whobody went on a river walk?

One of our favorite things to do as a family in the summer is go to Guttenberg, pick up food at the drive-in, and then sit by the river and eat it! 

We then follow it up with a family walk along the river.

One beautiful night (a few weeks ago) I braved it by myself, and took the kids on a riverwalk date. (Jason was planting corn.)

Surprisingly it went well.

You see, when we are around home, it seems that 4 kids is no problem...most of the time.

But, sometimes, when we go and do things out of the house...

things get chaotic, and I feel like I can't handle my own kids!!!

Lucky for us...this night went VERY smoothly.

First...here is Cruz with his nuggets and milk.... He looks a little warm!

And....Lola with her hot dog.

 Nash...being silly. (of course)

 Finally, Keaton, as responsible as ever.

Doing things like this with the kids is really good for me.

 (Especially during field work time when I feel a little maxed out.)  

When we are out and about...

I can't be working on laundry, or cleaning veggies, or picking up....

or whatever else has to be done around the house that

 seems to distract me from how great my kids are.  

When we are out and about...I have nothing to do but enjoy them....

(and try to keep them in line.)

They had SO much fun. We had a great night!

Now...if only the summer weather would stick around for a bit!

whobody went to milwaukee?

I have a new nephew! 

His name is Soren....and last weekend was his baptism.  

So, the kids and I went to Milwaukee (while Jason planted corn). 

We stayed in the same hotel with my parents and grandparents so I had lots of help.

The kids had a blast on our road trip. 

They love watching movies in the car. (They rarely get to at home.) 

They love going out to eat. 

 And, most of all....they LOVE swimming!

Here are 3 of the kids in the pool!

Cruz absolutetly LOVED floating around in his little 'boat' 

(which we admittedly had to keep blowing up....

probably because he was too heavy.)  

He just sat back and relaxed and watched the others swim!

Notice Nash. 

He kept on yelling...."Wook! I'm swimming!" 

He had on a lifejacket AND was using a floatie...

but was convinced he was swimming. 

He also insisted upon wearing his goggles the whole time...

although he never got his hair wet! 

Hopefully swimming lessons go well for him this summer.

And Lola in her goggles too....she is a FISH except the pool water at hotels ALWAYS burns her eyes so bad that we usually end up with her in the shower screaming because her eyes hurt so bad. 

THIS time, I remembered the goggles, and kept reminding her to use them! 

No problems this time!

We then headed to Steve & Lisa's house for dinner. 

The kids all took the chance to hold Soren 

(and, of course, I got some snuggles in too!)  

I got pictures of Lola and Nash...but missed Keaton.  

Isn't Soren sweet?

Just as the night was ending...

Uncle Steve took us to this AWESOME frozen yogurt place.

You first filled your cup with frozen yogurt. (Of course the kids all chose chocolate...)

THEN...it was time to put on the toppings.  

This was when things got a little crazy. 

Check out these awesome ice cream treats!  

The kids went a little overboard, but loved every minute of it (and every bite.)

a close-up of Nash's

And...by the time I got to Lola's....she had already EATEN most of her toppings!!!

And, one more picture of Lola holding Soren.

(This was actually taken Thursday night...when they were visiting us for dinner!)

We had a blast in Milwaukee....and surprisingly, the trip went very well! We hope to go back and visit the zoo sometime this summer!

whobody has a "cheep" baker's dozen?

Meet our THIRTEEN new baby chicks!

We are so excited to have these new additions to our 'farm'....we now have 13 baby chicks.

We have been talking about getting chickens for about a year...and we were planning on getting 5 or 6....and then we found out Lola's kindergarten class was going to be hatching chicken eggs...and would need to have a place for them to go.  SO....we decided to take those chicks instead of getting our own! They are banty chicks. (spelling?) Which means that they are small! 

The class actually had 28 eggs to start with....but only 13 of the chicks hatched AND survived. (phew) 12 is about our max capacity in our chicken coop.

We picked up the chicks one week ago today (when they were about 5 or 6 days old).  

Lola is SO proud....and has been an excellent 'mother hen'.  

She picks them up every chance she gets.

Cruz also LOVES the chicks, and every time we get them out, he promptly sits on the ground and waits for me to put one on his lap! 

Although this picture looks a little bit like this kitty is going to EAT the baby chick...

they have been getting along very well. 

The kitties don't seem to be too concerned with the chicks....

Fluffy, however, would LOVE to pounce on them and have a snack. 

(We take considerable measures to protect our 13 little ones).

Ahh...the kitty being a little nicer......

The chicks are SO cute. 

This white one is my favorite....and is named "Snowball" 

(hopefully it is not a rooster....)

Keaton does not care to HOLD the chicks but he does the chicken chores every day (changing their food and water) and is a very good little farmer.

And... our term for doing chicken chores is to 

"cluck the chickens" 

(Big thanks to The Office...)

