She's on wheels

I remembered how much fun I had on my Spree growing up, so when I saw this littler version, I knew Maci needed it. I begged Santa and he came thru.
She has been dying to get to ride it, but with the weather, and the fear of how well she would stay up, we've been putting it off. Luckily today was a beautiful day, and she had no problems. Off she went.

Do you think she can take this into town to the store for me when I need something?

Still a monkey

This boy can find more creative ways to watch tv! Keep in mind he was like this long enough for me to go get my camera and take the picture.

Oh How I Love Spring!

Wishing for a girl

Maci has been begging us to have her a baby sister for since we had Maddox. I guess she took matters into her own hands the other day when she decided to try to turn Lincoln into a little girl. Here he is with Maci's dress, and of course his favorite boots. He wore this all day, and threw a fit when we took it off to leave the house.

Puzzle Mania

Lincoln got some puzzles for Christmas, but we put a few away so he would have something "new" to play with later. The kids get so many gifts, we bring them out at different times so they can enjoy them all.

Anyway, he has loved his alphabet puzzle. He is so into the alphabet and counting right now. He loves to tell us the sounds of the letters and he counts everything. His little brain is taking everything in these days!

Letting go... again....

Oh it's hard to let go and let them dress themselves! Maddox has sported this look more then once already this spring!

Saddness

This is the hardest post to write- but it's a very important one too.

Yesterday we buried an amazing man! A man that I am so thankful was such a huge part in my life. Eric's grandpa went to Heaven this week. We will miss him dearly, but are so happy that he is home!

I had two amazing grandfathers. But I lost them years ago. I lost them before I realized how important grandfathers were in our lives. Thankfully I married Eric, who had 2 amazing grandfathers, who took me in as their own. We've been fortunate to live in the same town with both of them and have had a chance to get to know them so well. Our kids have 4 grandpa's and they have no idea how lucky they are to have their greats play such an important part of their life. We spend every holiday, big or small with all of them. We are blessed!

However, this past weekend, Grandpa Oelschlaeger was called home. 2 weeks ago Grandpa was as healthy as could be. He was always going and helping everyone with everything they could need. He was the go to guy. However, when he started having a little trouble breathing they took him the hospital. What originally was scary, turned better. But after discussing with the Dr. we found out that things weren't as good as we thought. 2 days later, he was gone.

We were so very lucky to get to spend time with him in the hospital. Grandpa was a jokester, and my spirits needed his teasing while we were there. We were fortunate to get it. He was alert and we got to spend our last evening talking.

The next evening we got to be there to say our final good-byes, and were able to understand the need for him to go home. As much as we hated to let him go, we knew his time had come.

Loss is never easy, and it will take a long time for the hurt to go away. But we know he's happy, and building our castles for when it's our time to come home.

We love you grandpa!

Pool Time

My sister in law called last week to see if we wanted to go enjoy the indoor pool with her- so we loaded up and took off. A great day trip for spring break!

Maci loved the water slide.
They loved the water- and could of stayed all day!

Maddox and Camden taking a little break

Group shot- can't swim until we take a group picture. I think Heather had the best deal- only Maverick! However I did survive with my 5!

March Madness....

Decisions, decisions... Maci did her first bracket this year. All on her own. She thought about it and worked at it for quite awhile. Her favorite part was watching Eric make his picks and comparing hers to his. Her prediction... Tennessee

What kind of Jayhawk fan is she????

Spring Break

What did you do on spring break?

watched a little cartoons

and popped some poppers. It's amazing how long a roll of poppers
will entertain kids- no matter the age!

Play Dates

We had our best buddies over for a playdate today! I think the boys are out numbering the girls.

Maci LOVED holding Violet!

Toys never get old

I found the boys sneaking into the back room the other day to play with their exersaucer- little did I know it would be such a hit- so I pulled it out and they played and played and played. Good toys never get old!

Letting Go!

Maci decided Saturday she wanted to make cupcakes with her cupcake maker. I hate the mess, but I decided, I would let her do it herself. Cut the strings... let her grow up... let her do it ALL BY HERSELF! So off she went...

You know what... she did just fine...

And the mess was very minimal...

And she cleaned it up all by herself...

The string is cut, and it was a great success, so now guess who will be making me my cupcakes!

And the best part... she even shared with her brothers without being asked to! (Maddox frosted his own! it left a little more of a mess!)

Spring is here!

I've been missing in action for awhile. It's been crazy around here. Between the flu bug, colds and the change to nice weather- we've been busy!

I've been going thru the kids clothes from past seasons, 8 years worth for Maci, to sell in the Kids Closet consignment sale. It's so hard to go thru and decide what you can part with. After deciding what we can live without, what we don't want to pass on, etc. I sorted thru, washed, tagged, and hung up over 400 items. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!
Eric has to go to Vegas in a few weeks for work, and he so kindly booked me a trip along with him. I can't wait to have a weekend with my hubby, but it is sad to leave the kiddlets behind. I hear Vegas isn't a kid friendly area, and with Eric and my gambling, drinking, parting addiction- it will probably be better not to drag them along!
I started reading a book recently. I don't read much, other then my gossip, celebrity magazines, but I couldn't put this book down. It was called "Murder in the family." I know... it sounds like a must read doesn't it! Anyway, it was amazing- it is about a child that murders his family, and his father being led by the Lord to save him. AMAZING! I highly recommend it!
What else has been going on around here:

I told you about us recarpeting... well with new carpet, you have to get new furniture! (Please don't tell Eric that's not a real law!) So we got a new table and chairs, some bar stools, and a new couch. However the couch just seems to be too big. So it's going back. Time to start looking for another new one!

Maci is my little ball room dancer, so I am signing her and Eric up for Daddy/Daughter Ballroom Dancing class! She is so excited. She is also going to do a little tumbling, and swim lessons also.

I also signed Maddox up for t-ball. It will be his first season, and he's so excited. He chose not to play soccer this spring, but t-ball will keep him busy I'm sure!

Linc is still to young for the fun stuff, but he keeps us going as always. As we were in Dillons getting groceries the other day I decided to get a salad at the salad bar. As I was at one end I noticed he was helping keep the store clean. He was putting all the lettuce people had dropped on the floor back into the lettuce bin! Such a clean little sole!

Eric has been busy the last couple weeks with school board meetings. It's been a lot of time with me and kiddos and it's fun to see how they act without him around. Maci has taken over his roll at reading the books at bedtime. It's fun to see them actually get along. There must be a child code that you can get along at night, but fight it out all day! Every night Maci and Maddox go to his room, cuddle in and read to each other. I love sitting ouside the door and listening to their sweet little voices talk about the day, and discuss the story!

While Eric has been gone I've spent the time trying to figure out our family vacation for this summer. He thinks one is enough, but since he has neglected us this last couple weeks, I'm thinking 2 is manditory! Colorado for sure, but hopefully a beach added to it too!

I do feel sorry for Eric though- if it's stress, or what, he's had hives covering him since last Friday. Not only does it look horrible, he is going insane with the itching. I gave him some kids allergy med (the only thing we had on hand) the other night and he was knocked out in an hour. It made me feel sorry for Maddox taking it if it knocks his daddy out like that!

Lincoln suprised me the other day when we were looking at flashcards with Maddox and he started giving me the sounds to every letter. He knows the sound every letter makes, and can count to 12. Although everytime he counts it seems to get higher. I love when kids just take in the world and we don't have to teach them- ha!

I guess that's it for now. We have our 11 year anniversary coming up in a few days, and time to start planning for Maci's 8th birthday. How does time go so fast!!!