The baby is here!!

My niece finally had her baby last night via c-section. Caden was born last night weighing in at a VERY healthy 10lbs. 50z. & 20.5 inches long. I've gotten a pic of him but it's through my phone but he is adorable. Thank goodness when I buy baby clothes I buy them a size bigger or so then needed. He won't fit into small sizes for very long. I always teased my sister for birthing the biggest baby that I've known. My niece was 9lbs 15.5 ozs. And now my niece has beaten my sister. Showing off to out do her mom...ha!!

Props to my niece!! Congrats Miss Megan...I love you very much!! You will be a FABULOUS mother!!

Whooohhhoooo!!

A baby is finally on it's way. My niece is at the hospital while we speak being induced!! Looks like I will FINALLY get to "meet" the baby...via the internet of course. But at least this pregnancy is almost over. My niece has had a rough last few weeks. Little stinker doesn't want to come out...at 41 weeks my niece is READY to deliver!

So everyone say a little pray for her this evening for a quick, natural, safe, and wonderful delivery! I'll post about my new niece or nephew is soon I here!

Presents under the tree and children DO NOT MIX!

So I've trying to be good and wrap a little bit each night just so I have a handle on what all I need, what is still missing etc. Well my great niece's present has no been re-wrapped twice and it's waiting to be wrapped again but b/c I'm sick of wrapping it it's gonna sit there until the weekend...lol

Grant jumped over the back of the couch onto my coffee table...Ok first off note that he shouldn't have been jumping over the back of the couch to begin with, secondly not directly on my coffee table. Making him step on the present and break the wrapping. Then he tears it a little more to make sure it's nothing for him.

Then Miss G helps herself to it the next night all b/c it's wrapped in Winnie the Pooh paper so she just assumes it's hers. The same night we wrapped gifts for their dad. Well tonight as I'm coming out of the laundry room Miss G is standing there looking at me all innocent. SHe mumbles something, grabs my hand and leads me to the living room. To show me......

THE PRESENT FOR HER DAD THAT SHE HAD UNWRAPPED!!! And then she picks it up and twirls around with it. What the heck! SO now that present has now been chucked into the closet until a later time.

Next year I'm wrapping empty boxes for under the tree. I HATE not having gifts under the tree.

Oh yeah and there still isn't a baby. I think that baby has decided it doesn't want Christmas gifts this year...hehe

An attempt at Christmas cards...

Here is a sneak peek at some of the shots I took for our Christmas cards. None of the shots taken here are even close to the one I used, so the real one is still a surprise. But I had to share these b/c they are just to darn funny. Gracie was a nut during these pics. My camera flash goes off two times taking the actual picture during the second flash. Well after the first one went off Gracie would scream "I wanna see, I wanna see" So that is way in every single picture she looks like a total goofball. She was so excited she couldn't stand it. :) Poor Grant was getting so mad b/c he was so sick of taking pictures. And he was doing excellent on his smiling so that frustrated him even more...ha!! Enjoy.






I loved this one in front of the fireplace, but after taking the picture I realized I never put there shoes on them, so we nixed that shot.

Hugs and squeezes for bubby. If only they loved each other that much all the time. ;)

Winter Weather Advisory.

YUCK! Today we had my husband's huge christmas with the entire side. WOW....talk about a madhouse. There are now 17 great grandchildren. All under the age of 11. EEK! Neeless to say when I got home I enjoyed the loudness of just my TWO children. :)

The trip home was interesting...even with our four wheel drive it scared me somewhat. No big drifts or anything, but just slick roads. It's been snowing all day and it's now starting to get super nasty. I'm thankfull we have no place to go tomorrow as I really dont' feel the need to venture out. :( I would have loved to done a little Christmas shopping as I really need to get the stuff for my family outwest in the mail but it'll wait til mid week now. Though they are saying it could get down with the wind chill to the NEGATIVES. What the heck...I'm not ready for this cold of weather yet. January or February maybe but not the first of december. Though I'd love a Christmas with LOTS of snow! :) Can I possibly have lots of snow and 80 degree weather?! Is that to much to ask?

