Sledding!

Well, Josh had received a new sled for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Bricker and he had been waiting patiently for us to get some of the white stuff so he could use it. So, when we had finally gotten a few inches some friends of ours just happened to get a hold of us and ask about a sledding party at their place! It's actually our old daycare provider's family. They had moved out to a huge farm in Ely and their new yard has a HUGE hill! So we all planned a trip out there with another old daycare family for Sunday. And God must have wanted us to have a ton of fun because he sent more than six more inches of powdery snow on Friday for us to have fun with!










The three moms stayed out with the kids and had just as much fun as they did! I think we each went down the hill at least a dozen times and I don't think I have laughed that hard in quite a long time. One time Lauren and I were going to race, she went flying down the hill and by the time she reached the bottom she had flipped over and by the time I got down there she was face down in the snow. I went over and turned her over, thinking she was crying, and she was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe! I mean seriously....BEST. TIME. EVER!!!

Of course, Ella was too scared to go down the hill and even though I thought it was funny to take her down the waterslide at Christmas...I thought it may be too soon to make her go down the big hill. I need her to trust me again at some point! ;-) She stood at the top and was terrified the first few times we all went down but then as soon as she realized we were all okay she'd calm down again. That is...until we went down again. That child is going to be one nervous Nelly!




After a few hours outside the kids were ready for some hot chocolate!!






It was sooooooo nice to get together again with our friends again! The kids miss eachother so much and it was so sweet to see them play together so well. Even though the oldest is around nine and the youngest is only two, you would never know. Just made me smile the entire day to hear their giggles and play.



It truly was a GREAT day!

A growing family

Over the years our family has obviously grown. We've had to get a bigger house, bigger cars and bigger suitcases. We've held off long enough but we finally had to get one more thing that was bigger...



A bigger table.

Once we had Ella I knew the time would eventually come. And then when she moved out of her high chair dinner around a small circle table became quite the joke. Even though Dustin is gone for most of our meals we had just come to the point where we had outgrown it. It's sad to think of all the meals and laughs we've shared around our old table. We got that table when it was just the two of us. My children all learned the common table prayer at that table. And that table has seen many a craft. ;-) But now our new table has PLENTY of room! In fact, Josh can work on his homework and I can set the table at the same time. And as the children pointed out, they can each invite a friend over and still have enough for their plates AND pizza boxes. Funny the things they plan for!

Working on my resolutions

As stated in my previous post, I am working on carving out some time to spend with my children on an individual basis. This weekend was Lauren.

Sunday night we went shopping for new carseats for her. She is growing taller each day and it was officially time to move her to a booster seat. And while you can never put a price on your children's safety....CHA-CHING! My goodness. Anyway, she picked out the one she wanted and I guided her to the one that had the highest safety rating. In the end, I had her convinced she picked out the one I wanted. :-)

Then we just walked around Target looking for any good deals. She found a pair of $4 shoes that are A.Dor.Able and I got a new umbrella. Big spenders, we are. ;-)

Then Monday we did some more shopping. I went to the ultimate "girl" store, Ulta, to get some make-up remover and Bare Minerals items. She loved it in there. We tried on just about every perfume they had to offer and even a few lip glosses. Then we headed over to Gordman's and looked to see what they had to offer. After much browsing, nothing caught our eye. So we headed off to have our nails done. :-D

Boy, does she love that. And I can't complain too much either. Her and I sat, side by side, holding hands while we had our feet pampered. I mean, does it get any more perfect? This time she decided for green toes with flowers and purple fingers with butterflies. And mommy went with the oldie, but goodie, French manicure. Except this time I tried the new Shellac. I have to say...if it holds up as much as I think it's going to...I may be hooked.

After all that shopping and spa treatment...we needed a little treat.



But shhhhhh....we don't want the boys and Ella to find out. ;-)

Santa's gift

Sorry it's taken me so long to post pictures from the waterpark but truth be told...we were having too much fun and I really didn't take too many pictures. In fact, the only pictures I have are from my phone!

We honestly had such a great time. The kids all had a blast, well...two out of three (more on that later) and it was just awesome to spend some time with the kids without any distractions or time restraints.

We headed to Dubuque around two o'clock Christmas Day afternoon, checked in and immediately went down to the waterpark. We were thrilled to see that the park was pretty much all to ourselves. If I had to guess there was probably only another fifty people there and only half of them were in the water! It took Ella awhile to warm up to the environment and I still laugh at her spastic reaction each and every time the huge water bucket filled up and spilled out! She freaked! We all rode on the intertubes on the lazy river, we all played in the kiddie pool and we all went down a slide. Granted, Ella went screaming the entire way, but, nonetheless. ;-) I just HAD to take her down one. Josh and Lauren waited for us at the end and laughed because they could hear her scream the entire way down. Her little fingers were clawed into my thighs and I just couldn't help but chuckle. She still remembers the color of the slide and will tell you that she did NOT like it. Oh well.

We ended up eating pizza for our Christmas Day meal and the kids were pumped that we got to eat right in the waterpark. Oh, it's the little things in life, right?





The kids got along so well the entire time. It was just...well, perfect. I also had two realizations while we were there. My first was that I realize how much of my time is taken by Josh and Lauren and, in turn, taken away from Ella. Josh has homework every night, Lauren has...well, her issues, and Ella is well....the third child. (I'm pretty sure we can just print out this portion of the blog for her future therapy sessions.) I stayed with her in the kiddie pool while Dustin was taking his turn with the older two and I realized that I don't feel like I know her as well as the other two. Now I understand that is because she's just younger, that she doesn't have the daily demands of homework and/or activities and that she's just not as vocal as the other two about requiring my attention. Whatever the reason is...it kind of made me sad. So I enjoyed my time with her. And I know she enjoyed her time with me. I was reminded why it is so important to make time for one-on-one time with your children. And I have now made that one of my 2012 resolutions.




The other realization that I had was that I am now "that mom". "That mom" who is just a big kid playing with her kids. Who will go down a slide with her kids fifty times because it's just too much fun, run around a huge waterpark and wait for five minutes while the big bucket fills up with water just so she can get it dumped on her, carry a double intertube up a zillion stairs for the 20 second ride down through a dark tube and go to bed exhausted because she had as much fun as her kids. More importantly....WITH her kids. I would NEVER have been able to keep up with them 97 pounds ago. And so when we all collapsed into bed that night I had a little moment of happiness for myself. I like THIS mom a whole lot more than I liked the mom I was two years ago. And I think my kids agree.