Tired but Happy Mama :)

post Chili's luncheon...and post diaper blow out :) Yes, Shelby is being a ham (a normal way of life for her!) :)
My and my girls (a self-portrait of us taken by me :))
Hmmm...and I used to wonder where they girls got their crazy looks from (now I know!) :) This picture cracks me up!
My and my sweet girls...having two daughters is such a great blessing!
...and having a son is equally as amazing...especially one who LOVES his mama as much as HE does! :)Me and my oldest gal :) And, no we didn't color coordinate...it just worked out this way (actually all of us matched well...weird)
a rare occasion of Shelby hugging me :) And then below is Nina Stegs and her grandkids (even she color coordinated...way to go, Nina! :))

Well, another Mother's Day has come and gone and I feel more tired than rested. I had high hopes of maybe relaxing a bit and puting my feet up yesterday and maybe even getting a brief nap in (gasp!)...well, I guess that was too much of a reach cuz I'm more exhausted than I was going into the weekend and the only nap I got was about a 10 minute one in the van (which was cut short by Kev's crazy driving...j/k, babe...love you! :)). Anyway...I'm not complaining. I did my most favorite thing in all the world on Mother's Day...spend it with my family...my dear husband and my kiddos...and I got the treat of spending part of it with my wonderful in-laws and brother-in-law. It wasn't too shabby of a day! The weather was perfect....oh my...I can't remember the weather being this beautiful for a Mother's Day...it was perfect. Kev and the kids took me to Chili's for a late lunch and boy was it yummy! We hadn't been there in awhile and it was soooooooooo good. I got my old favorite the chicken ceasar pita...it was delicious. And then Kev treated me to dessert even (we NEVER get dessert to this was a rare treat!) The girls and I gobbled it up while the boys spent time doing diaper duty in the van....ha,ha....way to go, Dylan....he timed his big blow out poo perfectly! Normally I am the one who does ALL van diaper changes (as it stresses Kev out to have poo flying all over), but since it was Mother's Day I guess Kev felt obliged to take over. Ahhhh...how sweet! :) Anyway....so I did end up having to pay the bill and eat all the dessert myself cuz it takes Kev about 10 times longer to change a diaper than me :) But, God love him...he did his best! It was a great lunch and I even got free flowers there...not too shabby! :) Then we trecked up to Kev's parents and had dinner there....that too was yummy and thanks to Kev's brother and dad who did most of the work on the grill. I think Kev is just as worn out as me...we felt a little bad we didn't do more to help out. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon though. And it was good to spend time with family...I know I didn't mention it yesterday, but not only am I blessed by the best mom in the world, but I have the best mother-in-law. She is one of the most giving, helpful, smart, loving mom's around...I love her to death...and her exquisite mothering is evident in the way her sons came out....both are top notch! Anne (my sister-in-law) and I are two lucky/blessed girls! :)

Anyway....so it was a great time at their house...sitting out on their deck/porch of their new hosue and enjoying the nice weather. The girls got to open TONS of gifts for their b-days too...they had a ball with that. Even Dylan got some cute stuff. So generous! And the boys all got put to work planting a new tree for Mom Stegs :) They really worked hard! All-in-all, even though I'm not well-rested, it was a great day....we enjoyed a nice morning at church. The girls made me all sorts of cards and little gifts that I loved and I got to spend all day with my sweeties (Kev included :)). We enjoyed talking to my mom too...and I know she and I both were thinking of my grandma all day...how a year ago was such a hard time for our family with my grandma so tormented by her Alzheimer's and how two weeks from today she passed away. All those memories came flooding back. I miss my grandma so much. But, I know she was smiling down on us saying "I am healthy and happy up here in heaven". I know she is enjoying herself up there with my grandpa by her side.

Ah, so here I sit. I am blessed...blessed to be a mom, blessed to have a great mom, a great mother-in-law, great kids, greatest husband, great family and friends....for all of those things I am thankful. Sure, there is always stuff to complain about each day (and, yes I know I complained about being exhausted at the beginning of this post...that is one of my downfalls...I don't do well when I'm tired)...but I need look past the tiredness. I am blessed beyond measure. Hoping/praying you all are doing well today and that you all had a great weekend!

