She's turning wild!

It's spirit week at school again and I don't know if you remeber how wild Maci got last year- but this year she's going crazy! Last year was mix match day- she wore everything that matched but her socks, and she wore one pink and one purple one. It was as crazy as she's been! I was amazed when she came down today and asked for several pig tails for crazy hair day. I learned I LOVE crazy hair day- I didn't have to worry about combing it out, or washing it today! I now see why parents send their kids to school with their hair every where- it's so much easier!

Play Day

When Maci was little I would meet up with our cousin and my sister in law once a week to go play at the Great Mall. At that time you played in a bowl of cereal, climbed eggs, and slid down bacon. But I haven't been back for quite a while. Today I decided to take the boys to get out of the house for a little while and we found bridges, waterfalls and trees. They had a blast! We might have to make it a weekly trip!

Maddox and Lincoln climbing the bridge
Lincoln and Trenton exploring the lady bug

Lincoln was so concerned for all the other kids. If anyone cried he was there with a

sympothetic ear!

Maddox, Lincoln and Trenton playing tag. I think Maddox is safe here!

All tuckered out- what a fun day- but nap time just couldn't come soon enough!

Boys Toys

After watching Lincoln carry purses around, and Maddox playing dress up with Maci doing his make-up- I was thrilled to see the boys so excited about a robot! Lincoln and Maddox couldn't get enough of this robot. They've had him for years, but the batteries have been dead. Finally they convinced Eric into changing the batteries and they moved on from make-up, purses and dresses to the boys toys!!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Grandma Votaw turns ?? today! (Your welcome Grandma!) Today is also Grandma and Grandpa's Wedding anniversary. We wanted to celebrate her birthday and their anniversary this past weekend so we invited the family over for some snacks, pizza and family fun.

Linc is so excited waiting for the family to get here. He's ready to eat and wants a cookie!
Maci sprawled out and playing her nintendo DS waiting for the fun to start.

The family snacking and waiting for the pizza to show up. Grandma and Grandpa are in the back of the picture while 2 of their boys (and an arm of their 3rd) are enjoying the snacks and conversation!

Happy Birthday Grandma and Happy Anniversary you two!

Snack Time

For the last couple weeks when Lincoln decides it's snack time he will go sit by our pantry. He sits and looks at me with his little smile that says "I need a snack, and look at how sweet I am!" I will then give him his snack and he will sit and enjoy it, then he's off to play. However the other day when Eric tried to give him breakfast in his booster chair- he kept throwing his food on the floor. He would then point to the floor. Eric didn't know why he wanted to eat on the floor. I finally gave in and let Eric know that that is where I feed him! In this picture Maddox decided to sit with him during snack time!
The funny thing about Lincoln doing this is I remember Maddox and Maci doing it too when they were Lincoln's age. I also remember my sister in law mentioning my nephew did it to. She thought maybe his baby sitter made him do it. I'm hoping that our kids are normal and your kids have done this too at this age???

Should I feel bad?

I've been needing to get back into the workout routine again, but just keep dragging my feet. The other night I told Eric, OK- tomorrow I'm going to start my video's again. And I was determined. But the day came and I was just busy with stuff. Maci kept asking- can we work out yet? Can we? After the 300th time I decided to turn it on for them. This is what I saw when I came back in the room 5 minutes later...

They were loving it and Maci made 30 of the 45 minutes. Maddox and Camden made about 7 minutes. Maci came home the next day from school and asked to do it again- she turned it on and got started. I started feeling guilty that my 1st grader was loving it and I couldn't get myself to get going. I should be a better influence! That night as Maci was going to bed she asked why her legs hurt. She said she had a hard time walking up the steps onto the bus. I tried to explain to her that means she's getting stronger from working out. I'm determined I'm getting on the workout band wagon too! Swimsuit season will be here before I know it!

Sooo Scary!

It's always interesting when I have all 5 kids here during the day. Maci was out of school today so the 3 older kiddo's enjoyed the fun in Maci's room. They decided to do a fashion show so when Maddox came down in a dress, I complimented how well they did dressing him up and they were off to round 2. Little did I know that they were really working hard. Here is what came down the steps for the 2nd show!

Maci was so proud of her creation! The skirt and dress shoes weren't disturbing enough, but her wonderful artistry blew my mind! ha
All I could think was that I was glad that he didn't have school or church anytime soon. My first instinct was to explode- but then I saw the humor in it pretty quickly. I had to grab the camera and take a snap! I sure hope this is the LAST time I see my SON dressed this way!

Praise the Lord!!!

We are healed, we are well, we are NOT SICK ANYMORE!!!!! It has been a HORRIBLE week and poor Lincoln got the worst of it all. After 7 days of throwing up, he finally enjoyed this bath and it was over! I have never seen vomitting last so long, but we made it through! Thank goodness the Good Lord is on our side!

Reindeer Eggs????