So, every morning before school, 

Keaton heads to the garage to 

"cluck the chickens" and "meow the kitties". 

LOVE IT.

 The previous pictures were taken last weekend...here is a picture with Lola and a chick yesterday! They have already grown SO much! 

We are so excited to have the 'start' of our little animal farm.  

I love the chicks more than I even thought I would! 

The first thing I do in the morning is go out the garage and check the kitties AND chicks! FUN.  Big thanks to Lola's kindergarten class for this baker's dozen!

(and if any of you want to come and visit our 18 little baby animals....let me know....we would be happy to show off our newest family members!)

whobody had their first picnic?

One of the things that we do a LOT when  daddy is in the field is have picnics!

It is easy for me...because we do all cold food ,so no cooking.  And it is usually food that the kids LOVE, so no fighting the kids to eat! (Also, the cleanup is very easy.)

THIS was Cruz's first picnic. 

THIS was his first time sitting at the big boy picnic table.

THIS was his first time having puffy Cheetos. (okay, not really...he loves these.)

He thought it was SO funny to be 

eating outside. 

Of course he went for the cheetos first, but ended up eating almost everything on his plate!

 He only fell off the bench backwards once! 

But, didn't mind a bit. 

This kid LOVES the nice weather and spending more time outside!

Did I mention how much all of my kids LOVE peppers? Cruz included, but he has started getting very ticked if I cut them up...he wants them big like the other kids (same with his sandwich.)

Cheers to many more picnics this Spring/Summer! 

whobody is going to miss this?

So I have had these pictures in my blog folder for at least a month (maybe 2)....

THIS is how my house sometimes looks. 

These pictures were all taken on the same day.

THIS was a day that the house was a DISASTER.

(Shortly after this, we did a huge 'toy sort'.)

I took these pictures so I could look back at them when I was trying to think about 

birthday or Christmas presents....to deter myself from getting more toys.

I am a little (okay a lot) embarrassed to put these 'out there' like this....

but I am going to do it anyway. Because, I know that my house isn't the only one that doesn't stay magically picked up and clean.

I know lots of mom advice says all that stuff about "don't worry about cleaning all of the time....play with your kids....blah blah blah." 

(okay, none of them say blah blah blah....and I know, they are really right!  :) 

Well, guess what? I am a terribly GRUMPY Mom when my house looks like this!!!  IT DRIVES ME CRAZY.  One of my news years resolutions this year was to let my house be messier! (not worry about the mess so much and just enjoy life)....

but that is really hard for me. 

SO I took these pictures, because someday, 

not too far from now from what I am told,

I will MISS this. 

We will have an 'empty nest' and a clean and organized house....and I will miss the toys laying on the floor!  I am sure that I will...I just need to keep telling myself that.

Keep in mind: it truly doesn't normally look THIS bad.  This was a particularly messy week (I think I was sick or something).  It is usually just one room that has the toys out....and we get them picked up before we move to the next room.... 

So, fellow moms....when you are grumbling to yourself about picking up toys over and over, and threatening to get out the black garbage sack 

and "put them away for good"...tell yourself... 

Someday I'm going to miss this....

Someday I'm going to miss this....

Someday I'm going to miss this....

That is what I have been doing at least. :)  YIKES. Lets just say we need no more toys!

(and thank goodness my whole house doesn't always look like this. But, to be honest, THIS time of year, when Jason is not here at all *during waking hours* my house looks more like this than I like it too! Life just gets SO crazy sometimes!)

whobody loves boom pops?

You may or may not know this....but,

it is POPSICLE season.

(Well, it is at least when the temp is above 60)

Our normal summertime popsicle is a Mr. Freeze... but I decided to splurge on the night that the kids helped me plant Mother's Day flowers....and I bought Bomb Pops. 

Not just any Bomb Pops...but Hawaiian Punch Bomb Pops (or something like that.)

THIS was Cruz's first popsicle.

What in the world do you want me to do with this?????

Oh...eat it like the rest of the kids? SURE!

Lola is the popsicle lover in the family, with Nash coming in at a close second.  

Keaton doesn't really care for 'fruity' sweets...he would much prefer something 'chocolate'....

but suffered through the popsicle anyway.  

Too bad chocolate Jello pops are no longer around, 

BOTH Keaton and I would be so happy 

(and I would be about 25lbs heavier.)

The boys and their red lips!

By the end of this bomb pops experience, I learned 2 things.

#1   ONLY do this when we are taking a bath right way. 

Cruz was like walking piece of fly tape.

(I hope everyone thinks that is as funny as I do....'cause I am totally sitting here laughing out loud.)

He was SO sticky, and although there aren't many flies out yet, 

they were pretty much chasing him around.

#2   Mr. Freezes are MUCH less messy! So...I think we will stick to them....

And, the rest of the week, Nash kept on talking about the "BOOM POPS" and how great they are.

SO...now, we call them boom pops.