P.S. Our garage sale went superbly on Sat.! For not preparing to sell much and not having much out we made out pretty good and we got rid of most of our bigger items of junk! Though I will say our basement is still way too full of crap! :( And can I just say that some people are so cheap! I'd rather give stuff away to charity than have people pay a quarter for something....can you tell I'm not garage sale material! :)

Happy Mother's Day! :)

Shelby's b-day last week...
Nina G. visiting in March 2007
almost Christmas 2006 with Nina and Poppy Stegs
Almost Mother's Day 2006
Mother's Day 2006

Mother's Day 2005 (unknowingly pg with Dylan :))
Mother's Day 2005

Mother's Day 2004

Well, Happy Mom's Day to all those moms out there! Today brings about many emotions for me. Thankfulness for my own mom who is celebrating 30 years of "momdom" today and who is hands down the BEST mom in this world.....to the sheer joy of myself being a mom for 7 years now and now being surrounded by 3 little angels here on earth! :) God is good...his plan is awesome. I am blessed beyond measure and I know that every day. To be a mom is one of the greatest gifts. It's a gift that wasn't always in reach for me and what makes me children an extra blessing to me today. I know I have some dear friends grasping for that gift also...I pray especially for them today...as I know Mother's Day is always a hard time for those who despiritely want children.

And I do want to say that I am so very thankful for the gift God gave me in my own mother...she was what I believe to be the BEST mother ever growing up and now she is even a greater support to me since I've been "grown up" :) I have never seen anyone with more patience and more love and more strength. And I still see that all in her as a grandmother (aka Nina :)). I love her so much....and she inspires me every day to be a better person. She finds so much joy in life and that is a rare trait these days. I love her with all my heart and I thank the good Lord that she is my mom and one of my best friends! I love you, Mom! And I love all you other moms out there in my life! Enjoy this day and be thankful for those children God blessed you with!

Bits and Pieces...

So, another weekend is upon us and as usual it's sure to be a busy one. Instead of writing a bunch of mumbo jumbo in some long unreadable paragraphs I thought I just quickly post a few bullet points this morning....

• We are considering participating in our first garage sale tomorrow. It's our annual spring neighborhood sale and although we definitely are NOT "garage sale people" (we're not salespeople and as most of you know we like to hoard all our stuff and never get rid of it :))....But we really need to start weeding out the old stuff to make room for the new and to possibly get ready for the basement refinishing (I think we are leaning towards finishing the basement and NOT moving....though no decision has been made yet)....so our job for today is to decide if we have enough junk to warrant us selling it tomorrow or do we just wait til the fall when there is another community sale....hmmm...big decisions....


• The big kid's church musical is almost upon us...both Shelby and Hailey are in it and the big practice is all day tomorrow. The performance is next Wed. night. It's sure to be a great musical as always. Shelby's gonna be too darn cute in her "tool man attire" (the theme is a building one this year for the little kids)...we actually don't have any tool attire so she might just be wearing girly overalls :) Anyway...so that will get us up and out of the house bright and early tomorrow as I am helping with the preschool part of the musical. But, I guess we might be up bright and early anyway cuz isn't that what garage-sellers do?? Can you tell I'm clueless about that.....


• Somehow in the last few weeks or months our little guy has grown 3 more teeth...molars to be exact. I guess I never noticed as I'm not one of those moms that likes to count all their babies teeth....I guess I have an aversion to sticking my fingers in other's mouths...anyway...so it came as quite a surprise to find some big ol' new chompers inside our little guy's mouth! No wonder he's been overly drooly and fussy :)


• And I guess for every new tooth there is a tooth lost...no, Dylan didn't lose any, but Hailey lost tooth #7 this week! Whohoo! She nows has a VERY big gap in the top of her mouth....I think she is w/o 5 teeth now all together in the front. Her opinionated "friend" at school told her she'd need braces now....that kind freaked her out. Nice, huh?! Anyway....so our toothless wonder might really be toothless if she keeps losing teeth at this rate. I laugh cuz some of our neighbors and fellow 1st graders have only lost 1 or 2 teeth...I guess our Hailey is winning the tooth race :) She is very proud of her mouth of gaping holes!