So if you anywhere but the midwest enjoy your warmer weather. I took some pics over the last few days so I'll be downloading those tonight and I'll post a picture entry later.

Go grab a cup of hot chocolate and settle in by the fire. It's going to be a cold one tonight. bbrrrr!

OMGoodness....

Ok so first off...still no baby. Apparently it just wants us to sit and wait impatiently...and make it's mommy miserable. :( Another appt next week but hopefully it's here by then. My brother-in-law said my niece could wait and just have it on his birthday....yeah that's the 12th. My niece wasn't real thrilled with that I don't think....hehe

So I decided to night that I really need to sit down and get started on my wrapping....yeah....so I'm the type that shops year round. None of this starting in October...yeah I start Christmas shopping the day after Christmas. I see something I know someone would like by the next year I buy it. Plain and simple. I'm all about finding a $25.00 item for $5. and I'm not afraid to share my bargain prices either.

SO this might have been the year where I shopped a little TOO early and played the mother card and forgotten about ALOT of stuff. OOPS! i'm finding sacks that I forgot I even bought! So wish me luck as I try and sort out what I have and what I'm still needing!

A baby maybe....

So I'm a patient person to a point. But right now I'm being not so patient...hehe. My niece is expecting a baby and I'd really really like to "meet" it. Via the net of course since they don't live near. But still....the poor thing is now overdue and I know how miserable she is. I was overdue with Miss G. I never thought that kid was coming out!!

So tonight when I go to bed I'll say yet another prayer to her get that kid out. Did I mention we have no idea what it is. Which makes me crazy. Either way I have stuff to take back. lol When i see something I like b/c there is always that "what if it's not there when I come back to get it."

Well have a fantastic rest of the night. I'm home again tomorrow.

A peek in November, Part 1

Ok so I've got way to many photos to share for the month of November! Hmmmm maybe if I'd post more I wouldn't have to blog in "parts" eh?!

Look closely in this pic...Grant lost his 1st tooth! The tooth fairy left him $5.00. Daddy says the tooth fairy leaves wwaayyy to much money!

This pic is for my sister! She should recognize this hat! I wore it when I was the flower girl in her wedding. Wait...did that just show your age or mine?! hehe ....Gracie insisted on wearing it and fighting people with a light saber! She's one tough cookie I tell ya!!

This is Grant showing off his Turkey, as a school assignment each student had to hide a turkey. And well it was just a simple thought that we needed to make him "camo." Now I should really say Mommy made him camo. Grant did about a 1/4 of it while I did the other. I even added boots, a bright orange sockhat, and binoculars. I apparently have way to much time on my hands...HA!

Both of the pics above and below go with this....These were on November 3rd. Which would have been my mother's 68th birthday. We do a balloon release and send her balloons in heaven. Now my sister knows this story and maybe my brother but Grant released the one that looked "boyish",Gracie didn't want to let her balloon go so I went ahead and released the pink heart. THinking she would want the really cute cupcake shaped balloon. Well i was wrong. She cried out of control b/c I sent the pink one to heaven and she wanted that one. Long story short.....we still have the cupcake shaped balloon in out house. Had I taken it from her and not let her keep I'm pretty sure my mother would have told God to strike me with lightening. HA!!

So there is a peek into our November, well part 1.

A new thing...

So about mid-November I had decided that I was going to take the blogging world by storm and blog every single day in the month of December. Complete with pics and all. Today I realized it was already the 2nd of December. I missed a day already! My excuse...my daughter not feeling well. I was home sick with her yesterday and she is fighting what I think is a horrible sinus infection complete with gunky eyes and crackling cough. So I was a littl busy tending to her and kicking butt in the housecleaning dept. With only one kid around yesterday I got mucho cleaning done. Areas that I kept avoiding are now clean! :) yeah for me.

So ....tonight you will be blessed with yet another blog entry from me and maybe I'll throw in some pictures. Makes up for my day missed yesterday.

Til then....

Who loves giveaways?!

