WONDERfully ONE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HIESELT!

Our Little guy is ONE and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

FUN!

Hieselt is such a fun baby!

He is sweet and happy to roam and play most of the day.

He giggles and laughs

He loves our Cat

He loves the fish

He loves to walk

He loves to climb

He loves balls

He loves to shake his head

He loves to watch me dance and make an enormous fool of myself

which I will do anytime just to see him smile

He loves his big siblings

and Daddy is his favorite,

(daddy is thrilled to be a favorite and is doing his best to keep it that way)

We love you little guy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

MEAN!

Well it has happened again. Buster was running, slipped and fell, hit a basket, and began screaming! I new right away that he was hurt by the sound of his cry. I walked up to him and thought hmm at least there is no blood, that's good. Then I moved his hand from his eye and walla BLOOD, and a lot of BLOOD! I called my pediatrician who confirmed that they do not do stitches in the office, and I would need to go to the emergency room. Now that didn't really sound like an option considering. . . . .

1. The children's hospital is on the other side of the city

2. It's dead winter and we all know what would happen to my kids 2 weeks before Christmas going into a children's emergency room. YUCK!

3. It was only 7 a.m. no one had showered!

Then the nurse said as long as I could stop the bleeding I could wait until 3:00 when instacare opens and go there. We have a children's Instacare down the street. That sounded as ideal as you can get when needing stitches. I called Swifty to get a professional opinion (is waiting 8 hours alright?). Because Swifty happened to be working at a family practice clinic this month and had a few openings he told us to come over in and he would take care of the eye. This sounds even better. So we go visit dad! The kids are thrilled to see where he is working, and Buster is grateful to not have a stranger stitch him up. Swifty gets everything set-up and ready to go when in walks BILL! Bill is the nurse and pretty much runs the clinic. (In essence he is Switfty's boss this month). Keep in mind this is a FAMILY practice clinic NOT a pediatric office. So Bill asks if he can help Swifty says that would be great. Next thing we know Bill has got Buster strapped to the table and our sweet little boy is SCREAMING! Luckily Swifty was quick and it was over with quickly! Then they suggest that now that Buster is a patient they could give our kids an H1N1 Vaccination. We of course jump at the chance. Luckily Bill was there to hold down all 3 kids making them scream more than they normally would. There you have it. Most kids visit dads work and people talk to them and tell them how cute they are ours visit dad and get held down and the surprise of shots! MEAN!!!!

Candy Cane Day

KB had Candy Cane day at her preschool. Everybody was supposed to wear red and white, most interpreted this as red and white shirts and Levi's. KB went all out. She was so excited to wear her candy cane outfit. I truly love her little style. We are so LUCKY she is in our little family.

Thank Yous!!

Okay so I have been way behind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you number UNO!

I just wanted to say thanks to Grandpa Swenson for coming out and spending a whole week with us in September! It was AWESOME, not only did he keep me company while Swifty was being held hostage at the hospital, (okay it just seems like he is being held hostage), play games with me every night, babysit so we could have a date, take us target shooting, play with the kids, take the kids to McDonald's, and do little projects for me around the house. Like re-hang my bathroom mirror that has been waiting to be put back on the wall for much too long,, and fix my car. He also turned 60lbs of apples into applesauce for me. Thanks Grandpa, we had a blast!!!!The boys canning our applesauce, no wonder I enjoy canning.

(Sorry Grandpa, but most of my pictures surprisingly didn't turn out :)!)

Thank you number DOS:
Grandma Jo and Baca Steve came out over Halloween!!! It was so fun to spend a holiday with a grandma and grandpa! We went to the pumpkin patch, trick or treating, for the first time in a couple of my parents trips out it was warm while they were here and we were able play outside. It is so fun to have family in town to keep me company all day and play with my kids all day. It is so great to see my kids build memories with their grandparents.

check out the pumpkin next to KB. She drew that face on a piece of paper and then asked her dad to carve it. Buster was so proud of his pumpkin and ticked that I was ruining his moment of putting it on the front porch with a picture. Those silly kids! Thank you number tres:

Aunt Lennie also came over Halloween. We only got her for a day, but hey we will take family for however long they want to come. We are grateful that she was able to stop in on her way to a Halloween wedding!

