Tommy is Two!!!!

Tommy Boy turned two years old...about 12 days ago!  I'm not gonna lie...this working mom thing is no joke!  I am behind on house work, I was a no-show to Thomas' two year well-check (actually Gil was a no-show as the pick up broke down in a major way and I forgot to call...ooops!), I have a list a mile long on my days off not to mention other fun things like this blog that I feel may NEVER get done.  The big kids are off to school and that is going well...but I really do miss my big babysitters while they are away!  Without them Thomas has turned back into a getting-into-everything-monster!!!  It's like I have to watch him all the time or something 😜 (by the way as I type I am feeding him chips as 11:00 am before lunch because he wants them...he's the baby!)

Anyway, my baby finally turned two!  I have sort of been waiting for this day ever since he was born.  At that time Luke was two and a half and I was so close to being out of baby mode that I could taste it.  I knew these two years would fly by so I tried to soak up all the baby love that I could.  These years did fly by just like I knew they would, but I am really relishing in the fact that I can sleep all night (usually), he can walk, and even talk a little, and is getting much more independent.  Next stop: out of diapers!  I am already planning to set my diaper bag on fire and buy the most gorgeous and expensive purse I want when that day arrives!

Tommy's birthday landed on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.  For some reason Labor Day weekend finds me in the doldrums quite often.  I'm not sure why but that is a low point emotionally for me.  This birthday adds a little happiness to it!  Saturday was a cold rainy day so it was nice to just hang in the house and celebrate the birthday boy.  We had donuts for breakfast, opened his new tricycle, baked a cake, and just hung out and watched some U.S. Open tennis.  Sunday we went to church, packed up, and headed to Weigand.  We boated with grandma and grandpa Koester, the Picks and the Hendrixes.  Then we had a hamburger/hot dog supper and hung out with everyone at our campsite.  We decided to camp out as the sun came out and it was a nice day.  There was a little chance of rain but we got away with just a sprinkle on us!  Monday was another at home getting things done day.  And that was the weekend.

Thomas, I'm still not certain if we are going to stick with Thomas or Tommy two years later!  I go back and forth all the time, so you are both for now!  You are such a go-getter!  I always find myself saying, "wow, no kids has ever done that before!!!" (although admittedly I have realized you might get a little less supervision than the others did...!).  Your bright blue eyes and contagious smile greet me every morning.  And lately your vocabulary is BOOMING so it is so fun to hear what you have to say!  You still love your binky and something to rub your fingers on, preferably my hair or maybe Cora's!  You like to watch your songs, Little Baby Bum ("bum") in the mornings, jump on the tramping, get pushed in the swing, get into every single thing you can get your hands on (which is more and more...you can now open door knobs 😵), and keep up with all your big brothers and sister.  You really do love them and give them hugs in the morning when they go to school and again when they get home on the bus.  You are a great sleeper, a climber, and a jumper.  You are a joy and a delight and we are so thankful that you are part of our crazy cool imperfectly perfect family💕.

Grandma and Grandpa Ridenour came last weekend and brought you an exciting present

Birthday morning!

Happy Camper!

Cake!

You are not a cake fan, but really like the candle and singing part!

Pro

Little Rider

Boat ride

camping

more donuts...🙈

Cora turned 8...a month ago!

So it dawned on me today that I never blogged for Cora's birthday.  I'm only a month behind!  I guess that's what you get when you're born at the very beginning of summer break!  It has been a whirlwind around here.   Something (or two or three or more) fun things are going on every day.  Not to mention all the extra work that comes with summer (i.e. Gil is MIA with all of his farming activities, bottle calves, 200 broilers, mowing, 5 kids running around like maniacs and ALWAYS needing to eat,  plus baseball and/or T-ball nearly every single day...)

Anywhoo, back to Cora Clare who is now an astonishing 8 years old.  The weekend before her birthday we had a shared party with cousin Skyler.  She invited the girls from her class and since Gil was MIA (refer above) my mom brought the boys to help out too.  We skated and had cookie cake and had a unicorn theme, and even though there were some bumps in the road (that place is NOT well organized!) we had a great time!  Then on her actual birthday we had a cake she and I made together (chocolate with chocolate frosting with pink sprinkles...her request and brain child that she DID NOT EVEN EAT ONE SINGLE PIECE OF!) with Papa Lindy who was the only one who could make it that day!  But we had a fun day anyway.

