A weekend with cousins!

 My birthday is always the week before Memorial Day which also happens to be the last cheap weekend at Trout Lodge before the prices all go up.  So this year we decided to celebrate with the kids cousins Gabe, Mike, Angeline, and Alex!
The kids had a perfect weekend with amazing weather!
We started the weekend off by kayaking in the lake!

Adriana and Andrew loved it!

 Joey wasn't so sure and stayed close to the shore before getting to scared and getting out.

 That night the camp did a fun night of skits....

 And somores!

Adriana and Angeline teeter tottering together!

 The next day we did more kayaking...

 and swimming!

 We also did some archery!

 and more swimming!

 And more archery!

 The best picture I could get of all 7 kids!

The kids had an amazing time!  We also played mini golf, rode bikes, and did some crafts!  It was the most perfect birthday weekend a girl could ask for!!!

Kindergarten Graduation!

 I can't believe how big my little boy is getting!  He has done incredibly well adjusting to kindergarten, especially considering when his dad died on his first day of school!  I know Chris would be so proud of it and it breaks my heart that he is not here with us to celebrate our little boy!
Anyway, don't want to make this a sad post.  Here is my big boy looking so handsome on his special day!

Here he is getting ready for his kindergarten presentation!  He isn't a boy who likes to be on stage in front of people so he tends to shy away!

 Andrew and his buddy's, AJ and Sam!

 Andrew and his student teacher, Mr. Vossenkemper!

 Andrew and his teacher Mrs. Gotsch!

 Andrew and MawMaw and PawPaw!

So sadly we move on to first grade!  I know he is very smart and will always do well in school!  I'm so proud of you, Andrew!!!!

Strawberry picking with Joey!

 We love fruit picking every year and I usually try to do it with all three kids but this year didn't work out for the strawberry picking since the older two were always in school.  So I decided to just bring Joey and he had an amazing time picking all to himself :)
Picking just the right strawberry.....

 Working hard finding the best strawberries!

 What an accomplishment!

Now time to play while mom pays for the strawberries :)

 

We had a great time and although I missed my older two a lot, I must admit it was much easier with just one with me!



Cardinals game!

For Mother's Day, we received a special gift from our financial advisor for Edward Jones!  She gave us 4 tickets to a Cardinals Game as well as passes to go down on the field to watch batting practice!
So we made a full day of it and headed downtown early to walk around a bit.

Then we headed down to batting practice.  Skip Schumaker came over to the kids and signed an autograph for them!  This made the kids so extremely excited to meet a Cardinals player!

 Some of the Cardinals players during batting practice!

 The kids and I getting ready to watch the game!

We had a great time and it made it easier to get through my first Mother's Day without Chris here with us!

Fishing with PawPaw!

 Today Paw Paw took the boys fishing.  The boys love fishing so much and don't get to do it as much as they used to with their daddy!  So PawPaw tries to make sure to do it with the boys as much as possible.!
Joey and the fish he caught!

Andrew and his fish!

Someday the boys will be able to do most of this on their own and hopefully have a love for it like their daddy did!

Borromeo school Field Day!

 Today the kids had their annual Borromeo Field Day and they couldn't have asked for a better day!  They start off the morning going to Mass then they all head to Blanchette Park together as a school.  The 8th graders put together a bunch of fun games for all the kids and the classes all have an assigned color to wear.  This year the third graders had to wear orange and the kindergarteners wore green.

Here is Adriana getting ready to play a game......always a smile on her face!!!

Adriana and a few of her good friends!  I wish they could always stay so close!

 Adriana playing tug of war!

 Adriana and her best friend, Clare!

 Andrew with Mrs. Gotsch and his kindergarten class!

 Andrew playing tug of war!

 Playing duck duck goose!

 Andrew doing a somersaut!

It was a great time as always which ended with a big barbque for all the kids!  I'm so blessed to be able to spend so many fun times with my kids!

