You would have thought we went camping with all that rain!

If I am correct, I believe the last Father's Day I spent with my own Dad was in 1997. So...in my attempt to achieve the status of "Perfect Daughter" I decided to make the trek, with family in tow, to Minneapolis for the weekend.

The trip up went swimmingly! We left at 5:30 in the morning and the kids were great!




About an hour into the trip we had a little excitement. We were watching a movie and then, THUD! I looked at Josh, he looked at me and Dustin said, "Oh my God...we just hit a bird!" It belly flopped up our windshield.

In horror, Josh asked if we killed him. Dustin said, "I'm sure he's fine but he should have watched where he was going! Look at the streak mark he left on the windshield." At that point we laughed so hard we almost piddled in our pants!

About 95% of the time I'm in the van I have all three children with me. Any parent knows how that's like playing Russian Roulette except in this case instead of screaming bullets it's screaming children. Ironically...both versions can give quite the headache. So in my attempt to cleave to my Girl Scout heritage and always be prepared, I keep a bottle of bubbles in the van for a little game I call "Van Bubbles".

Basically, I turn the vents on high and let the van blow bubbles. The van gets filled with bubbles and the kids scream with delight. I'd be lying to say if the kids are the only ones who has gotten the giggles from this game. I've entertained many a bored driver at stop lights and, admittedly, myself a time or two.




Don't need much to keep us happy, huh?

Before we knew it we were up at Papa Adam and Papa Thomas'. In order to give the kids a chance to stretch their legs we played a heated game of Croquet while Ella cheered on.






Dad and Thomas had dinner plans so we took the opportunity to go to the Nickelodeon Park at the Mall of America. We had been there only 11 months ago but at that point in time Lauren was too small to ride any rides. Not so this time!!




Oh, how Lauren loved the "horsey" (a/k/a The Carousel). So much that each of the four times she rode it ended in Dustin peeling her little fingers off the pole and dragging her out the "Exit" kicking and screaming.


Oh, how Lauren despised the race car. This look is right before she started screaming and crying. It brought laughter out of several on-lookers which only seemed to fuel the fire that is our Lauren. God, I love this picture. I can only imagine what is actually going through her mind.


The kids had a blast...well, most of the time.

In this photo I'm probably giving Josh a hard time and asking him to just "look" like he's having fun. Poor kid was drug on every kiddie ride in the park and was dying to go on some "REAL" rides!


Ella made happy faces for the first hour...but by the second...she was bored.


My father had given Lauren a painted sign that says, "We can't all be a Princess...someone has to sit on the curb and clap as I go by." It became quite apparent how dead on the sign is on Saturday night. With the exception of the race car ride...Lauren waved to people on every ride as if she were riding in a parade.



Dustin was every bit the dedicated father and willingly rode each and every ride with the kids. Even as I mocked him from afar.


What a great dad!!!

After some dinner and some shopping we headed home for a late night mini-firework display in the backyard.






We were exhausted yet stayed up late enough to need Chinese delivery at 11:15 at night. It was a great day.

Sunday morning we headed to Bryant Lake Bowl. It is an old bowling alley that serves great food so it's pretty much heaven on earth for Josh.




After breakfast we got in a few frames! Well...the guys bowled, Lauren danced in the lane next to us and Ella waited patiently.







Unfortunately, after all that fun it was time to get packed and head for home. Little did we know...we were just getting started on another long adventure.

Basically, what normally takes an hour and a half to get to Albert Lea from Dad's house took THREE and a half! It was awful. We just sat there and watched the clock tick.

We stopped in Albert Lea and grabbed some dinner and some snacks for the rest of the ride home. We thought we were home free when we got a call right outside of Waverly. Yeah...there were tornadoes in the area. Then the rain started and the sky turned green.

The calm before the storm, if you will, and a beautiful rainbow as well.



Then the heavens opened up and the sky grew black. So we decided to pull off and take shelter at Gretchen and Adam's house. The kids were happy to torment their dog for 20 minutes and burn off some pent up energy.

Shortly thereafter we decided to get back on the rode and head for home. After a total of eight and a half hours in the car we arrived home safe and sound.

After we unloaded the car and put the kids in bed Dustin and I collapsed. Thankful to be home. Thankful for a great weekend.

I hope every Dad out there had a GREAT Father's Day!!!

Two years ago today...

was Dustin's first night at UPS.