For her birthday Gil and I got her a Chicken Farmer Barbie (how cool is that!?!), a throw back Precious Moments May Iris doll, the Little House on the Prairie first season DVDs, and a new outfit for her O.G. doll including a tiny guitar which she loves:)

Cora, you are an absolute delight.  It is both bitter and sweet to see you growing up.  You are my little girl and each year I see my little girl not being so little anymore.  I think that's why I love buying you clothes and putting your hair in pig tails...so you will want to choose your own clothes (you already do actually) and won't like anything I pick out!  You are such a happy-go-lucky girl.  You love life, you love to read, you love Barbies, you love organizing your room (or anything else!), you love accessorizing and creating and drawing and writing and playing and ALL THE THINGS!  Since I am so late in writing this, right as I type you are in Montana with Grandma and Grandpa Koester for Gretchen's wedding.  I hope you are having fun with your girl cousins and getting a little break from the brothers!  Grandma told me you are being an excellent travel companion as I knew you would be.  I am excited for all you have done in your 7th year and looking forward to the 8th.  This year you will start volleyball and basketball and 4-H.  You will learn cursive and have Mr. Blohm for 3rd grade.  And who knows what else!?!

We love you Cora Clare.  We are so happy you are ours:)

Mother's Day

Ruby, Sawyer, and Paisley were dedicated this day

Rollerama

Uni-girl

skating is hard work!

presents!

beautiful cake you didn't eat...

party time

Love you girlie!

Cora's First Communion

Cora Clare 

Cora had her first communion on April 28, 2019.  She was very very upset prior to this day about having to wear this dress (that Minette, Brittany, Megan, and Marissa all wore) and I wasn't sure how it would go.  But that day she decided to make the best of it (like Cora always does) and she was sweet as can be and oh so proud of herself!  We are proud of her too.  She worked through a workbook with Gil and I and learned all about the Eucharist (thanksgiving!).  We had it at Briar Cliff again like Jude's.  And after she had made chocolate chip cookies that she passed out to our family.  All grandparents came plus the Picks and Alissa and twins.  Thanks Baby Bryn for waiting a little while to be born so Grandma and Grandpa Ridenour could be there!

The kids...

the family

Body of Christ!

MY birthday!

So I was thinking recently that I always post about the kids' birthdays, but never about my own!  I turned 37 a few weeks ago and as I was thinking back on my past birthdays I couldn't remember much about any of them...sad face!  I actually really love birthdays because it is about celebrating a person's life just for the sake of their life!  Not for anything they accomplished or anything they can do or have done.  Just for being them.  So anyway, I am going to try to start recording my birthday and even Gil's birthday (even though he hates his birthday!) and maybe even other important days like Easter that I just did or Mother's Day coming up or most important:  OUR ANNIVERSARY!

So let's go!  Like I said, 37 this year.  I recently commented to some friends that we are almost 40 and I immediately took it back.  WE ARE NOT ALMOST 40!  But the thing is I have been looking forward to 40 ever since I realized that the older I get the more myself I am and the more I don't care so much what other people think.  And I am looking forward to living into that more and more.  Anyhoo, back to my birthday.  It was a crazy week and a crazy weekend.  My birthday fell on a Saturday and Gil had a Briar Cliff event that morning plus probably field work that night and then Cora's first communion (oooh another big event!) was the next day.  Also, my cousin Tori's MS walk was in Sioux City that morning too.  So we decided to do the Briar Cliff service project together and take Jude and Cora along too.  We had to get up extra early, but it was so worth it because we spent about two hours learning about hunger and packing meals for an organization called Mercy Meals.  It was a great thing to do as a family and so good for the kids to learn about hunger and living conditions in other parts of the world.  It ended up being a cold rainy and windy morning so the MS walk actually got cancelled.  Plus no field work...which meant a trip to Target!!!  I did have Gil and Jude and Cora with me, so that put a damper on it (my husband with me in a store makes me nervous!), but I did end up finding a cute pair of jeans plus a new shirt and cardigan.  Then we grabbed some Chick-fil-A on the way home and had the rest of the afternoon to relax at home together.  I think I made Gil watch an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisle with me that night.  I started it the night before when Gil was somewhere...???  Oh yes, the night before he had a mass at Briar Cliff for the president's inauguration and then he took Jude to see Avengers: End Game for his birthday present.  They had a blast.  Anyway I started watching this new show on my free month of Amazon Prime and it is awesome!  By the creator of Gilmore Girls, need I say more?!?!

