Weekend in LaCrosse

Last weekend the boys and i took the 6 hour drive down to LaCrosse to help my dad and uncle with a garage sale. It was a great drive with just the boys. And a busy but fun weekend. Uncle Jerry took the boys on there 1st motorcycle ride and they loved it! We also got to see my cousin's little girl Aubree Grace,who was born on New Year's Day, for the 1st time. She is so adorable.It looks like we are going to be heading back down there at the end of September for my Grandpa's 90Th birthday and I'm going to do a half marathon in LaCrosse the same weekend. I'm looking forward to it already!

The boys with Papa...


The boys with Great Grandma


And sweet Aubree Grace.... I just love her!

Wordless Wednesday

Katey's Recital....

Seriously, She was the cutest thing ever at her dance recital. Her dance was "Girls just want to have fun." And I can't wait to get the video and hopefully I'll be able to get it on here so can all see it.
Enjoy the pictures!!!

Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe that our little girl is done with kindergarten, she was so adorable. Here is a picture with her and Mrs. Cuneo, the best kindergarten teacher ever!

Mrs. Cuneo said something about each of the kids. She said that Katey was very kind and that everyone wanted to be her friend. Plus a few other things that I can't remember because I was too busy crying! She's going to e-mail me her exact comment so I can put it in Katey's scrapbook.

She was so proud...

Well, we were all very proud of her!

It's offical....

I have COMPLETELY lost my mind! Why you ask? Well, I'm sure by this point most of you that read my blog know what I'm talking about but just in case you've been in a hole the last 48 hours.... I'm doing the 3 Day walk for Breast Cancer. It's 60 miles in 3 days. Yup, 60 MILES!
I'm doing it with Kristine Feiro, a very close friend and Braden's God-Mother. She called me Sunday Morning by Sunday afternoon we were signed up and already e-mailing letters out and figuring out some fundraisers. We are going to be very busy the next few months trying to raise enough money but I'm really excited to see how this adventure turns out for us.

So, just in case you didn't get a letter...yet! Here's a preview...

Family and Friends,

I have taken on an incredible challenge. On August 21- August 23, I’ll will be walking 60 miles over the course of three days, camping out at night with thousands of other women and men taking this journey with me.

It’s for an event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day, which benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. Every advancement in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Komen for the Cure grant. They are working a future without breast cancer, and I plan on raising $2,300 to help bring us closer to that goal.

I formed a team called This One’s 4 The Girls with Kristine Feiro, a close friend of mine. We are both blessed and have not been directly affected with the disease. During the 3 days that we are both walking, we plan on wearing shirts in honor and in memory of those who have been. As part of our fundraising efforts, we have decided that any donations of $50 or more you may add a loved ones name to our shirts. Please email us with the name of your loved one or simply add it to your donation page online.

Without a cure, one in eight women in the U.S. will continue to be diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s why I’m walking in the 3-Day. Because everyone deserves a lifetime.

To donate, or for more information go to www.The3Day. org, click “Donate,” and search for my personal fundraising webpage. If you don’t want to donate online, you can download a form and mail it to the address on the form. Or you can call 800-966-3DAY to donate over the phone. I would like to reach my fundraising goal be July 31, so don’t delay!

Please consider making a donation and passing this along to all of your family and friends to help us reach our goal.

Thank you so much for helping my team!

Jaime

Any questions? Please contact me…

There it is our 1st attempt to raise some money. I'll keep you all posted, please keep us in your prayers, we are going to need it! :)

On another note, the kids only have 2 1/2 days of school left. Can you believe it? I sure can't. Katey will be graduating from Kindergarten On Thursday afternoon. She's very excited and even got a new dress for the big day. I promise to put picture on here that night for all of you out of towners.

2 1/2 days.... I better stock up on the wine! :)

Jaime

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day was GREAT!

Saturday I ran the Mother's Day 5k and I also did the 2 mile walk after the run. It was a lot of fun even thought the weather was less than perfect. I was going to do the run with a few friends who ended up not running so I ended up doing it with Braden's (I'm guessing) soon to be step-mom Jodee. Braden was very excited to hear that we ran together and actually finished together too. Once again not my best time but the run was a good one. I did the 2 mile walk with Kristin Regas (who is Braden's teacher this year) and we had a lot of fun I thought it might be hard for me to do the walk right after the run but it flew by with good conversation.