I found this today from my friend, Kim. She had this link posted on her blog so I thought "Tip Junkie" just sounded way to cute! Who doesn't love "tips." I need one right now on how I can get my house clean for company coming tomorrow in just one short night of cleaning. Did I mention my kids follow behind me and mess up what I just cleaned? Anywho. They are having a 12 days of Junkie giveaway. Today I think is the actual last day. So sorry! Trust me I wish I could have gotten in on this a little sooner myself. They have given away a TON of cute stuff! So check it out @ www.tipjunkie.blogspot.com

But go ahead and enter today! Follow the instructions for entry. Come on if I can follow it so can you! :)

Then once you've entered click on some of the links on Tip Junkie...fair warning...have some time to do so. You'll find yourself being pulled in and wanting to read more!!

Good Luck!

Click on the button above to go straight to Tip Junkie where there is a SLEW of shops to by hand made items this year!

A little past due....Halloween Pics!

So I'm a week late...so sorry. I've set down each night with a goal of typing a blog entry but then I get sidetracked. I had a big craft day with MOPS that I was in complete charge of so I was a little stressed this week. Did I mention is was a Spa Day "craft." So as I should have been relaxed and stress free over the whole thing I was the complete opposite. But now it's over and done with and now I have a chance to blog. So here it is.....

Halloween was GORGEOUS this year. Which I was thrilled with...since Grant's been a baby we've dealt with wearing our winter coats, wearing a rain coat, getting blown away from high winds, and whatever else weather can possibly do. But this year it was different. It was in the high 6o's,sunny, and no wind. We did our normal stops as usual. Course our trick-or-treating is a little different we travel to three different towns during our night. By the time I get home hauling to kids around I AM POOPED. We started at the in-laws, then we ran to my brother's house so we could see my great-niece in her costume, then to my dad's, then we stop at a family friends house, and then this year met up with The Cole's who we see ever year while we are out and about trick-or-treating. They are like family to me so it's always a must to see the boys! Then a few more friend's houses and Grant's bus driver's house and that is it.

Grant went as Batman and Gracie a kitty cat. But for those Batman fans like my nephew's I referred to her as "Catwoman." She is sassy enough to be Catwoman, trust me!

Here are a few pics from our night!

Batman & Catwoman ready to go!

Batman

Kitty Cat a.k.a Catwoman

Mommy and the kids before heading out!

Since we are in the middle of harvest Daddy couldn't come along but he did come up to the house to see his two little gobblins! Oh yeah and there is Chloe, she's a little needy for attention.

This is Grant and one of his closest friends, Clayton. We ran into them in town and I had to get a pictures of both the Batmans!

Here is Trae as the cereal killer, and Kameron the scarecrow with Grant and Gracie. Notice Gracie isn't any to thrilled to set on the bench with them. Little bit scared.

Cousin Bayli took this with her camera phone. I just LOVE this pic of Gracie. She was just so proud to be a kitty!!

Here is the gang at my brother and sister-in-law's house! Notice the little skunk! How cute is she?! That's my great-niece, Brinlei.

So that was our night. It was even an early night in. We were home by 8:30! I was so tired by the time I got the kids in bed that I went to bed shortly after. Way to much fun for mommy I guess! :) Until next year!

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to pop on here and wish everyone a Happy Halloween! I'll be starting the trick or treat drive at 5 this year. When you live in the country you drive to trick or treat no matter what. But with us we only go to a selected few places...and they all seem to be about 15 minutes a part! So we hit the road at 5 and don't get home until around 8.

Be safe!

An awesome blog-Check it out!

A good friend of mine has an amazing blog!We "met" almost 6 years ago when we were both expecting on a great online forum. We've been through alot and now 6 years and 3 more kids later we are still in touch. I almost had her living within 30 mintes of me when her husband almost took a job here but they decide to stay in the west. So now I visit her daily on her blog...ha! :)

http://prairie-mama.blogspot.com

Or she is in my drop down....Kim's Blog. Original huh?!

She is an awesome blogger and she has an adorable family. She sews, knits some AMAZING things, she cans, she bakes, she does it all. And she has an Etsy shop ladies. Not to mention right now she is doing a give-away! This time it's a give-away from another site which is also another friend of ours through the same forum we met. Shabby Miss Jenn.

