Snow day

This has been one strange week for our household.  Sunday morning started with a phone call from my mom saying church was cancelled due to the ice.  When we ventured out for lunch things were melting and we had a nice Sunday lunch with my parents and then coffee time at my aunt's house.  Jeremy's parents came up for supper and we played some games.  At bed time Nile was running a slight temp.  The next morning I got ready for the day and came up to get the boys up.  Nile was running a temp again and sounded terrible, could hardly talk, barky cough.  I called to cancel babysitting and got Hayden off to the bus.  We took Nile to the doctor and his strep test was negative.  Back home again we went and continued our day.  I did get Nile and Aubrey both to take a good nap so that was a plus!  Nile seemed like he was feeling better but after his nap he sounded even worse than before so I decided to cancel babysitting for Tuesday also.  Hayden also started not feeling the greatest.  Tuesday we all stayed home and slept late.  We had pancakes for breakfast and hung out in our jammies all day.  Mid day the doctor's office called and said that the culture the hospital kept over night came back positive for strep so Nile would have to be on an antibiotic and stay home from school again.  He was so excited!  I had Jeremy run a few errands for me after work since he was going to be out for a dentist appt anyways.  By now I am having trouble keeping track of the days since we have done nothing that we would normally do in the week!  The dentist wants Jeremy to have his wisdom teeth taken out as well!  I suppose when it rains it pours!  We are refinancing our house tomorrow night and will have to front a good amount of money for that, it is not cost to us we just have to cover the interest on the mortgage and the new escrow account.  Of course we are leaving for Florida 3 weeks from today so I am really hoping we get the check back from the first mortgage before we leave but not holding my breath on that!  Now today we had a big snow storm and Jeremy had to take my car to work since his wouldn't get through the snow drifts in the driveway!  And all the kiddos are home again.  The boys don't seem to mind at all, they have been spending some quality time with their 3DSs and have been getting along well for the most part.  We did get bundled up this morning to go our in the snow for a little while.  I got the front walk shoveled and the kids played.  Aubrey wants to make a snowman so badly but we just haven't had good packing snow yet.  Here are a few pic from our adventure in the snow today.  And now Jeremy just came home, he got his work done and isn't feeling super well so he is done for the day.  Hopefully we can all get over this bug and be healthy for our trip!

Sick days

Yesterday Nile woke up with a barky cough and slight temp.  We took him to the doctor and he was negative for pneumoina and strep so we think it is just a virus.  Now Hayden and Aubrey have had low temps and some coughing too.  All three kiddos are playing 3DS or iPad in their jammies after a yummy breakfast of pancakes and sleeping late! 

Nile Edward is 6!

Well my middle man is officially 6 now!  He was 6 days late and took the whole day to make his arrival 6 years ago!  He is a child on his own schedule and knows what he wants when he wants it.  And he has been this way from day 1.  All the things I read about parenting a strong willed child say that the teen years should be better since they are less likely to give in to peer pressure and they know what they want out of life.  I am hoping and praying that is true - it is the only thing thing that gets Jeremy and I through some days!  I have been told he is my child so I guess I cant complain to much.  He does look the most like my side of the family out of the three of them - and he was our only "planned" child.  For his actually birthday we opened presents after school and then headed to Culver's for dinner, his choice.  Here are a few pictures of him opening presents on 1/23/13.

new TMNT jammies!

Sonic the hedgehog critter and blanket

Ice Age 4!

Nile's first friend bday party

Nile and his awesome TMNT cake

my three little ninja turtles!

Nile and his friends with the turtle balloons they made

time to blow out the candles!

Nile wont be 6 until tomorrow but we had his parties this past weekend.  Saturday morning he invited three friends to come over for his first birthday party with friends from school and church.  Wow were they wild!!  I am looking forward to the day when Aubrey has her parties and seeing the difference between the girls and boys!  As you can see he picked a TMNT, teenage mutant ninja turtle, theme.  It seems that my kids are always ahead of things when they pick a party theme.  When Hayden had an Angry Birds party a few years ago they had nothing at the stores and we had to make everything our selves.  Now we had the same thing with Nile.  TMNT is becoming very popular again but they just haven't caught up with the birthday supplies yet.  We made some "turtle ooze" for each friend to take home along with their goodies bag.  On Sunday we had lunch with my parents and Nile opened some presents and then that night Jeremy's parents came over for supper and some more presents.  Aunt and Uncle didn't make due to sickness and the snow.  We played lots of games and ate yummy Casey's pizza and more cake.  Tomorrow Nile will open presents from us and he has chosen Culver's for his birthday dinner.  After dinner the boys have church.  My how the years fly by!!