• I won the race for Secretary of the PTO last night...whohoo! Ok, so to be honest I was the only one running and it was actually more of like pulling teeth to get me to fill the position, but I guess the least I can do is take minutes at meetings, since I do go to all the meetings. I am lucky enough that someone else volunteered to do the advertising part of the job so I think I am officially a co-secretary, which is fine by me (I hate making handouts and advertising stuff...not my cup of tea)! I will be VERY busy next year with that and being co-leader of Hailey's Brownie group along with all the other stuff I do.
• Shelby met some of her new preschool friends this week at our church preschool's open house. It was a fun morning of meeting the teachers and playing in the rooms. Shelby and one of her fav. buds, Cami are gonna be in the same class, so it'll be a fun preschool year starting in the fall. A little emotional seeing my baby girl going off to "school"...I still think of that first day of Hailey's preschool career...it doesn't seem like it's been 4 years, but somehow it has :( We saw Hailey's old teacher "Miss Angela" at the open house and she too was a bit teary-eyed seeing her old preschoolers


• Hailey is loving tennis...she had her second lesson yesterday. She didn't admit to the guy instructors that she was left-handed at first, so she struggled for awhile, but she seems to be catcing on now. The weather's been sooooooooo hot and humid. I know I shouldn't complain, but I can't help it....when you have to stand out in it for an hour and walking the kids around without much shade it wears you down! I know...I'm never satisfied...it's either too cold or too hot! Go figure!


• Hailey's teacher found out this week that she's having a baby boy (Gabriel Scott)...we're so excited for her...this will be the first boy in the family...I think she has 6 nieces, so this little boy will be well taken care of my his cousins. Congrats, Mrs. T!


• Dylan is still not using his walking legs as a means of transportation...I will admit I'm not thrilled about that. At 15 mos I'm pretty sure most kids are walking regularly...he's not :( I guess I shouldn't worry, but I can't help it. I know he CAN walk...he just choses to crawl everywhere still. So, who knows if he'll be running all over the place this summer.


• The boy might not be walking much but he is CLIMBING everywhere!!!! He actually climbed up on our kid's table (which is fairly high) yesterday and just sat up there and played for the longest time. I've never seen a kid climb this much....he's obsessed with it. It's so funny! Ok and as I write this he is standing on a big rubbermaid bin next to me...he's crazy for climbing and I must say he's an accident waiting to happen!
• As far as eating...Dylan seems to be on a diet....not that we put him on one, but all that he will eat lately is yogurt and applesauce and his fruity gerber chews. Ugh....maybe he's trying to tell us he wants to be a vegetarian? But, then again he's not even eating veggies....what's up with that?? Maybe it's the new teeth that have him turning down food, but I'm not crazy about him just living off fruit. He's still not eating much table food...but I guess I'm not worried...he's not vomiting either...and he's been fairly "regular"...so all is good there! :) Still hoping he'll eat like a normal toddler soon...


• Shelby's been in rare form this week. Maybe it's a post-birthday slump or her little illness, but she's been saying the darndest things. Two nights ago she told Kev during one of her midnight coughing fits "I just can't handle this anymore" :) Hmmm...I wonder where she got that phrase from??? Ok...so I'll be the first to admit I have some mental breakdowns...and obviously Shelby has noticed! :) But, I love that girl...she totally cracks me up sometimes.


• Is it just me or do other moms struggle with figuring out "summer plans"??!! For some reason this week has been one big "argument" over what activities to do this summer. As of this morning I think we have officially decided. Between our two vacations to NC and WI we are gonna let Hailey do swimming, VBS and art camp. We tried to back out of the art camp yesterday cuz it's a bit costly and time-consuming....but she cried and cried when we told her, so we felt bad and said she could (she LOVES art for those of you who don't know). Is it just me or is it unheard of to have a summer where you don't participate in activities?? Everyone seems overly busy even in the summer....what's with that??? I remember just playing with my friends in the summer and that was enough. Anyway....so Hailey will be fairly busy...we figured out we have 3 weeks with nothing planned, which isn't much. Even Shelby and Dylan will be doing swimming and VBS so we'll be busy as usual.
• Good news on the health front. The ultrasound on my liver hemangioma (small tumor) came back as "no growth"...so I breathed a sign of relief with that! It is still just a little thing and doesn't need to be rechecked now for a year! Whahoo! As far as abdominal pain I have actually been painfree for a couple months...so that is also great news....and I must say I'm just glad to be feeling better this week....my UTI is finally gone after 6 days of pain and fever last week...I'm still not 100%, but I'm definitely better than last week!

