easier to visit with her than it is when we are at a family gathering of 50 people.

Our youngest babies together.  These two littlest cousins got along amazingly well for being two-year olds.

Our oldest babies together.  Some how our middle children got missed, isn’t that what always happens?

We spent a few days at Granny’s while our cousins (Andrew & Libby)  and Aunt Karen from the West were visiting.  Our visit happened to overlap on my Mom’s birthday.  When I announced my plans to the kids that I was going into the sewing room to make Granny’s birthday present Henry followed me down to the sewing room with his own idea.  He asked me what Granny’s favorite color was and I said blue.  He gathered scraps of fabric, cut pieces out and told me his design – to make Granny’s house.  I serged edges and he sewed the roof, windows and the door on.  This was the first time he has sewn something on my machine.

This is what I made for my Mom from one of my dyed projects.

 You never know what you will find on the farm.  Henry happened to wander into the corn field and found hundreds of little frogs hopping around.

      

He took a handful back to the house to show Granny.

I had a blast this weekend.  Visiting with family, watching and playing soccer.  We have our own CrossFit coach in the family, so we did a WOD (I don’t have a photo of that).

The littlest goalies.

We ended our time with cousins at Diamond Lake.

Four days after leaving Granny’s I took the two big boys to Grandma Helen’s to spend four days with the Vater cousins in North Dakota.

I didn’t realize this month was full of extended family stuff until I put this post together.  What a great month!

May 2013 – Month 5

We have been canoeing in the bowl at the ski hill for the past four years (I think).  Click here for better photos from April 12, 2011.  This year was the latest date, May 1st, we have ever paddled and March 16, 2012 was the earliest.

Jack took a video of Henry being cute pushing Nola Mae around on the upside down kitchen stool.  While doing that he captured some crazy stuff.  He put this movie together and titled it FourKidChaos:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhjH403j_j4

I was putting Nola Mae down for a nap and I found Henry getting the boys’ after school snack ready.  Henry is always so thoughtful and helpful.

Nola Mae has figured out how to climb on top of the piano to play music with her feet.  I am not sure if this link will work from Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4867423086535&set=vb.1326037913&type=3&theater

Grandma Helen came to visit us.  We had a busy weekend with activities around our house and farm.  Nola Mae watching a kickball game in the front yard.

This is the tree that fell down or we cut down the week Nola Mae was born.   That year on Saturday of Easter weekend we spent the morning making firewood.  I went into labor that night and had Nola Mae in the morning.  I will always remember this spot and refer to it as Nola Mae’s firewood.

At some point during basketball Robbie found a soft spot in the floor.  Jack decided it was time to replace that part of the floor.  He put the boys to work and had this done before the end of the weekend. 

We got these stilts from Jack’s Aunt Corky.  Charlie was the one that was interested in them when Jack showed them how to use them.  I was surprised because he seems easily discouraged when trying new things.  Now that I think more about this…He wasn’t discouraged because Robbie wasn’t trying them and if Robbie did and was good at it Charlie would have quit.  (Something we have to be thoughtful of all the time!)  Charlie practiced every day for many days and is able to take many steps.

A couple of years ago we had to replace the south stone wall of our barn.  In order to minimize our cost with this repair we had the workers move the rock just outside the barn door into the pasture.  I didn’t think through this when it was happening.  This huge rock and dirt pile blocks my path to the north pasture and my access to the north side of the basement of the barn.  Plus it is an eye sore to me.  Last year, when I had a new baby, I wanted to work on moving the rocks.    It never happened!  So this spring, my plan was to move a bucket load a day.  It worked for about two weeks and the progress was slow.  I will get this path opened by the end of summer!

I started running this month and decided I needed to buy new shoes, more pink than I like, but they were the best for comfort and price!