Who would have thought it would take this long to get a full-time driver's spot? Not me - that's for sure.

Too much time has already been invested to call it quits now. Yet so much time has been lost with the family.

It's hard to keep your eye on the goal when there seems no end in sight.

Walking zombies

Dustin's pretty much a walking zombie Monday through Friday every week so my kids are used to seeing that glazed over look in a person's eyes. But this week both of their parents are in a semi-catatonic state.

Ella did not want to sleep again last night. She chose to scream and grab my hair instead. Nothing says "love" like an infant tense with anger, screaming at the top of his/her lungs and ripping your hair out.

Finally around 1:30 I realized that she would sleep in 20-30 minute increments if I left her in the bathroom with the shower running. So she spent most of the night in the bathroom with me running in to check on her which, of course, reminded me of my college days.

Thankfully she seems to be on the downhill slide of this illness. Her breathing is back to normal and her cough is breaking up. The cough is what kept her up, and angry, most of the night. And we've all been there before.

My eyes are burning and my muscles just ache. I'm praying to anything that is holy that Ella has a better night tonight.

Same place three months later

I guess Ella had plans to revisit her birthplace on her third month birthday. Yes, oh yes, my Ella wanted to go to Mercy hospital this morning. (Can you believe it's already been three months?!?!?)

Anyway...she's been stuffed up the last few days but started a nice cough last night. By 10:15 she was barking like a seal. I slept on her floor for awhile because her breathing was shallow and I couldn't stand to be further than two feet away from her. Every time she coughed I made a frown because it was so painful to listen to.

Finally at 1:30 I had listened to her wheeze and cough enough and couldn't stand the thought of eight more hours until the pediatrician's office opened.

So I quick called Uncle Joel to come to the rescue. He joked, after I returned from the hospital, that he wondered if calling him was like calling Uncle Buck. ;-) I assured him I had plenty of faith in him to watch my two sleeping children.

Ella and I headed off to the ER and she screamed the entire way. About 19th street she started sounding like she was going to passout between the crying and the difficulty breathing. That was enough to make me almost pass out myself!

Soon as we pull in the parking lot and head in she's all...



Go figure.

She spent the next two hours coughing and making "goo goo" eyes and giggling at every nurse and doctor that came in there. A few nurses came in just to see the cute baby.

**throws hands up in air**




I actually reassured the doctor that she really IS sick! He agreed with my "third-time mom" diagnosis of croup and left the room waving and saying, "Bye, Ella!! Bye, pumpkin!!"

There were a few moments she could have lived without - like the RSV test and the steroid shots. But all in all she made a long night pretty easy on her ol' mom. Of course, she'll sleep all day and be all rested for me tonight.

Oh well...45 minutes of sleep, a couple of cups of coffee and a few smiles is all I need to get through the day.

Rosey colored glasses? Or just pink eye?

Last week was crazy!!

Mom, Titi and I had decided to join Mom's block garage sale at the last minute so every night I worked on pricing Josh's old clothes. Now before I show you how many articles of clothing this child had....please remember this child was our first and he was/is very spoiled. That being said....




Those are only two of my tables with his clothes. I had another half table for 4T/5T stuff and I had already sold most of my 5T stuff to my daycare provider. Seriously. Shop much, Beth?

You wonder why my children are always impeccably dressed? It's because their mother shops for them....a lot. And their relatives shop for them...a lot.

My stuff sold like crazy and I was VERY happy to leave with a little over $220 bucks (including pre-sold items) and a lot less clothes. Most of what didn't sell were fall and winter items so we're hoping to have another one towards the end of summer to try and get rid of a few more things (including another box of clothes I found this weekend).

I have already decided that I should start marking clothes as Ella grows out of them because the girls' probably have about three to four times as many. Maybe I should invest in one of those pricing guns!!

I had planned on taking Thursday morning off from work since my daycare provider was taking a day off. So I decided to let my children sleep until they woke up on their own. My internal alarm clock did not allow me the pleasure of sleeping in but my kids didn't wake until 8:00!!

That means my Ella slept for 12 hours!! It was heaven. Quietness. Peacefullness. Divine silence.

Then Lauren woke up and "BAM" all hell broke loose.



PINK EYE!!!

Holy grossness!

I panicked - and not for the normal motherly reasons. I panicked because we were having professional photos taken on Saturday and the last thing I needed was to have three kids with pink eye!