Well, I know there was a lot more I had planned on "bulletting", but the kids are wired and ready for a walk, so I guess it's time to take a stroll around the block with the "twins" and then maybe enter the dungeon of our basement to go through our boxes of junk! Oh joy! Wish my mom was here to help me clear out stuff...she's good at that! I hope you all have a spendid weekend and for all you moms out there....Happy Mother's Day on Sunday. I'm looking forward to a semi-relaxing day that day even though Kev will be at church more than half the day and then we'll probably be traveling for the rest of it. This Mother's Day I'm just thankful to be a mom...there truly is no greater gift on this earth. And my 3 sweet babies are the best gifts God has ever given me! I still remember my first Mother's Day 7 years ago in Grand Rapids....Hailey was not even 2 months old and my mom was in town and my grandma and grandpa G. too...it was just a great day...Kev took us all out to an amazing brunch and he and Hailey gave me me diamond earrings...I still wear them EVERY day! Nothing can compare to a first Mother's Day. Now that seems so long ago...it's very cliched to say, but time does go by too quickly. Soon all my babies will be grown with kids of their own...as always I get emotional about all this...why can't our kids stay small forever??!!

Dora Fiesta!

Oh My...could she look any happier?!
All the birthday kids smiling and ready to eat cake!
One, Two, Three...blow those candles out, Shelby!
My scary Dora cake heads :)
Go, Cami, Go...pin that backpack on Dora!

Sydne looking sweet as always :)
Cameron doing a girly pose :)
Shelby is all smiles!
Ben is such a cute little guy!
Shelby's bestest bud, Ethan (someday we think they'll be married :))

Time for a foam/visor craft
Shelby sportin' her visor...
Dora's outside adventure time! First it's a ride around frog pond and time to pick out a squirty toy....
Then to Candy Cave to use a flashlight and get candy out of the cave (garbage bag covered tent) :)
Then...oops...Shelby fell in the frog pond and clings all dripping wet to daddy :)

Then it's time to put together the broken rainbow bridge and cross it over the muddy mud puddle...then down the shape trail (our deck stairs)...
to our playset (Swipers hideout) to get their treat pails full of goodies....
The girls having a special "girl time" under the table :)
Shelby and her giant Dora balloon...we splurged and got her this...she's wanted it for over a year....and Dylan...boy, he was a perfect angel all day and never made a peep (even when being ignored for most of the day)...look at his big handsome grin!

Well, here's the pics from the big Dora fiesta on Monday. It was a small group of Shelby's 4 closest buds (Ethan, Cameron, Sydne and Ben)...and I think it was a perfect number of kiddos for a 3-yr-olds b-day. It was a grand ol' time of Dora fun, food and games. Kev and I laughed afterwards cuz for all the time and work we put into it, it probably would have been just as fun to let the kids run around crazy in the yard rather than to "force" them to play games and do crafts. But, most of them abliged us and it was a busy afternoon. We played "Swiper swiped the candy" game and the kids had to find candy hidden in our living room with little swipers taped on them....then we moved on to cake and food (as you can see I made some pretty sad/scary Dora mini cakes for the 5 party kids...those were much more work than it was worth, but I guess the kids thought they were cute) and then I made a bigger 3 layer Dora themed cake....it was pretty cute considering it didn't take much time/effort...thanx to our Dora Candyland game for supplying the figurines!) :) Shelby's fav. part of any party as most of you know is the cake...so this was a big highlight for her....though I think she only ate one bite...she was too excited to sit and eat. From the food we moved onto pin-the-backpack on Dora...simple enough....they colored their own backpacks and then stuck them on Dora's back (thanks to Big Sister Hailey for coloring the big ol' Dora!)....the kids actually loved this game...Shelby said later it was her most FAV. part of the party....it's always the simplest things for kids. After this we attempted a simple craft....foam visors. All they had to do was stick the sticky foams on them...it actually went ok. You never know how 3 yr olds will do with crafts....but they visors turned out cute. Then it was onto the BIG Dora adventure outside....whohoo...finally the kids could get outside, which they'd been itching to do all afternoon (thank goodness it was a beautiful 80 degree day out...it's never like that for Shelby's b-day so this was a welcome, rare treat!) :) Kev put sooooooooo much work into the adventure and making the map for it...it was really cute. I came up with most of the ideas, but he did all the "dirty work" and set it up....from "frog pond" to "candy cave" to "rainbow bridge over mucky mud" to "shape trail" all the way to "Swiper's hideout" (our playset) where they finally found their treat buckets to take home. It was very cute and the kids seemed to really enjoy it....and even all the big sisters who came along loved it too (and thankfully helped their siblings). It was a crazy, busy, fun and exhausting day. Shelby was full of life the whole time (as you can see by the pictures)...she loved every moment. The funniest part of the whole party was when during the Dora adventure (on our deck) Shelby somehow fell into the frog pond (our sandbox filled with water) and was completely drenched from head to toe (see pic above)...it was quite a sight and shocked the socks off her. She was in rare form from that point on. But, she had a great time celebrating her b-day with all her bestest buds and everyone was so generous with gifts...she got lots of Dora things (actually everyone gave her something Dora-themed)...it was a memorable day of Dora fun (and if you know our Shelby there is nothing better than having a whole day full of Dora). Anyway....part of me is sad the day is over but a bigger part of me is glad all the craziness has passed (for now). It really took a lot of effort and time on both my part and Kev's...I didn't mind spending the time on it, but with me being sick 5 days last week that took a huge toll on my energy. Kev actually had to take the day off on Monday to help me. I owe him my eternal gratitude. Not many husbands would bend over backwards like he did to make this party happen. Shelby is one lucky girl to have such a great daddy who loves her so much. So, there ya' have it...lots of birthday fun. And now the birthday girl is sick and we're all exhausted...but it was worth all the effort and lack of sleep! :)