Once the snow melted and skiing was done I would walk/run around town for an hour, while Henry was in preschool, pushing Nola Mae in a single child jogging stroller.  My first run from home – pushing two kids loaded with water, snacks & a tablet (I didn’t want to have a restless Henry) in my bike trailer/stroller.  This load is a lot harder to push compared to pulling them in the ski sled while skiing!  It took me many runs to realize that I am out of shape but not terribly out of shape, I am just pushing a big load.  My 4.5 mile loop that I do from home was taking me 1 hour and 20-30 minutes.  One weekend morning I went for a run, all by myself, and ran that loop in 50 minutes.

Nola Mae napped in the stroller during my run.  This photo is from later in the afternoon when my neighbor came over.  She helped load up some rocks into my tractor bucket and watched Henry and Nola Mae while I delivered the rocks to her yard for her landscaping project.

Our sweet Nola Mae loves the phone.  The same day we went for our first run, loaded and delivered rocks, I was working in the kitchen and I needed Nola Mae to be happy for just a little bit longer.  I gave her the phone to play with.  That was the last time I thought I saw phone for three days!  I back tracked all my steps that day and all the places I was outside and in the house.  I could not find the phone.   I had Henry push the “find” button once I was in the garden, garage and barn.   For three days I cleaned under furniture, cleaned closets and cleaned the mud room, sort of cleaned the toy room, and walked all over the yard looking for that darn phone.  While I was walking around the yard I was reminded that I lost our phone last year, forever!   I thought maybe I would find that phone instead of the current lost one.  I will laugh so hard and probably pee my pants when I am 60 years old and working outside in the yard and I find a phone!

Since I was on a cleaning spree and the temps were dropping outside I decided I should clean out the ashes in the wood stove and wash the door window before I started a fire.  I laughed pretty hard (didn’t pee my pants) when I opened the stove door and found the phone!

Iola has a city-wide rummage sale every year on the weekend of Mother’s day.  Last year I missed out because I was really sick.  This year, Henry and I hit a few jack-pots!  I had to take a photo of our goodies from just one sale.  All this for around $50.  (bike $5, lawn mower $20, two plug in heaters for chicken waters $10, buckets $1 each, pretty denim fabric $3 for 5 yards, swimming stuff $2, buttons $2 and glass wares $6)

Charlie bought this chess, checkers, backgammon, domino set from his teacher’s rummage sale for $1.  For as much as he loves to play chess this was his jack-pot!  I think that boy now owns three chess boards.

Charlie has not been wanting to sleep in his bed lately.  So he will fall asleep in the door way of his room or on the couch while watching a movie.

 

I haven’t had a flat tire in a long time.  I got this one on my way to the ski hill to help my friend prepare for a bike race  IWSC was hosting.  I was thankful my Mom and Step-Dad made me take off and put back on all four tires on our family car before I could drive it.  A good reminder to do that with our kids.

I discovered Nola Mae likes mud puddles.

Henry finished preschool and will go to 4K in the fall.  His preschool was two days/week for 2.5 hours each day.  4K will be two full days/week and he will ride the bus.  He loved school, enjoyed playing with most of the kids, loved his teachers and rarely gave me kisses good-bye.  I was reminded every school day that he is independent, very confident and my 3rd child when he would tell me, “Mama, just drop me off at the sidewalk. You don’t have to walk me in.”

When the older boys went to preschool this is what I remember:  Robbie didn’t want me to leave him, I always left quickly, he didn’t cry but was sad, and always gave me the biggest hugs and five kisses (that was the number of kisses he picked for our good-bye routine).   Charlie cried when Robbie went to school.  Charlie always gave me a quick kiss and hug when I dropped him off at preschool.

This soccer season was over so quickly.  And was a lot of fun for me to watch them play.

Charlie is also in Robbie’s team photo because a few times Robbie’s team was short players.

My dream of having a track star to cheer on may come true.  Robbie is showing signs of being a strong runner and he sure is a speedy boy.  Nola Mae loves running on the track.