After I got home from the run/walk Chad surprised me and took me up to First Photo. A small camera store here in town. And told me to pick out the new lens I wanted for Mother's Day. I was so excited and got a ton of great tips from the guy that helped me. Chad was awesome and just took care of the 2 little kids while I talked about taking pictures for about a half hour. I was just a few days too late to sign up for the spring class that they have so I'm going to be taking a class this fall and I can't wait!

Sunday morning we cleaned out the vans and then we headed out to Brighton Beach so I could try out the new lens. And I LOVED it!!!

Family picture....


My favorite of the 4 kids....


They were quite the climbers....


especially Jack....


Seriously she is just so stinkin' cute!

Sad Saturday...

or at least for Jack it was. He was just having a rough day. We aren't really sure how but he got a good size scratch on his face. Jack told us Katey did it, Katey told us Kitty did it, we decided that "not me" did it. Who ever did it this is how Jack looked after it.....

Within minutes of taking care of the scratch on Jack's face he was outside a scratched up his leg which also needed a band-aid. Take note of the bruises on his legs this kid is accident prone!

Jack isn't one to cry much if he gets hurt really he just wants a band-aid to take care of it but let me tell you if he doesn't get to listen to the song HE want on the ipod the tears will flow!

Take note on the hands in the pockets...so cute even when he's screaming!

24 1/2 days....

That's all that's left in the school year! It's hard to believe that the year is coming to a close but I'm actually ready for it. I'm ready to have a little break from the schedule that comes with school. I'm looking forward to sleeping past 6am and not having to fight about the 8pm bedtime. (The kids just don't think it's fair that they have to go to bed when it's still light out.) I'm looking forward to lazy days at the beach and just enjoying the kids being kids.I know that by the end of July I'll be counting down the days until they go back to school but for now I'm happy to be counting down the day until they are done.

By the way we finally got some good new on the Chad issue...Chad's doctor changed his medicine and he has actually been feeling really good lately. Thank God! It was a long road and I"m hoping that journey is OVER now for good!!!

Here's a cute picture I took of the kids and the pups on our 1st walk on Munger this spring...well it's of the 3 older kids Jack was having a moment and wouldn't let me take his picture. Surprise,Surprise!

Date Night!

Tonight was date night at our house BUT it wasn't me and Chad going on the date. It was Chad and Katey. One night this week (I think it was Tuesday) Katey did not want to go to bed. Chad made a "deal" with her that if she went right to bed,on Friday they would have a special movie night just the 2 of them. This some how turned into them going out to dinner,then stopping to get candy and popcorn before heading home to watch the movie.

Needless to say Katey was over the moon excited. It was all she could talk about. So, tonight when the time finally came she had to get all dressed up for her daddy.


They went to Perkins for dinner and Chad couldn't believe how much she ate. She had her own chocolate shake and then chicken strips with fries. After dinner they stopped to pick up candy for the movie and Katey made sure that they got candy for all the kids "because that would be the fair thing." (in her words)

I loved that she had so much fun with something so simple. These are the things I think, or should I say I hope that she'll remember.

If you asked me a year ago....

I would have NEVER thought we would have Jake. So, the fact that we now have 2 is totally CRAZY!!!! The new pups name is Schmoo. He is actually Jake's brother. We got him from the same people that we got Jake from. They bought them together and realized that they just couldn't take care of either one of them. Jake seems very happy to have his brother around but he is still the boss of the house. But he is also in need of a haircut! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

It's been a week....

It really has...it's had a lot of ups and downs. It feels like more downs than ups but at least there were a couple ups! Let me re-cap the week for you all.

Mondays are always hard for me with Girl Scouts and dance it's just a long day but to cap it off Jack got a horrible cough. It was a very long night without much sleep. ( We are headed down!)

Tuesday, Katey ended up with the same horrible cough and Jack's cough was no consider croup. Not fun! Chad had an MRI Tuesday evening so I had a longer day than usual with the kids. I love staying at home with the kids BUT when 2 are home sick and dad is gone longer than normal I get pretty burnt out.(Down!)


Wednesday, Katey was feeling better but Jack's cough was still pretty bad. But it was nice out and I did manage to leave the house with him to go on a walk with Jodi and Ava. Leaving the house is always a good thing for me, I fell like a whole new person when I get out. I'm so glad that spring has finally decided to grace us with its presence.