Shelby in all her glory...

Introducing the newest members of our family...Sara (blond) and Clara (brunette) :)
taking a stroll on the trail with our new girls and their spiffy stroller
Shelby with her castle cake (made with love by mommy :))
look at all that hot air she's blowing out!
Sweet 3rd birthday girl

me and my kiddos before church
doesn't she look so angelic here? (it's very deceiving, huh?!)

Daddy and his girl...
I can't believe my littlest daughter is 3 (sniffle, sniffle)
sportin' the new Dora bikini from big sis (turns out it's too big...too bad cuz Shelby loved it!)
The love of sisters and of a brother too....

Well, the big 3rd birthday has come and gone...and we are in a post-b-day slump...or maybe it's a post-b-day sugar low after the birthday hype of sugar and cake and all the fun of the last two days. It's been a very busy few days and I, for one, am glad to finally have some time to take a breath and just rehash the birthday fun via pictures. So, that's what I'm gonna do on the ol' blog today. I'm still too exhausted from all the party fun to sit and type a lot, but as you all know I have tons of pics to share, so I'll start with that.

Shelby had a superbly wonderful b-day (or at least I think she did :))....I looked back on all the pictures and I truly don't think I've seen her smile that much EVER. She loves being the focus of attention and truly just loves her birthday...she will tell anyone that the best part of birthdays is the cake, and this b-day was no exception. She chose for me to make her a castle cake for the special occasion and although it wasn't picture perfect (and actually fell apart at one point)...it turned out ok for the likings of a 3 yr old :) Shelby was in all her glory all day! She got to talk to lots of family on the phone, got wonderful gifts and cards and she was just tickled pink by it all :) I have to say that the highlight of her day (aside from the cake :)) was the gift she received from my family....her first American Girl dolls (the bitty baby twins) and a double stroller to go with them! It was so exciting to her that when she saw the stroller she actually did a dance all around all our living room. It was hilarious. She's never been that excited over a gift. Thank you everyone! And what's better than having twin girls in the house??!! We always said we needed a few more kids to add to the craziness! :) Sara and Clara have been a welcome addition to our crazy clan :)

Anyway...so it was a wonderful day...a day of relaxation, walking on our trail with the new twins, cake and lots of fun! In the midst of it all Kev and I were frantically planning Shelby's Dora "friends" Birthday Fiesta (which was yestersday), so I will admit we stayed up til 2am doing that (no wonder we are tired)....but the b-day party was great too...I'll save those pics and recap for another day. For now I'm off to clean up the house and rest a little before Hailey's first tennis lesson. Thanks to all of you who sent well wishes, cards, gifts and thoughts our Shelby's way on her special day! She had a great #3!