I had some drops around the house from the last time one of the kids had it so I immediately started hosing her eyeballs down. We headed over to mom's to set up for the garage sale and each hour her eyes were getting worse and worse.

I quick called the pediatrician's office and got her in. It was such a bad case that she not only got put on drops, but she also was prescribed oral antibiotics!! Uh...let me tell you, when a DOCTOR feels bad for you child because of their illness it makes you feel like a bad mom. Even though the doctor said that it's normal to come on so quickly I bet she was REALLY thinking, "Geez, lady. Ever pay enough attention to your child to realize that she's got snot coming out of her eye socket?"

Thankfully, it cleared up quickly. And thankfully, no one else in the house got it. Maybe it was me constantly yelling, "LAUREN...DON'T TOUCH ELLA!", "JOSH...DON'T TOUCH LAUREN!", "WASH YOUR HANDS!", "GUYS...DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

Unfortunately, poor Lauren's tummy got all ripped up by the large the dosage of antibiotics. So the poor thing not only had pink eye but a raging case of diarrhea. What a combo?!?!?

Lauren had several baths this weekend. A few of the baths were to help get the crusty stuff out of her eye, a few were to get the crusty stuff out of her hair and a few were to keep her several knee scrapes clean. But thanks to the lovely diarrhea side affect of her medicine, one bath in particular ended in the Bricker House Special: "Poop Soup". Yummy. I know...I'll serve it for you the next time you're over.

Pictures went great for the kids on Saturday afternoon. I am counting down the hours until they will be available to view online. I love our new photographer! She's right here in Marion and I just can't speak highly enough about her. www.kenziphotography.com

We go every three months for Ella's pictures and next time we're planning on doing a nice family shot. It will be our second family photo since having any children. I'm hoping to make up for lost time.

Ella is getting bigger by the day. That girl just smiles and laughs with her entire body and it is the cutest thing to watch! I know every mother thinks her children are the most beautiful but I really do have THE MOST beautiful children!!! ;-) I love her red hair and her eyes are just so big and blue! And on top of it...she is just the best little baby!!



**kisses**

I don't know if it's because she's my last or what but I'm trying to enjoy these moments even more.

On the flip side, she does have reflux. So...typically I smell like rotten formula after holding for her for any extended period of time. The following photo is a pretty normal site around my house.



Gotta love that reflux! Hopefully she'll be growing out of it in a month or two!


A new feature - "WHAT IS ELLA THINKING?"

"Mom...do you think you could tell her to stop yelling my name?"



"Seriously...that girl is EXHAUSTING."




"Aren't I pretty?"

Not going to be doing THAT again...

I'll be honest with you. Grocery shopping at 5:00 on a Friday night with three kids is not my thing. Being stuck alone in a camper with three kids is not my thing. Attempting to keep three kids active and happy at a campground with bees swarming around us is not my thing. Doing something I hate when I have a million other things to be doing is not my thing.

If you combine all these "things" together it's like the perfect storm of bad evenings. That was last Friday.

By about 8:30 I was losing my mind - either from the chaos or the bug spray fumes I don't know which. So I texted Dustin and informed him that as soon as he got off work he was to come out to the campground and relieve me from my duties. Upon his arrival at 10:00 I packed up Ella and went home.

After a good night's sleep and a few relaxing hours of watching Law & Order I informed him I would be returning the campground to try and salvage our "Family Weekend".

We attempted to take Josh fishing. As we were getting his tackle box and fishing pole ready Dustin explained to him that fishing is sometimes a drawn out process. You just don't put a hook on a string, throw it out into the river/lake/body of water and pull it back out with a fish. He said he understood.

In fact his last words were, "Mom, if I start whining about not catching a fish just remind me that I understood." Sure.



This is the only picture I have of them fishing.

Between Lauren screaming and scaring away any fish within 200 yards and Josh whining about how long it was taking and how boring it was, Dustin could only take about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Ella and I went on a nice walk.



After a nap, a small grease fire and dinner we spent some nice time around the fire.





Then I packed Ella up and we went back home. Honestly...I don't know if it was the new campground, the weather (because you know it rained all weekend) or the stresses of having a million things to get done at home but I was miserable. I've been a trooper with all this camping business because the kids like it and because Dustin loves it. But enough was enough.

Then yesterday Josh told our daycare provider that we won't be camping on Friday nights anymore because it's just a disaster. Needless to say...Josh is right.

