Happy Halloween!!!

I hope you all had a great Halloween. It was total chaos around here while we were getting ready but the end result was totally worth it. The boys went to their 1st Halloween party so we just took the 2 little ones trick-or-treating with the Boyechko's. It's been our little Halloween tradition with them, this is our 3rd year and the kids always have so much fun together. Jack even said Trick-or- Treat this year and it was so cute. It's funny to think that this time last year he barely said anything and now he talks in complete sentences. They are growing up so fast!:( I have to go get the boys at 11pm so I figured I get a few pictures on here while I wait to go get them. Enjoy!


Our sweet little witch Katey...

Max as Darth Maul...thanks for the idea Pete!

A close up of his face painting that I was so proud of!

Our little bat Jack

who didn't want his picture taken...surprise,surprise!

Braden as a hockey player...again, thanks Pete for letting him borrow your stuff!

Katey and Caleb trick-or-treating

PUMPKINS!

We had a fun night carving pumpkins tonight and were glad to have Uncle Andy over to help with it.It was so funny watching the kids at first they didn't really want to stick their hands in the "guts" but by the time it was over they were all up to their elbows in goo. The kids picked out what they wanted on their pumpkins and Dad and Uncle Andy craved away. We painted our pumpkins last year and this was so fun even though the boys were a bit disappointed because we wouldn't let them carve their own. Maybe next year...maybe. ;) The pumpkins all turned out great and I think I might even try to cook the seeds this year even though I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm up for a little challenge and for those of you that don't know...I'm not much of a cook! :)
Enjoy the pictures I just put a few of them on here.The picture of Braden's pumpkin was my 2,000 picture on my new camera. Yes, that means I've taken 2,000 pictures since my birthday. So, for all of you that pitched in to get me my camera, I love it and have put it to very good use as you can see. :)





yes, Jack is licking the pumpkin...he said it was "yuck" and "disgusting"

Uncle Andy worked so hard on Jack's pumpkin...

Katey and Jack just wanted to make sure dad was doing everything right.

Braden's pumpkin...by Dad

Jack's pumpkin...by Uncle Andy

Max's pumpkin...by Dad

Katey's pumpkin...by Dad

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday was Chad's 35th Birthday. We didn't do a whole lot because Chad still isn't feeling all that well. We did have one of his favorite meals of spaghetti with garlic bread and then of course we had to have cake. The kids and I got Chad an Xbox 360 about a month ago for an early birthday present. I think I must be rubbing off on him after all these years, now he is asking for his presents before his birthday! It wasn't very eventful but it was what he wanted a nice dinner with the family.

After dinner we all went outside for a bit of fresh air. The boys play defence with dad and Katey and Jack played in the leaves and on the swing set. I'm loving the nice fall days we've been having. It's so nice to get us all outside before bed time to burn off some extra energy. We might be getting snow up here this weekend so I'm going to have to be on a mission to get the kids new coats and snow pants. Yuck! I'm not ready for snow yet. Here's a few pictures from last night.

I'm exhausted!

Alyssa and I had such a blast at the New KIds concert but let me tell you I'm paying for it today. I'm totally exhausted and we didn't even go out after the concert. We just went back to my mom's had something to eat and went to bed. Not super exciting but it was a great little get away. Here are a few pictures...
Me and Alyssa on our way to the concert

We met Jess and her friends before hand for a drink which we never had because it was so busy.
New Kids on the Block
During the concert...

After the kids got home from school today we all went outside for a little while to play in the leaves.
Jake was attacking the rake
Jumping in the leaves

And I'm off...

I am so excited for this little break today not to mention the fact that I'm going to the New Kids on the Block concert tonight...that just makes it even better!I'm just finishing up getting everything ready for Chad to get the kids off to school tomorrow. This will be the 1st time he has had to get Katey ready for school too so I'm trying to make it as easy as possible. I hung all of their uniforms on hangers with under ware and socks. Really he can't mess this up. :) I will definitely be posting pictures form my day away.So, now I'm off to have my mommy time...and no I'm not really feeling guilty. They will be just fine even if they have cereal for dinner and might con dad into letting them go to bed late I'm ok with that. This doesn't happen often so I'm just going to enjoy!

Monday Madness...

Today was unbelievably busy. I thought I was on top of it in the morning. I had it all nicely planned out. Get the stuff for girl scouts, get home in time for Johnathan to get here. Play with him for awhile and get him settled so Chad could take over for about 20 minutes until John picked him up. Then off to our 1st girl scout meeting. Did I mention I'm a leader...yes, I'm feeling a bit crazy!;) After girl scouts, run home feed Katey, then off to dance. rush home after dance so Chad can go to darts! No, I didn't stop moving once. Our day was pretty much like I planned we just had a few little bumps in the road. Having Johnathan was a bright spot in my crazy day. He is such a sweet baby and Jack doesn't really even seem to notice he's here. I get my baby fix without having another baby! :) I was really looking forward to girl scouts, we were planning on having 8 girls in our Daisy troop.... we had 16 show up. It was so crazy having 16 kindergarten and 1st graders but I think we'll have a fun year. And yes, Daisy's do sell cookies so be prepared come January. That's what the girl's are most excited about. So I'm exhausted to say the least and I haven't even started to get ready for tomorrow. It never ends....

Baby Johnathan on his 1st day at our house...


I totally forgot that I didn't add these pictures yet...My Grandma Stuhr came up on Sunday to deliver the cookies she made for the kids. It was so great to see her even if it was only for a few minutes. Jack wasn't wanting his picture taken so we had to bribe him with a cookie.



Here are the kids in their Halloween shirts from Grandma and Grandpa

You've got to be kidding me...

That was the 1st thing I thought this morning when I woke up to Chad telling me there was something wrong with his throat. Not that I wasn't concerned, I just couldn't believe that we really had that bad of luck. He could be having a reaction to one of the 4 medications that they put him on was my 1st thought, thankfully I have connections. I called Kristine, who is not only a great friend but a great pharmacist. After a few questions she didn't seem to think it was a reaction to the medication to her it sounded more like strep. Once again...you've got to be kidding me went through my mind. So, off to urgent care we went. Well, it wasn't step it's just a virus. But I'm not sure how much more of these little "surprises" I can take. Of course Chad feels the same way. I'm headed to the cities on Tuesday with Alyssa for her birthday present, we're going to the New Kids on the Block concert. I can't tell you how excited I am for this little break. This is what has been getting me through the last few days on very little sleep. Speaking of sleep I took a few cute pictures of Jake sleeping with the kids.

Jake and Jack napping on the couch


Jake sleeps with Katey every night....so cute!



As you can see Jake is settling in just fine around here. We are totally in love with him.I hope the next post has NOTHING to do with any health issuse unless that is, to tell you all were perfectly healthy! :)

What a day!

We have had another exciting day around here but this time the excitement isn't surrounding any of the kids. Today it was Chad.
To make a long story short, I spent my afternoon in the ER. "Why", you ask. Well, this is why...
That little white dot in the middle of the circle is a kidney stone. To me it seems crazy that something that small had Chad in soo much pain. I felt horrible and totally helpless but he is now pretty loaded up on pain killers and hopefully this whole thing will be a distant memory in 24-48 hours. I just need to say THANK YOU to my friends Jodi and Jessica who helped out with the kids while we were at the ER. I'm very lucky to have friends like you two. Kiss, Kiss girls!

We went for a walk yesterday on the Munger Trail here are a few pictures that I took.