Thank you all soooooooooooo much for coming. We loved having every one of you

HMM!

What do you do at 1:30 a.m when you find 2 boys that were sleeping up and playing in a crib? The 3 year olds response to me was that the moon isn't out the sun is!

STOP, GO U TUrN. . .

When I was a kid My mom and Grandma took me, my brother, sister and aunt (who is my sisters age) on a trip to San Francisco. In the course of the trip, we got lost A LOT! Naturally, being kids we kept asking are we there yet.. their response sit back and look at the scenery. We came up with song. . .

STOP - GO - U Turn - Look at the Scenery!

Well now, I am happy to say my kids have enjoyed a similar trip, luckily they are not old enough to hound me with a song for the rest of my life! Sorry MOM:)

A friend and I decided to head down to Cincinnati, with all six of our children, ages 5yrs - 9 months. We hit a few bumps, and detours along the way. When your engrossed in good conversation, laughter, DVD players dying like flies, and 6 kids it is easy to do. The question for this Tangent is. . .

HAS ANYONE SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THIS?

We were about 3 minutes from our Exit (it was the next one), We were in the fast lane and just about to get over, but the silly car behind us just wouldn't slow down. When Suddenly the Fast Lane turns into this little "Express Lane"! I can't tell you how many miles we went but it was a good 10 minutes before the "Express Lane" merged back in with all the other lanes on the freeway. Luckily when we got to IKEA the lady in the play area let Buster in even if he was a smidgen short, so we had 1 hour to shop with just two little Babes! After an hour of shopping and a few more detours we made it home! We had a BLAST!

Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE.....a little late
Swifty is now the BIG 31 poor guys been working so much his birthday was pretty low key and shoved in between illness, friends parties, and a trip to COSI (our AMAZING Science Museum)

I will keep this brief, can I do that, I guess we will see! Some things I love about Swifty...

* He not only allows the kids to explore things on their own but helps them to broaden their horizons and learn to do new things

*He is really funny

*His easygoingness (is that a word?) and even temperateness

*Did I say he makes me laugh

*He brings FUN home with him, the house is always more fun with Daddy home

*He loves to learn

*I love his hobbies

Love ya babe!

WHY!

Today I've been pondering why AAAALOT! Such as

Why is an animal ( I assume a squirrel) storing nuts in between my house and porch railing. Aren't they supposed to bury them

Why do I clean the enormous spider web off my front porch a couple times a day just for the spider to re-spin it. Shouldn't it get sick of making a new home every day and decide to find a new neighborhood to dwell in

Why do I LOVE making lists the outcome is always the same. I can make a million to do lists, be busy all day long with legitimate stuff, and finish the day with a gazillion lost lists and not one goal crossed off any of them

Why does food always taste better when somebody else makes it

Why do I despise going to bed, even when I know I will be tired the next day

Why is it soooooooooo easy to forget everything that needs to be done and spend the afternoon outside with my kids (maybe there is a clue here for my previous list making question)

Goodnight

Perfect

What a perfect day...

Prophets
fAmily
FrIends
FoOd
CaNDy
CraYons
PEACE

Incredibly 3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUSTER!! Since Christmas is all we have heard is "it my birthday? I'm having a Diego Birthday". I can not believe our guy is 3 it seems like he was just the same age Hieselt is. Some things I Love about Buster...

He has the most contagious smile I've ever seen

He is an enormous Tease, and although it can cause some serious problems, it is usually pretty funny.

He is always saying crazy things

He has nicknamed Heiselt "BUTLER"

He nicknames everyone

He LOVES to snuggle

He LOVES to Snuggle and Read Books

He LOVES his Rar Rar

He is sensitive to others needs

He is a Fabulous big brother

He adores his big sister and will do anything for her

He can be a fantastic peace maker

He is Smart

He locks the door for me (Grandpa I'm wondering if you gave him a talking to)

He is Funny
He can get so excited over the littlest things I love his zest for life

He has an amazing imagination

He is sneaky

He is a monkey

He Loves to give me hugs and kisses and always tells me he loves me

He Loves to through rocks into the river

I love that he okays everything with me or his sister

He thinks his dad knows everything

He walks in crazy ways when he gets really excited

Once again I could go on all night but I will post a few pictures and be done.