Monday was Josh's last official day of Kindergarten. And I am proud to say that I didn't cry as much on his last day of school as I had cried on his first.

First Day of School



Last Day of School



Seriously. How does that happen? I can't believe he's a first grader! I got the sweetest note from his teacher.

I feel so blessed to have had him this year. He truly is a delightful little guy!! You and your husband have done a wonderful job with him! Have a fun summer.
Sue

Between that and his great report card I couldn't be prouder. He has learned so much this year (i.e. how to read, how to tell time, mathematics, etc.) and I am absolutely thrilled with how much he enjoys learning.

On our way to daycare Monday morning he was kind of sullen and I asked him what was wrong. He said, "Mom...I don't feel good but I don't know what hurts." I asked him if his tummy hurt and he said, "Yeah. Kind of." I told him that it was a normal feeling. I told him that's how mommy feels when fun things come to an end; like school or a fun weekend. He got a little teary eyed and told me how much he was going to miss Mrs. Wilson and his friends.

Just warms your heart, doesn't it?

I am so blessed to be the mother of such a special little boy.

Signs you are a parent

As I was driving to work today I had something happen that made me say, "Yet another sign I'm a parent". During the rest of my commute I thought of a few more and I thought, heck...why not make this a new feature?

> You don't have time for breakfast so you find an old Fruit Roll-Up in your van and decide to count it as your one fruit serving for the day.

> Your purse contains more items for your children than for yourself.

> You know the limitless number of uses for the common baby wipe.

> You cut yourself and realize the only band-aids you have in the house are either Dora the Explorer or Backyardigans.

> You have a 300 count bag of baby wipes in your vehilce at all times.

> Having your child play with finger paint causes more anxiety than when they play with scissors.

> While running out the door you realize you have some baby puke on your shoulder and instead of running upstairs and changing your shirt you decide that it's not worth the effort and remember you've got baby wipes in the car that just might work.

> When you walk into the grocery store and realize the race car shopping cart is already being used and you are just as disappointed as the kids. ;-(

> When you'd give up anything (i.e. a promotion, large amounts of money, a clean house, a sleep filled night) for the happiness and health of your kids.

Rock n' Rollin'

Ella rolled over last night!!!

I am in the process of preparing for a serious garage sale next weekend and in the midst of all the sorting Ella was enjoying some tummy time next to me.

I had to leave her for a moment to go seperate my other two children from choking eachother (can you feel the love?) and came back to find her on her back with a stunned look on her face!

I looked at Josh and he screamed, "ELLA ROLLED OVER!!!!"

**sniff, sniff** Where did my little newborn go?

Approaching one year...

since the flood.

It's hard to believe it's almost been a year and yet some days it feels like it was just yesterday. Each day I wear the outfit I wore when we evacuated I think of it.

Well, as a remembrance, a gentleman from Cedar Rapids is going around town and using green tape to show the water level different locations.

This one is right outside our office.




It's still hard to imagine.

A night with me and the girls

Mom and Ti-ti were nice enough to take Josh out for popcorn and a movie. So while he enjoyed his movie and, I'm guessing, enough popcorn/candy/pop to kill a horse, I had a quiet evening with my girls!

Since Josh had a special night the girls and we decided ordering pizza sounded good. Well...let's be honest here...one girl can't say pizza and other girl is still drinking formula. But let me tell you...when the pizza arrived it sure got Lauren excited! So I say I made a good choice.

While we waited for the pizza I snapped a few shots of my beauties. Lauren found one of Ella's baby towels and calls it her "hat". She has been wearing it for three days now and I'm pretty sure this is how every little girl starts imagining her dream wedding. Either that or we've read Rapunzel one too many times.



Of course my little Ella giggled and smiled at her big sister. And then she just giggled and smiled at me.



I wish they'd stay this small forever!!

We took a walk after the pizza arrived and if it weren't for all these stupid gnats everywhere I would have gotten a picture of that too. But around here you don't dare stop walking or they attack!!

Another reason to hate the flood of 2008!

Whoop, whoop!!

Thanks, Joel for your help (and for talking me off the ledge).

Once I get over my panic attack I'm hoping to change the look of the blog a bit. I mean, come on...it's looked the same for almost three years now. It needs a little sprucing up!! Don't ya think?

Blog Problems

I'm having some issues with the blog right now. I did a "naughty" and messed with the perfection that is formally known as "The Bricker's Blog". Give me time and I will fix it and until then....enjoy half of the photos.