Jack took this photo.  I love it because Henry looks so peaceful and angelic.  I also find this photo to be funny because it looks like aliens are sucking his brain while he is rotting his brain while playing on the tablet. 

Jack took all three boys for a camping trip with his brother’s family.  Our boys adore their older cousins.  I love these two pictures because you can see their happiness.

I met Jack and the boys at the nursing home to visit the Vater grandparents.  I spent a little bit of time outside with Nola Mae taking these pictures.  I couldn’t decide which one I liked the best so I had to include my four favorites.

 

 

Henry discovered these morels in my flower beds and strawberry patch.  This is about a quarter of what we picked and I ate.

Robbie brought this note home.  I was shocked only because he never gets in trouble at school!  I was not surprised because this is the kind of stuff he would do at home!

Nola Mae rarely lets me feed her anything with a spoon.  She has to pick up her food with her fingers by herself!  Recently, I tried to give her some of my homemade applesauce but she has refused it because I was serving it to her on a spoon.  I had applesauce on the table for everyone, she grabbed Robbie’s bowl and started eating it and loved it!  She made a horrible mess.  And now eats it off a spoon from me.

We have been getting some good rains this month.  Our rain gauge is broken so I never know how much.  The boys played outside in the last rain we got.

Baby wearing photos:

Mother’s Day hike at Keller Lake, wearing Nola Mae in my Ergo.

Hiking in our woods, wearing my Zara Velvet wrap.

Week 21 – May 21 – 27, 2012

Week 21 – May 21 – 27, 2012

Monday, May 21st: I have been able to make a little progress on Nola Mae’s bear quilt.

Tuesday, May 22nd: Tonight was the last night of soccer.

Wednesday, May 23rd: Henry started riding his bike today.  He needs some help with steering and pedaling.  After 15 minutes with my help he showed a lot of improvement.  We were staying on the cement in and around the garage until he got a feel for the pedaling.  Then I took him on the gravel.  Going down the hill from the garage was a little scary for him and he almost wiped out, while I was right next to him.  Later in the morning when Aunt Susie came he showed her his biking.  He headed down the garage hill and screamed the whole way.  It was really scary all by himself!  Aunt Susie thought he was okay doing that by himself.

Thursday, May 24th: Henry and Nola Mae spent over an hour at a park with my friend, Kat, while I got a massage.  I was very nervous about leaving Nola Mae.  Only because I have never left any of my babies for any period of time with anyone, especially when they were 6 weeks old!  I really had no reason to worry.  Kat wore Nola Mae in the Mei Tai and she slept the entire time!

Friday, May 25th:  This is a frequent sight on our fence.

The story behind this is…the boys leave the house with their tooth-brushes at least 2-5 minutes before the bus arrives.  My plan is that they brush their teeth the whole time it takes to walk to the end of the drive-way and while waiting for the bus.  My thought is that if they had to do it in the house before leaving to meet the bus they wouldn’t brush their teeth for very long.  This way the tooth-brush is in their mouth for at least two minutes, hopefully being productive!  If I don’t make it out to end of the drive-way for one more hug and kiss they put the brushes on the fence for me to pick up later.

Saturday, May 26th:  Jack took this cute picture of Nola Mae.

Sunday, May 27th:  We went to our Moms’ for part of the weekend.  One stop was at Grandma Elma’s.  Robbie and Charlie went for a muddy walk in the woods with their cousin Michael.

Then we went to Grandma Helen’s where we all went for a walk.

Our last stop was Grandma Siggie’s.  Nola Mae spent most of her time on Grandma Siggie’s lap.  Nola Mae fussed just a little and Grandpa Neil teased Grandma about not knowing how to handle a girl (since she is a mother of four boys).  I think she did fine.  She has more granddaughters than grandsons, so she has had some practice!

Week 18 – April 30 – May 6, 2012

Week 18 – April 30 – May 6, 2012

Monday, April 30th:  This quilt arrived in the mail from my friend Jan.  I love it.  After cuddling with Nola Mae and inspecting the quilt I am inspired to do more sewing.  I wonder when I will be able to get into the sewing room again!