My growing boys!

Today I had the boys 4 and 6 year old checkups.  I know a little late since their birthdays were in December but that was the soonest I could get in.  That's what I get for making their appointments in Nov.!
I brought Joey in first since I knew he would have to have shots.  He did great getting measured and his hearing and vision checked.  But when we got in the room and they told him to take his clothes off, he was not a happy camper.  But he did better when Dr. Dorfman came in.  And of course she has lots of sympathy for my kids as she allowed Joey to determine where he would sit for the checkup.  He did good the rest of the checkup.  Joey measured 44" tall and 44 lbs which is off the charts for height and weight.  She said he is a VERY tall boy (surprise, surprise) and we need to start watching his weight.  He is proportional now but if he continues on this curve he could be overweight when he gets older.  Then came the shots and Joey was NOT happy about it!  He screamed and kicked at the nurses and told them he was never coming back again!  He had to have 5 shots :( and it took him most of the day to get over it!  But he is fine now and I have my tall, healthy boy back!
Now it was onto Andrew's turn.  He did much better except when it came to his vision test.  He wants glasses so bad (not sure why) so he kept trying to fail the test.  Well I had warned the nurse of this so she was able to test him even though he was making it a little difficult.  By the way his hearing and vision is perfect!  Next was onto the room.  Unlike his brother, he was fine running around in his underwear.  He did great when the doctor checked him all out.  He measured 48" tall and 46" (only 2 lbs heavier than Joey).  Dr. D said he is off the charts for his height and is very tall and he is in the 75% for his weight.  She said he is doing great.  We talked a lot about how Andrew is doing since he is having the hardest time with Chris' death.  She suggested to give him some melatonin to help him sleep and it is all natural so no worries about it.  We also talked about Andrew's extra energy and we are just going to watch him for possible ADD.
I have very happy to report both boys are very healthy!  She told me when I was ready I should get them into their own beds.  She said the best way for me to do this is have them sleep in their own beds and for me to sleep on their floor for awhile until they get used to sleeping in their own beds.  I guess its a good thing they share their room as I would hate to go through this twice!  She also gave me a huge hug and told me I'm doing a great job with them, which is something I really needed to hear!  I love this doctor so much!

1st snow of the winter!

 We finally got our first snow fall of the season in late December.  Wasn't very much snow and didn't last but a couple of hours, but the kids still managed to have a great time playing in it.

Joey was the first one awake and out the door before breakfast!

 Then Andrew made it out excited to try out the new snow board we got!

 I think he did more falling than staying up but he sure had fun trying!

 My camera battery died before I got to take any pictures of Adriana playing out in the snow.  But I did get LOTS of pictures of our new little puppy Snickers playing in it!  She loved it and was so cute playing in it!

The kids had a great early morning playing in the snow and were bummed it was all melted by lunch time.  I promised them this wouldn't be the last snowfall (so let's pray that it snows again before spring, hehehe).

Christmas at MeMaw and PePaw's house!

 On Christmas day we went to Chris' parents house.  This was another very difficult time for me.  We ended up coming late and I was really not wanting to go at all.  But I knew that would not be fair to the kids or the rest of the family so once again I put on my big girl panties and dealt with it. 

Unfortunately I didn't get but two pictures while we were there.

Here is a picture of all the cousins.......all 8 of them ages 8 and under!

Here is Adriana showing Angeline and Mikey her new tablet!

 Since that was all the pictures I had taken there, I decided to add in a few pictures of Snickers.  They only stay this small and cute for a little while then they grow up big!  So here is our "little" baby girl!

 Even got her sticking her tongue out.......or maybe she was thinking of jumping up on the counter to grab those Christmas cookies!

 Snickers and one of her toys!

 And posing with her new hip sweater on!

Well we made it through the hardest holiday so far.  I know I didn't do as well as I should have for the kids, but I managed to get up, get out of bed, and at least help put some smiles on their faces!