So hop on over to Prairie-Mama. You won't be disappointed. :)

Have a great rest of the weekend. I'll be back to post some pics and update. :)

Go to the Bottom of my Blog....

Just a quick little plug for the button I posted at the bottom of my blog. Dierks Bentley's new song is available on ITUNES now so go check it out and purchase it. The new cd doesn't drop until February so you know you have to have this song before then.

Go visit www.dierks.com for more information on Dierks and his upcoming album.

Have a great weekend! I promise to post more pics and updates of whats been going on with us. We've been a tad busy with harvest season!

A Sad day for Grant.

Ok so I've been on quite a few fieldtrips with Grant os far this year and I volunteer every week at his school. If you asked Grant if he has a girlfriend he screams NO STOP IT. lol SO I'm guessing there is some crushing going on somewhere. He has Abby, but when kindergarten started there was yet another that comes out of the woodwork and practically falls over herself when she sees him. IT IS ADORABLE!

Well the sad part was we found out that the little girl is getting ready to go back and live with her Mom. SHe has been in a training school in the Navy so being a single Mom she couldn't be with her. So she has been staying with her Grandma. Well whenever the little girk sees me she comes a running. I love working with her. During the last two field trips she has even asked to sit with Grant and I on the bus. They tickle each other and giggle til they are blue in the face...lol Yesterday the little girl was pretending to be hiding from grant under jacket and leaning against me she got cozy enough to fall asleep! Bless her little heart.

SO tomorrow is this little girls last day. Grant start making all these pictures for her and told me it was her last day. He brought tears to my eyes when he said he was going to miss her so much. Now I'm thinking GGEESSSHHH ALREADY!! My kindergarten brought me to tears about a little friend of his moving. So i got on the phone and called her grandma with whom she lives with and was able to get her new address and promised that I would send some pictures to her soon! That cheered Grant up already and he already has a stack of plans to send to her. Pictures, stickers, you name it he wants to send it to her. He even said that when she comes back to see her grandma he wants to see her. I know in a few years they might not even keep in touch but for now they are both so excited to become "pen pals" I'm excited for Grant and he learns about this new adventure. Here is a picture of the two on one of our last fieldtrips. As you can tell she's a little smitten by him. :)

A beautiful day for a soccer game

Grant had yet another soccer game today. He really truly enjoys himself. We have our moments where he asks to be taken out because he's tired or he's hot but all in all he really does an awesome job. Here are a few pictures from our game yesterday. And of course one of Miss Monster face. I swear this seems to be her only pose as of late. How sweet eh?!

A Must Read.

So I've been updating my blog and trying to be better at updating. It's b/c of one person and her name is Stephanie Nielson. I came across a button directing me to her blog from another friend's blog. Her blog is AMAZING! Little did I know she was known across the country for her blog. Most recently though for a very sad reason. Her and her husband, Mr Nielson (as she often refers to him as), were in a private plane crash back in August and they are both in the hospital recovering from the burns. Mr. Nielson was burnt over 30% of his body while Stephanie was burnt on 80% of her body. They have an amazing family who are currently taking turns raising the Nielson's 4 children. Stephanie's sister has an amazing blog as well. She is keeping all of us updated with updates on them both. Which honestly completes my day. It's wierd how someone you've never met can make such an impact on your daily lives.

If you get a chance click on the link above for Stephanie's blog or on my side bar for both Stephanie's and her sister's blog. I suggest grabbing a cup of coffee or cocoa and snuggling in a blanket b/c seriously neither one of these blogs are the kind you can just read and bit and then come back later. You'll be glued to both of the blogs. I started from the very beginnings of Stephanie's and read the entire thing within a few days. I just could not help myself! You'll read these and then do what I do..each morning and night a go into both and check for updates on the Nielson's recovery.

Please your prayers and send your well wishes to the Nielson's whenever you get a chance. They truly are a magical couple. The connection these two have is just one of a kind.