Tuesday, May 1st:  This hat came from Donna in New Zealand.  Some say Nola Mae looks like a pirate.  I think she looks like an elf.

Soccer started today.  The boys played at the same time on different fields.  We split up our time and watched 15 minutes of each game.

Robbie as the goalie.

Wednesday, May 2nd:  Henry making scrambled eggs.  He did all the steps by himself.

Here are some of my spring flowers.  I needed to take a photo since I have a little boy who likes to pick them for me and for Mrs. Fechter (Charlie’s teacher).  Henry picks them and the stems are always too short for a vase.  I haven’t been able to show him how to pick flowers with long stems.

Thursday, May 3rd:  Another soccer game this week.

  Henry cuddling with Nola Mae.

Friday, May 4th:  Henry talking to Granny.

Henry and I made cinnamon rolls for our company coming this weekend.  I made a double batch and put all these in the freezer for another time.

Grandpa Jerry came for a short visit.

Saturday, May 5th:  My brother and his family were here this weekend.  After they left Henry finally sat down to eat his lunch.  For the life of me I couldn’t get him to stay in his chair when everyone else was eating.

Charlie spent a lot of time on the computer today.  I finally shut it off (I should have done that earlier) and he spent the afternoon downstairs practicing his piano, cuddling with Nola Mae (and Henry),

and reading to Henry about hot lava.  Henry was talking about hot lava being on the floor.

Sunday, May 6th:  It rained all morning, 3 inches!  The boys’ pond filled up and the field developed some ponds that I have never seen before.

We, mostly Henry, washed the mirrors in the toy room.

I attempted this back carry today on my own while looking in the mirror.  I still need a little practice.  Nola Mae was wide awake when we started and within minutes she was sleeping.  She slept for almost two hours.  I cleaned a little, made lunch, ate a hot lunch, and did some sewing.  I had to take her down to wake her up because my body was wondering where the hungry baby was.

I have been working on this Mei Tai for my cousin Jessie.  I was able to finish it this afternoon.

Week 4 – January 23 – 29, 2012

Week 4 – January 23 – 29, 2012

Monday, January 23:  The older boys had a day off today.  It was snowing and the snow was idea for making a snowman.  Our first snowman turned into a Green Bay Packer snowman.  Robbie’s idea was to build the master piece on the north side of the house that gets zero sun so it will last until spring and it will be one they won’t destroy.

These two snowmen in the front yard were built for target shooting.

Tuesday, January 24:  I made the mistake of going back to bed at 7:00 after the boys were on the bus.  Henry woke up without me knowing and brought us breakfast in bed.  He also brought the camera and took this photo.  If I am remembering correctly the flash is what woke me up.

Then I had to take this one of him eating our (his) breakfast.

All three boys reading before bed.  This was the night that Robbie wanted to stay up and finish his book.  It was getting too late and he had one more chapter left.  He finished his first chapter book, reading it from start to finish all by himself, on the bus the next day.

Wednesday, January 25:  We met friends to ski this morning.

Thursday, January 26:  I finally finished this zipper bag with a water-proof liner so I can transport wet diapers home after a day out or a weekend away.

This evening I met my book club friends at the ski hill for a little night skiing.  On my way home I was driving very slowly on one of the side roads that is narrow, snow-covered and icy and a deer decided to come on the road and run in front of me.  Because of the narrow road there wasn’t a way for me to go around her (or slam on my breaks).  So I hit her with the car.

Friday, January 27:  Tonight Jack left with all three boys to visit his mom and grandparents for the weekend.  This was the first time for all three boys to be gone!   It was a much-needed break for me.   I expected to be very happy as they were driving out of the driveway and was surprised by my sadness.   I had a very rough week with the boys and that is all I will say about it.