8th anniversary

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary. For those of you who don't know as much about our relationship history here is a quick recap. Jeremy and I got married at the Marion County Courthouse on January 21, 2005. We met one year, one month, and one day earlier on December 20, 2003. Hayden was born on October 3, 2004 and was 3 and a half months old when we got married. Our church here in Pella doesn't allow you to get married there if you live together. Jeremy moved in with me after Hayden was born and we didn't think it made sense for him to move back out for an unknown amount of time while we planned a wedding. My mother's solution was for us to get married earlier and then we could plan a wedding at our church for later. We did have a wedding on June 25, 2005. When we got married at the courthouse we didn't have any wedding rings or anything! It was a quick ceremony! My parents and Jeremy's parents were both there along with Hayden. Some may have thought that things wouldn't last but here we are 8 year later! I have to admit I had no idea what I was doing that day and really hadn't thought it through too much other than I wanted Hayden to have a family and we all loved each other. God has certainly blessed us beyond measure. Not to say that things are always easy but it is still worth everything to be together. We have recently started a great sermon series on marriage at church and I am looking forward to the things Pastor Chris has to show us still in the coming weeks. I was very lucky to have found a Christian man who loves me and our family and works very hard each day to provide for us.

hair

I have been wearing my hair curly almost everyday for about a year and a half now.  I have more recently done some research as to what is the best way to take care of curly hair and just hair in general.  I have learn some new things and been putting them into practice recently.  Yesterday I took my shower in the evening after the kids we put to bed.  I think decided to go ahead and blow dry it straight with a round brush.  Last time I took my shower at night and tried to style it curly and naturally dry it didnt look so hot the next day so I thought maybe this would be an option for the mornings I just cant pull myself out of bed early enough to shower and get the boys out the door on time.  I must say I think it turned out pretty well.  No one in my family has mentioned the difference but I suppose that is what you get with a bunch of boys and a 2 year old girl.  I guess if they didnt say anything it must not look terrible or I am sure one of the little boys would have said something!  Hope everyone is having a great week and staying warm here in Iowa!

Some pictures for our weekend away at the hotel with Jeremy's family

Cooking with Mommy

I found a new homemade granola bar on pintrest last week and Aubrey and I decided to make it one morning after taking the big boys to school. It was much quicker and easier than my previous recipie and the results were just as good. Aubrey got a cute little apron and chef hat for Christmas so she enjoys wearing those when she helps me in the kitchen.

100 days of school

Nile and I completed his 100 day school project tonight. He is super excited for the 100th day of school party in his kindergarten class, mostly because it falls on the day after his 6th birthday! The next two weeks will be busy around here with birthday parties, our 8th anniversary, an Iowa basketball game, etc. We enjoyed this weekend since we had nothing on the calendar and know that from here on out we will probably be pretty busy until we head out on our big trip to Disney World!

Aubrey's new bed

Aubrey is now potty trained so she got her new big girl bed Friday night. Bed time and naps have been a little more difficult but we will adjust. I know what you are thinking - she will be three in three months and she was still in a crib! Well to be honest she never tried to climb out or fell out and so we just kept her in there. She didnt mind and it was just easier with all of the other changes we had last year. She was so excited to get her bed so I am hoping soon she will sleep in it a little easier. I had to nap with her this afternoon, I know I know I was very disappointed about this too! But I am getting ready to start classes again so I need naptime to get studying and homework done.

Pictures to go along with homemade post

homemade laundry detergent chicken breasts marinating in homemade Italian dressing for grilling

Homemade

Yesterday Jeremy mentioned that it would be nice to take advantage of the nice weather we will be having Friday and grill.  We decided on chicken breast since we had some from a meal we didnt end up making this week.  I didnt have any Italian dressing at home and in an attempt to make due with what we have and make more things from scratch I found a pintrest recipe online.  Heres hoping it tastes great!  I am sure it will since it will have been marinating for over 24 hours!

This morning I needed to make some more homemade laundry detergent so I brought all of the ingredients up to the kitchen and get it done.  I had found a few new recipes on pinterest that took only a few more ingredients and made a much bigger batch.  I mixed everything up and if definitely makes a much bigger batch!!  Now I just need to work on the kids bathroom, not smelling so great in there with three little ones using the potty!  But we are officially out of diapers!  Aubrey has been doing great all day and during naps.  She just needs a pull up for bedtime.  It is so nice to not have to change diapers anymore!  I have been changing kiddos for over 8 years straight!!  Although it is somewhat bitter sweet and means that my babies are all growing up it is also wonderful to not have to drag a diaper bag everywhere and spend money on diapers and wipes.  Later today Aubrey will be getting her new big girl bed.  My parents will be bringing over a full size bed that matches the dresser they gave us for Aubrey when we moved here.  She is very excited about this.  We have ordered her a set of Minnie Mouse sheets and we already have one other set.  Hopefully for her birthday she will get the full bedding zebra set I have picked out from Target.

Along with the new year Jeremy and I are trying to be better stewards with our money and more diligent with saving and not "wasting" our hard earned money.  Pella Corp is starting a new thing where they auto withdrawal 3% from your paycheck before taxes to go into your retirement account.  You can opt out of the program but we are going to give it a try.  We are also working to not use credit cards if at all possible.  This is something hard for me.  We always pay off the full balance each month so I never thought of it as a problem.  The more I have thought about it though the more I have seen that maybe the purchases with make with are cards could be better serviced to delay the purchase until we have the cash or do without.  So far it is a great feeling to now that soon we will have little to not credit card bill each month and should be coming out ahead each month. 

I was hoping to add some pictures to this post but am having trouble getting it to come up with my pictures on my computer.  Oh well.  Hopefully next time!