Apple Picking

We Love Apple Picking! We got to go as a family this year! We picked 3 different kinds of apples. Some to eat and some to make Apple Sauce. Considering Buster only likes apple sauce he marched around the house chanting apple sauce apple sauce we make apple sauce.
Look at this boy above. He gnawed that apple all day and now, Hieslt screams if he sees and apple and doesn't get a taste of it


This guy finally managed a taste of a real apple! WooHoo! He didn't eat much more but a taste is progress! Last year he cried and hung on to his bagel, but this year he had his own bag and filled it to the brim. I think he'd do anything to get some of this.....

Here is KB in a tree of course. The first set of apples we picked had little baby trees and climbing them was not an option. I would say these trees were border line but KB and Buster managed to find a few branches big enough for them.

Treasure?

One mans weed another moms treasure?! :)

KB even made sure she got some grass in it so the flowers look prettier!

JOY

two kids

"camping" on a blanket

on the floor of their room

laughing loudly

at crazy noises

should be sleeping

no where near sleeping

hopefully the laughter

continues tomorrow

JOY!

Apple picking

Buster actually tried one, he didn't like it but he tried it!

Apple Picking has become a tradition for us every September. I don't mean just any apple picking we wait for these AMAZING apples called Sun Crisp to be ready and then we pick enough to last us through January! Plus other apples to make Apple Sauce with.

Whats diiferent?

Hieselt in July

Hieselt Today!

Our Sweet little baby had his first haircut!

Sure do love this boy and all the others with that same Dad look!

Sure do love that Dad can do the dad look!

First Day

Today was KB's First day of Preschool! She had a lot of fun, I was worried that the fact that her class has 10 kids in it 8 of them being boys would bother her. At the end of the day she told me that she had a hard sticking together with the other girl in her class because sometimes she just wanted to play with the boys.

Here is KB Saying "Mom you already took a picture"

KB buckling her backpack up so it will be safe on the way to school

9 Years!

Considering I'm always late. . . we are now about a week past the nine years and into the "and counting" part. Luv ya BABE!

By the looks of it we really need to take more pictures together!

Look at me!

overheard

KB: Thats not heavenly Fathers Plan

Buster: But I will

KB: You need to find somebody who is nice to you than you can marry them

Buster: You are nice to me so I WILL marry you!

Fabulous Five

Happy Birthday KB! I can't believe KB has been a part of our family for 5 years! It AMAZES me that the sweet little four lb baby we had five years ago is this wild five year old running through my home. She is so fun here are some things I love about our Birthday Girl

She is a girl that knows what she wants/likes and goes for it

She is confident
She is kind
She is great at talking people into things (I sure wish I had that skill, I would use it on her :))
She is a GREAT big Sister
She is thoughtful of others
She is inquisitive
She is quite silly and yet quite stoic all at the same time
She loves to be outside
She is quite dramatic
She is honest
She usually has a dirty face, it used to drive me crazy but I have come to love it
She enjoys taking in all of one thing before moving on to the next. She really knows how to enjoy something! ( We have learned taking walks/going to the zoo with other children not really on KB's pace)

She loves to be sneaky

She is quite the monkey and getting more so everyday

She loves books

I could go on all night. We sure do love you KB, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

about 3 days old

about 1 years old

about 2 years oldabout 3 years oldabout 4 years old

TODAY!

Multi Tasking

Buster has been potty training and the other day in the middle of chaos I walked past the bathroom to see this. . .

Killin' time

What do you do on a Sunday (when you can't really go anywhere) and the husband hasn't slept for over 30 hours and really needs a little shut eye?

Have a picnic after Church!

So the picnic started out GREAT! Then we went to feed the ducks.

There is a reason you do not were church clothes to a yucky sandy man made lake that people fish in ducks and dogs swim play and of course poop in.

nothing like getting a great twirl in on a poopy sandy beach! KB loves to dance

Luckily the kiddos weren't as grossed out as I was and just had a great time!

In the end it was great, just a little disgusting at times.

Sorry for the poor picture quality I've been playing around with the manual functions on my camera and well I can't really figure out what I changed and what needs to be changed so the pictures aren't so grainy with wierd coloring :) any suggestions?