After they were gone I cleaned the kitchen and downstairs area for a couple of hours and came upstairs to go to bed and found Charlie’s clothes bag that I packed earlier that afternoon at the top of the stairs and Robbie’s packed bag still in his room. 

 Usually I fold clothes for packing and I just lay out clothes on their bed and they do the packing with my instructions to “pick out three shirts, three pants, four underwear, four socks, and PJs.”   This way they know what is in there and they are happy with the choices.  And then they carry their bags down to the door ready for the car, along with their special blanket and pillow.  Since I did all the packing I wasn’t thinking about the rest of the steps. 

Saturday, January 28:  During our ski lessons I had the kids practicing their downhill and uphill.  I was surprised at how excited they were to keep working on the hills.  There has been a huge improvement and I am hoping they are ready to hit the trails this Saturday.  Some kids took turns kicking the soccer ball into our soccer nets, which is a very good activity for them to practice their balance without them even knowing it.

Sunday, January 29:  I spent the morning working at the registration table for the Norseman Challenge ski race.  I took my ski clothes just in case I felt like skiing.  After eating something I did feel like skiing and did for 1 hour & 40 minutes with my friend, Phil.  He is a good skiing partner because he stops to pick up all the leaves and sticks on the trail.  These delays helped me keep up with him.  I almost skied the whole outside blue and black loops, and falling two times while at very low speeds.  I am thankful that I was listening to my body and cut out one of my favorite downhills because of the .4 mile uphill climb. 

Project 365 Week 21

Project 365 Week 21

Project 365: Take a photo a day and see your life in a whole new way.

5/23/11 (Monday) – One of our flowering crab tree, may favorite one.  I took the middle photo and Jack took the other two.

5/24/11 (Tuesday) – The last week of soccer – team photos.

5/25/11 (Wednesday) –   I brought down the kittens from the upstairs of the garage.

  Henry thinks they like my stinky shoes.

 

Other things Henry was up to today.

   

5/26/11 (Thursday) –  Today, Charlie celebrated his upcoming summer birthday at school.  Reality hit me and I did a double take when I saw “Happy 6th Birthday, Charlie!” on his crown.  Really, is my sweet Charlie going to be six years old?

His first choice for his birthday treat was chocolate chip muffins and my homemade applesauce.  I made the muffins, doubled the recipe, while Henry was trying to help, Robbie and Charlie were playing basketball in the dinning area and I was also working on making dinner.

Guess what happened…I used 6 tablespoons of baking powder instead of 6 teaspoons!  As I was measuring I thought it seemed like a lot and I double checked the recipe book and still screwed it up!

The final treat was chocolate cup cakes with left over frosting from the previous two cakes I made.  Green Bay Packer colors was the request!

5/27/11 (Friday) – Extending a flower bed and minimizing the lawn mowing!

5/28/11 ( Saturday) – We were able to go to Big Falls for a little fishing this afternoon.

We tried to fish out Charlie’s fishing pole that Henry threw into the water.

5/29/11 (Sunday) –  I collected this tiny green egg this afternoon.

The boys and I did some gardening today.  They helped me put up this trellis.  They planted cucumbers and some climbing flower, I can’t remember the name of, at the base.

Project 365 Week 20

Project 365 Week 20

Project 365: Take a photo a day and see your life in a whole new way.

5/16/11 (Monday) –  I finished sewing 50 of these flags for my brother-in-law’s company, Keepers Goals, click here to see their website.

 

5/17/11 (Tuesday) –  Soccer games.

Charlie was serious tonight.  During this game he only asked me once when his game was going to be over (in previous games he has asked at least four times).

This is Robbie kicking the ball.  We have gotten a couple of shots of him in this position.  It must be a very powerful kick.   I laugh every time I see this photo!

More action shots of Robbie…

5/18/11 (Wednesday) – I baked and decorated this cake for my book club, my second attempt at the hydrangea flower.