Wednesday, was also the day I realized that one of the prongs on my wedding ring was broken. I'm so glad that I noticed it before the diamond was gone but it's still a bummer that we need to bring it in and get it fixed. Or maybe that's just a sign that it's time to upgrade my diamond! :) ( in all seriousness this is a down.)

Thursday, Jack is still not up to par but is sleeping a bit better because I have him in our room with the window cracked open, the fresh air does WONDERS for croup!

We also got the results of Chad's MRI. We have and answer to he issues FINALLY!!! We don't know a whole lot yet because his doctor is out of town and will be back in the office on Monday. What we do know is that all of the problems Chad has been having for the last 4+ months have been from a herniated disk in his back. THANK GOD we have an answer!!! And hopefully we will have even more answers on Monday.For us just having somewhat of an answer was a HUGE relief. ( Yippee an up!)

Friday, it was BEAUTIFUL out! MY friend Jodi and I took Jack and Ava to the Edge for tot time. It was fun but Jack still wasn't feeling good and had a pretty bad belly ache. We left just in time for him to have a huge accident outside of Jodi's van. Thank goodness I don't go anywhere without and extra pair of big boys. Needless to say this was not the last accident of the day. We ended up having to put pull-ups back on him for the sake of not having to clean up a huge mess regularly. ( Back down, again! Boo!)






Like I mentioned before it was so gorgeous out, 73 to be exact! I was outside on the deck and I got sun burnt! In April, Really! It was so nice the big kids came home from school and changed into shorts. I just wish it was like that all the time now. I'm SO ready for summer. :)( OK, the weather was a HUGE UP!!!)




I finally laced my running shoes up this year and ran in my 1st 5k this morning. I wasn't sure how it was going to go since I haven't really ran since last summer. It was pretty good, not my best by any means but it was good. I really gave me the jump start I needed to get my butt in gear. I'm pretty proud to say that last year I did 3 5K's, a 5 miler, and 2 1/2 marathons. (3 if you count what i did at Grandma's) I'm hoping to do at least the same number this year I may even try to add a couple more in this summer. I forgot how GREAT I feel after a good "race".

Well, theirs our week in review. Up's, down's, and the in between. I'm hoping and praying that next week we get some GOOD new about Chad's issues with his back. I'll keep you all posted!

Wordless Wednesday

Braden's 10th Birthday!

Yup, I said 10th. Can you believe it? I think I might be in denial. There is NO way that it's been 10 years... I really have a hard time believing it. I guess I shouldn't he wears almost the same size shoe as me and he is creeping closer and closer to being my height. What the heck happened to my little 6lb 11oz baby boy?

Here he is now....


He invited his teacher Mrs. Regas to his party...


The shirt says " How can I get better at video games when I'm at school 7 hours a day?" So, funny coming from his teacher. We love her!

Braden wanted money for his birthday...


So he could go buy a PSP...

And he did!


Braden is in the double digits now and just a few years away from being a teen. I can't believe it!

Wordless Wednesday

6 years old! Can you believe it???

This post is a few weeks over due but I wanted to make sure I got one of Katey's Birthday. Better late than never, right?



Katey had an arts and crafts themed party this year. We painted, played with play-doh, made homemade toothpaste and decorated their own cupcakes. I think over all everyone had a good time.

Katey was very excited that she got her American Girl doll.


I'm not really sure what happened to the past 6 years...it sure doesn't seem like it's been 6 years, I still remember so clearly holding my tiny little 4 pound baby girl in my arms for the very 1st time.... I guess I blinked.

I'm a big boy now!

I'm happy to report that we FINALLY got Jack potty trained. YIPPEE! This is the 1st time in 6 years that we aren't buying diapers. Again, YIPPEE! So, now that he's a "big boy" we also got him a "big boy" bed. We moved Katey into her own little room. And when I say little I mean little, she has what used to be our computer room. All we can fit in there is her bed and a small dresser but she loves it and it's very easy for her to keep clean. :) Once we moved her I painted Jack's room. What a difference! So, here are a few pictures of our "big boy" in his big boys (that's what he calls underwear) on his big boy bed.





I know that someday he might want to kill me because of this but he was so proud I had to share it!

My Guy and Me Dance

Katey and Chad went to their 1st Fater/Daughter dance on Saturday. It was a Girl Scout event and she was so excited. Of course we had to get a new dress for her and Dad wore a suit. She was so funny she told Chad that he looked like the president. I guess she's not use to seeing him in a tie.They both said it was fun, actually she said it was the best night EVER! I think it was right up there for Chad too.