When I was a little girl (all those years ago) we used to love to go to Oak Park Mall to enjoy the candy store- Mr. Bulky's! I loved their peach chewy candies and all their flavors of jelly bellies, but every now and then I would have to spend my money on the HUGE jawbreaker! It would take days to eat! Enjoying every color and watching my mouth change colors with each layer! So much fun. But little did I know that you didn't have to go to Mr. Bulky's to get them!!!!!
For Christmas Eric's parents pulled our the Reindeer eggs they found in the back yard. They just so happened to look and taste exactly like the jawbreakers we would buy! Who knew reindeer's laid eggs????

Missing in Action

I feel like it's been forever since I've been in the real world. We've been in our own little locked in world since last Friday. It's been a yucky week.

Friday night Linc decided he wanted to spend the evening with his mommy and daddy, so as soon as everyone was tucked into their warm little beds, he decided to wake up and keep our FULL attention for each half hour for the rest of the night. With an upset tummy and constant throwing up, I soon made a bed in his room to help him get thru the night. Saturday was a continuation of Friday night, just longer between episodes. After scrubbing the carpet twice (thanks Darrin for the carpet cleaner for Christmas) we thought maybe we had finished the awful nightmare. Bedtime rolled around and as Maddox was heading to bed he decided to run back to me (for what I thought was a last hug good night) but instead turned into a food toss all over my lap and our couch. Needless to say, Saturday night wasn't a fun night with both Maddox and Lincoln now sick. We made it, took all the cushions off the couch (luckily we learned you can wash these) and scrubbed the floors again. It was a late night but soon it was Sunday.

Linc was still getting sick quite often, but everyone else was feeling better. Eric and Maci and Maddox took off to Sunday night church and enjoyed the time out while mommy and Linc cuddled on the couch. Night time came and it was time for a good night sleep. All were in bed, and I had just turned in, when wouldn't you know it... Maci is now up and it's hit her. After a long night, and lots of tears, both from Maci and her exhausted mom... daddy took over and had the special touch. Maci fell back to sleep and slept good for a couple hours before morning. By this point Maddox is fine, Maci is having stomach problems, but not more up chucks, and Linc is still hanging in but still having the up chucks every time he eats or drinks anything. Then I get the call. Eric is now sick and coming home!

here's a pic of the kids enjoying the tv in their nice comfy make shift beds. Linc always has a smile,

even between "episodes" he would show us that sweet smile.

The week went on and everyone got better but poor Lincoln. It's now Thursday and he's still having his episodes. I did take him to the dr yesterday and found out it's a 7 day stomach bug. On our way into the dr, he decided to make my point as he threw up all over himself and the car as we pulled in. I have never seen the front desk crew react as they did when I walked in with a child covered in nastiness! After coming home and a nice nap, we decided to try a popsicle. Thank you grandma for the yummy treat!

Will we ever get thru this? I'm hoping the 7 days means we are almost at the end! It's been a LONG week and I'm looking forward to normalcy... but I do love the snuggles and hugs you get from a sick, lathargic baby!

Lincoln jumps in

I was getting Lincoln ready for bed last night and the older two were in the tub. Bath time was almost over and as the big kids were getting out of the tub, and I was getting Linc's cup for bed, I hear a huge burst of laughter come from upstairs. When I got there to see what was going on, this is what I saw. Lincoln had decided to take a bath too. It didn't matter he had his pajama's and fresh diaper on- he just jumped on in. He played and played, enjoying his tub time.

Brotherly Love

Linc has graduated to free roam in our house. It's been nice since all he wants to do is explore. We have everything child proofed and locked that we don't want him to get into. However, little did we know we needed to lock up his big brother! As the boys were playing downstairs you could hear the giggles and belly laughs. They were having so much fun. In the background was the lovely noise of the drum set (by the way have I thanked you lately mom and dad?) For a split moment I heard the absence of drums and relished in the silence only to be interupted by a scream... not a typical scream you hear at my house, but a definete painful scream! That's when Linc appeared with his lovely eye.
This picture doesn't do it justice (you see I don't have one of those lovely high zoom camera's, but if you see Eric you might remind him my birthday is coming up!) but it seems that Linc disturbed the musician. After finally getting it out of Maddox what happened we found out that Lincoln got in the way of his "trumpet" (what Maddox calls his drum set). Linc just so happened to walk right in the way of the drum stick. Mental note.... don't leave children unattended with drum sticks and toddlers!

Easy Bake

I remember the good old days... when cooking was so much fun. When baking was the best thing in the world to do. My daughter (and son) are now at the stage that they love to cook, bake, and create! Maci was spoiled for Christmas and got a cupcake maker and an Easy bake oven from her grandma's. We decided to pull it out and make a couple cakes!

Maci chose a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and Maddox chose a yellow cake with Chocolate Icing. We started by opening everything and getting started.
They loved mixing their tiny mixes in the tiny bowl.

and pouring it into the tiny cake pan, then put it in the tiny oven. But it was so much fun, and turned out so pretty...

and tasted sooooo goood! Next round is the sugar cookies. Who knew a light bulb could make such wonderful goodies!