 

5/19/11 (Thursday) – Our chicks arrived today, click here to see my post and photos  on the chicks.

The pillow case I made for Robbie’s friend’s birthday party.  Robbie told me that Will loves the Green Bay Packers.  This was as close as I could get for green and gold material.  The fabric store was sold out.  As much as it may kill me I am thinking I need to have some Packer fabric in my stash for future projects.

  

5/20/11 (Friday) – Charlie’s class had a field trip to a large dairy farm in our area.  Henry likes to climb.  He didn’t like the calf licking him.  Henry kept saying, “bite!”

5/21/11 (Saturday) – My sister, Danna graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.

My siblings (Kayla is in Peru).

The cake I made for our two graduates.

 Robbie lost his first tooth today!

5/22/11 (Sunday) – My first harvest of asparagus!  I have waited three years for this.

Mental Note #1 – Soccer is important

Last night our family schedule was tight with soccer games and a board meeting.

I should make it clear here that we are not a family that encourages or discourages team sports.  I will speak only for myself  – I dislike team sports.

This is the second year for Robbie and first year for Charlie to play on a team sport.  Soccer is fun to play and my boys love kicking the ball around and  playing with friends.  The joy I get out of watching them play is worth the time and effort it takes to get them to a scheduled game.  I am thankful that our community has an easy and short schedule for their soccer league – Tuesday and Thursday evenings for 4-5 weeks, no extra days for practice and no Saturdays!

Here is what happened last night:

3:30 Bus drops Robbie off at home.

3:30 – 3:45 Robbie eats after school snack, winds down, and gets out his homework.

3:45 – 4:30 Robbie does his homework and practices his piano while I start dinner and help him with homework.

4:30 – 5:00 I am cooking dinner, trying to get the boys to gather their soccer clothes and setting the table.

5:00 – 5:15 We eat dinner.

5:15 – 5:25 I get Henry dressed, Charlie and Robbie get dressed into soccer clothes, put on soccer shin guards and socks and we determine that Robbie’s soccer shirt must be in the dirty clothes because we can’t find it.  Thankfully both boys have the same colored t-shirts and don’t play at the same time.

5:25 We leave for soccer games and Jack stays home a little longer to put away the food.

5:40 Charlie’s game – I am one of the coaches for Charlie’s team, not by choice. In order for Charlie to play soccer this year one of us needed to be a coach.   I know very little about soccer.

6:40 Robbie’s game – behind schedule tonight!   I thought I would be able to see half of Robbie’s game before leaving for my board meeting at Iola Winter Sports Club (IWSC).  The games were running a little behind.  And he was just starting to warm up with his team when it was time for me to leave for the board meeting.

7:00 My board meeting.

As I was walking to the car my gut/motherly instinct was telling me to stay and watch my son play soccer.

My brain, on auto-pilot, was telling me that I needed to go to the board meeting.   I feel very strongly about the commitment I made to being on the board for the IWSC.  I have only missed two board meeting in the few years that I have been on the board – the first time was when Henry was born the day of the meeting and the second time was when I forgot it was the first Tuesday of the month (shortly after becoming a mother of three).     It is very frustrating to me when there are people on a board and they rarely come to meetings.  Especially when I know there are people out there who are willing to take a position on the board, would be committed to showing up and taking on some extra responsibilities.

During breakfast this morning I was eager to hear how the soccer game went.  Instead my heart was broken by the tears I saw and the sweet little voice that asked, “why couldn’t you watch my game?”  I am sad that I disappointed my son last night and mad that my choice  was to go to the board meeting.  If it was a paying job that I had to go to, this story would be very different.   Thankfully, me going to a paid job isn’t a choice that I have to make right now.

I try not to take on any “mommy guilt” or have any regrets in my life.  This incident is one that is so close to making me feel guilty.  Instead of feeling guilty I am chosing to learn from this and move on.

Mental note #1 – Skip board meeting for soccer game!