So that was 37.  Not too shabby!

Oh, I have no pictures.  No one takes a picture of you opening your zero presents or eating your non-existent cake on your 37th birthday:(  However, Gil got me a beautiful plant for the planter, my mom and dad got me some spending cash for the trip to San Diego I just went on, and John and Carolyn got me a Target gift card.  Thanks all!  Oh, and we had root beer floats that night.  Yum!

Easter

For Easter this year we celebrated on Saturday night at my mom and dad's.  It was another gorgeous day and we were outside most of the time.  I made my first batch of Deviled Eggs and I am proud to say they were a success!  Easter morning we went to church in Laurel and then had a brunch at home.  That afternoon we dyed Easter eggs, watched Mary Poppins Returns, went on a bike ride, and a 4-wheeler ride as a family.  Then we had some BBQ chicken out on the deck and more outside time.  Such a nice weekend...until Monday was rainy and cold!  

Thomas just wants the candy!

Mikey found one!

Cora filled her bucket

Luke found something yummy!

getting some big brother help

Hail, Hail, the gang's all here!

New twinning outfits from grandma

new cups for the kitchen, and bubbles and candy

the kids, boy's new shirts from Grandma Lori

After church Mom's mandatory photo

I went to San Diego!!!

So I went to California (San Diego) for the first time ever for six days and six nights (April 10-16) with six (including myself) college friends.  I cannot even believe that actually happened.  Ashley (the doctor!) got us hooked up with a place to stay and some wheels to drive and got the ball rolling on the whole idea.  Valerie and Kelly and I flew out of Omaha together and met Ashley (from Tennessee), Amy (from Rapid City), and Anna (from New Ulm, MN) there.  We had a fabulous house situated between the Pacific and Mission Bay.  We went whale watching (saw some giant Fin whales), kayaking at La Jolla, sight-seeing at Mt. Soledad and the Sunset Cliffs, to Old Town, and to Coronado Island.  Most of all we enjoyed the ocean and each other's company. And the weather really is as amazing as you think it is!  What a blessing to have these friendships in my life all these years.

watching the sunset

well said

in Old Town

first morning

in Old Town

Mt. Soledad

Coronado Island "gold" sand!

first morning together

at the Pier

selfie time!

Jude...DOUBLE DIGETS!

My baby turned 10!  How can this be!?!  2009-2019...wow!  Well I got back from my San Diego trip on the 16th, so I tried to prepare a little ahead of time and got his presents all ordered and his sign for the door made.  The 18th fell on the Thursday before Easter so they had an early out from school.  We were able to drive to Wayne and pick up Eli Hansen for a sleepover that night.  The boys played nerf guns, trampoline, basketball, destroyed the piñata, ate pizza, watched Ralph Breaks the Internet, and played some Nintendo Switch.  Friday morning they went fishing for a while with not much luck.  That afternoon after dropping Eli off we stopped at the Concord park for a long time.  It was a beautiful day!!!  We have had a lot of those lately.  For his birthday we got him an Avengers Endgame Lego, Gil is going to take him to see that movie tonight, and a Mario shirt and a Cabbage Patch doll (he was the only one who didn't have one yet!).

Jude, you are all the things your birthday door sign says you are!  Most of all you are YOU and we thank God for you.  It has been so fun to see you grow and change and learn these past ten years...maybe not ALL fun, but definitely all JOY!  You are our experimental child (just like dad and I both were in our families), so sorry that we mess up and expect more than we should sometimes.  Thank you for being patient with us..."patience is a virtue!"  Some of my favorite things about you are your love of reading (dad and I have that too!), love for creating, love for humor, and general enthusiasm.  I love that you are a good communicator and have so many interests.  I love that you are playing basketball and baseball.  I like to watch you play and improve.  I am happy you are going to try camp for the first time this summer.  I love that you are doing 4-H.  And I love that you are 10!  I know I feel that these years go by too fast, but they have been good and we have done them, every one, every day, together.  Thankful and grateful and joyful.  

Love you so much biggest boy!

And sorry, not sorry for the overload of pictures.

Birthday morning

presents!

Mario Boys

All 5

birthday streamers

basketball time

cake time...that's a lot of candles!

putting 'em to work

retro Mario

You are good

And then you were 10...