The Sign of Fall

This time of year just really brings a smile to my face. I LOVE the sound of the dryer. Not the hair dryer, the clothes dryer, but the CORN dryer. When I get up out of bed and walk out to my kitchen I can hear the hum of the dryer and I know it's harvest season. Well this past week they started testing the fields to see what was ready to be harvested and they did there first set of end rows of corn and some beans. Last night was the first night of full blown harvest season. Hubby came home after work to announce he was going to be in the grain cart. Well that was all he needed to say. Grant wanted to go and b/c Gracie is completely obsessed in what her bg brother does she wanted to tag along as well. So I got the kids around and ran them down to the tractor where he was waiting for them in the field. This first shot is one of my favorites from harvest seasons. The smiles on their faces shows their excitement! Gracie still wasn't sure at this point if she should love the tractor or be afraid of it.

Getting settled in the tractor!

Waiting in the field for the combine to come around.

Here are the trucks waiting to be filled with beans!

Here comes the combine. Look at that dust..yep...that's the dust that will give my allergies a run for the money this harvest season. OH JOY! :)

And last but not least...this is the few from my side yard. The dryer sits nestled in between on the bins. Look at the clouds....we've got some fierce fall weather heading are way. Today the high is only 56! BBURRR!!! Oh as Miss Gracie says.... "bbbuurrr I cold"

It's Tough to be Two!

WOW! Bring 2 years old is completely tiring apparently....hehe This was Gracie a few weeks back during dinner. Bless her heart. She just wasn't acting right at the table and I knew she was sleepy but I never knew she was this sleepy! I walked out of the room came back in and this is how I found her!

Our boy started kindergarten! wwhhahhhhh!!! :(

I had to add the dramatic crying in there b/c it was a very emotional weekend for his mommy. Grant started kindergarten on Tuesday and boy oh boy was he ready! he's been ready since the day after pre-school stopped. He decided to ride the bus the first day instead of me taking him so here are some pics I took of him before his big day. We took a really cute pic of Grant and I that morning but because you can totally see the tears in my eyes so that pic won't be shown. A little bit of my sadness I'm sure is knowing that if my mom was still here she would have been over here bright and early taking pics of her boy starting school. I can remember many mornings where she would go to my brothers house to catch my niece and nephew getting on the bus. That's one of the little things I hate my kids will miss from my mom.



So far I've learned that in kindergarten you have 2 recess', play bingo, and the first day they broke a pinata and they were able to eat lunch in their room. LOL Makes me feel good I'm paying the school for all the fun stuff! :)

The only real problem we've had since Grant has started school is Gracie SCREAMING when he gets on the bus b/c she would like to go to school too and ride the "bbuuu" . Yesterday she was kicking and screaming to ride the bus. Yelling "Me Bu Me Bu" ...she can't say her "S' sound yet but by golly she was going to be heard she wanted to ride it...ha! How cute is that? I'll have to catch a picture to add to her baby book of her screaming while Grant gets on the bus. That will be a nice reminder when she gets older.








Typical Grant shot! Rolling his eyes!!
Watching for the bus.
Getting on the bus!

***If the pics are to small for you click on the pic and it'll show a bigger pic!
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A month in review...

So since I haven't written in so long I figured I'd squeeze all o July into one post. A few highlights from our July.....We got a new John Deere Gator which the kids fight over to ride in. Gracie is a nutto over it. Whenever she sees the garage door opening she completely flips and starts yelling, ME ME ME. We got a new lab pup. His name is Moss and will be going with Greg this fall when he duck hunts. He's a sweetie but right now in full puppy stage. Kinda crazy a times. We had a mellow 4th of July but of course had to beat ourselves to death with work over the weekend. Built a beautiful pond in our backyard and we LOVE. Greg and I went to see Jake Owen at the Warsaw county fair. He put on a good show. I actually got to meet him. And towards the end of July a friend of mine from high school, Charity, came to visit us with her two children, Preston & Caroline. All of the kids got along great and were Caroline was sooo excited to "meet" baby pigs and hold them. That girl had no fear. Other then that it was a normal July. Spent lots of time in the pool when we could. We spent alot of time working in our flower beds trying to make it more our home little by little. Here are some pics!