And you ask... what was Lincoln doing while we were cooking????


Trying to help find some pans to cook in I guess?

Have I told you what a handful this child is?

New Years Day

The kids got some gift cards to the movies for Christmas from Camden and Trenton's grandma and grandpa. They couldn't wait a day longer to use them, so Eric decided to take them tothe show on New Years Day. Who knew a 3 and 6 year old could eat so much popcorn, pop, and candy.

New Years Eve

For New Years Eve we decided to have a low key celebration. We invited our families over for some snacks and to enjoy the KU bowl game.

The kids enjoyed all their Christmas toys and even some from last Christmas. They played with the train for a couple hours then moved onto the blocks.

The big boys enjoyed watching the KU game

Maci and Maddox begged and begged for some hot cocoa by the fire, so I abliged

Yes... I know... Maddox never has clothes on. It's one battle I've decided not to fight. As soon as we walk in the door the clothes disappear. I hear from others that their kids don't even wear briefs at home, so atleast we aren't fighting that battle-ha!

2008- a year in review!

What a WONDERFUL year 2008 brought us, can we hope for such a fantastic 2009?
We started off 2008 with Lincoln being a little.. Okay, very chubby 3 month old. He also was fighting bronchial pnemonia and having to experience some horrible shots each day. We made a trip to the dr. every week thru the month of January for one of our children. Everyone was sick and there seemed to be no hope in sight. Little did we know, as soon as the Super Bowl was over, the clean bill of health was served!!!
In February our little Maddox turned 3 and changed into such a big boy. We moved on from diapers, okay that was way back in late 2007 (ha), we got rid of sippy cups, and after numerous ear infections, and finally tubes, he was able to hear and started talking. Those around know that Maddox hasn’t stopped talking since he began. Everyone is his friend and he will tell you or them anything that you may not know. It could be from where he wants his birthday party this year, to what kind of underwear he’s wearing. Maddox loves to help his daddy and grandpa with any chores they may have, and will spend the whole day outdoors if allowed. He’s grown into quite an athletic, energetic little boy.
March allowed for an exciting month to be a KU fan! We enjoyed the month of basketball and entered into the NCAA Championship with hopeful hearts. Eric took a new role in his company and had to do a few days of traveling to Minneapolis and Philidelphia.
April took Eric to a company seminiar in Nashville and thanks to the help of our family with watching the kids, Eric, Ashli and Lincoln enjoyed a brief getaway. Linc’s first plane ride was a success, he was a perfect angel. Eric was bummed to be in Tennessee for the National Championships but we partied right along with everyone else as KU brought home the title.
April also brought Maci’s 6th birthday and it was a new adventure to have a school aged girl! She chose to have her ears pierced and amazed us all as she showed us what a tough cookie she is! Maci has turned into a very smart, sweet, responsible little angel. She has done very well in school, and has formed a shy side that her mommy just doesn’t understand ;) Maci loves to read, play games, and just sit and cuddle with her family. She is a super friend, an amazing big sister, and the dream child her daddy and mommy prayed for all those years ago!
May wrapped up Maci’s 1st year of school. She loved every minute of every day at school and developed some great friends she will have forever.
The summer started and our little fish emerged. We took full advantage of enjoying Mimi and Papa’s and Josh and Heather’s pools. We enjoyed family get togethers, cousins birthday parties, and lots of parades during the heat of the summer. Time went to fast and before we knew it, school was back in session.
August rolled around and Eric turned another year older, Maci started first grade, and the crazy life of another school year took charge.
September started with a huge 1st birthday party for Lincoln. Our little baby has turned into a toddler and as all babies do, learned a ton in the last year. He’s spoiled rotten and the apple of our eye! He’s the happiest baby and always has a smile. He talks as much as his brother and is quite the busy body. He’s into everything and has to figure everything out. He definetly keeps us on our toes! But the joy he brings to our family is beyond belief.
October allowed Eric and I to enjoy a getaway to Clearwater, Florida. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary ( a little early) and couldn’t of picked a more relaxing, wonderful place to go. We have never spent more than 1 night away from our children, so to be gone for an extended period of time was something we dreaded and looked forward to in only a way a parent understands. We enjoyed our time, but we couldn’t wait to get home to see our 3 amazing kids!
November brought another new position for Eric in his company and during a time when the economy is looking so bad, we have been very blessed by his wonderful company. He had set some big goals for the year in regards to his job, and he passed by them with flying colors. Maci also started basketball this month and was lucky to have her daddy and grandpa be her coach. It was a new experience for Eric to try to teach a bunch of 6 year olds the art of basketball, but he enjoyed every minute of it.
Maddox got to start basketball in December and loved every one of the practices. He wore his basketball shirt the majority of December and is just now starting to peal it off.
The rest of the year brought the holiday season and some wonderful times with friends and family. We have enjoyed keeping in touch with each and everyone of you. We look forward to an exciting 2009, and can’t wait to see what is in store for us.