Me and Jake Own at the concert.
Meet Moss...our new duck dog
Our 4th of July project
Caroline so excited about the piggies! Isn't she cute! Her little brother Preston is in the background.
And Miss Gracie finally holding a piggy! We were down there a few days prior and she'd have nothing to do with holding them. This day was a completely different story!!

WOW!! I'm so sorry..Where does the time go?

So I've been promising for weeks now to get things updated on here. (yes Teresa-I still really late I know! :) ) but now I'm ready to update. My first blog will be about vacation. Now mind you it took place in June but b/c we really did absolutely nothing I can remember it quite well. We traveled to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week. And let me just tell you it was the best. SO relaxing!! We didn't really have a thing planned except play on the beach, play in the pool, and just plain hang out. We did manage to play a game of putt-putt golf which made us realize that Gracie is just pure evil at one of those places...HA!! She never wanted to golf she just wanted to torment the people around us and her brother. Not to mention she used her club as a weapon. Now don't get wrong she was also incredibly sweet at times too. But I think the rotten"ness" outbid the sweetness at times. The highlight of our trip was an emergency room trip for Greg. The first night we decided to hit one of the local spots for a dinner out. Well we picked this place called "The Beach House" of something like that. It had an outside eating area right on the main drag of Myrtle so we wanted to go there. The kids and I got the usual chicken fingers, I got a salad and Greg got his usual Mahi-Mahi. He also gets fish when we are out and bout like that. It was all great tasting food. We then headed back to the hotel. When we got back I started talking about possibly going down to the beach. But Greg laid down to try and catch a minute of the Cubs game. He then started feeling his chect b/c he said his heart was racing. The he said he was getting really hot. I first think the flu and oh great we are all gonna be trapped in a hotel room together with the flu. Well then his face gets beat red and he lifts his shirt and WOW! Covered in red blotches. I first said he was having an allergic reaction to something. He's not allergic to fish that he knew of but I made him call his mom anyways. Which of course made him mad b/c he swore he'd be ok. After talking to her we decide it's time to head off to the urgent care. Which honestly why do Urgent care places have either normal business hours or close early evening. The one we got to was already closed so we headed off to a mini hospital. Looked like one but they only took care of minor things.
After an hour of waiting in the waiting room with two little kids who didn't want to sit down and seeing all sorts of people come in with all different types of problems. (Now I see why health insurance is so expensive-people use it for every minor thing) Greg strolled through the door looking as normal as he can. He was diagnosed with Scromboid poisoning. It's a poisioning you can get from no other then MAHI-MAHI, along with a few other types of fish. It is when the meat isn't properly refridgerated and bacteria grows on it and then turns into something else. So after some high potent benadryl he was sent home. We spent the next few days doing nothing but relaxing. My cousin Kacy ended up being down there so we saw her for a day. Even got the chance to eat dinner with her.

On Thursday of that week we sadly packed up our things and headed to Columbia, SC to spend a few days with Greg's Uncle Bruce and Aunt LeeAnn. We stopped there on our way back from Florida a few years back and just had a blast hanging with them. This time they took us to the Zoo in Columbia and the kids had a blast.

SO here are some pics from our trip. I'd go back in a second. It was just way to beautiful. Maybe one day when I strike it rich I'll have a beach front home somewhere.







Gracie being sweet sitting at the beach. She never did quite understand the part on don't throw sand b/c it blows all over people.
Grant getting ready to be buried in the sand!
This is one of my favorites picsof me and my girl from vacation. She is just so excited in the pic!!
Me and m boy late one night at the beach. Once we got down there we realized how creepy it kinda was so we headed back...lol
Greg and I doing a self portrait on the beach!

a few other highlights from our trip was seeing a guy catch a shark FROM OUR BEACH. Now granted it was only about 3 feet long but still. And one of the last nights down there we walked down to the pier and there was fisherman catching sharks and Grant and Gracie both had a chance to hold and pet a baby shark. How cool is that?!!

Anyways...so there is our hightlights from vacation. I wanna go back. TOmorrow works for me but my bank account and husband says NO!