Our New Routine...

Just for the fun of it I thought I'd do a run-down of our "new and improved" Steg schedule :) Mind you, this will all change next Tuesday when Dylan starts preschool and Hailey starts ballet...but for now we're in a nice school groove :) Our mornings start at 6am...well, for me and Kev they do....shortly after we wake the slumbering 4th grader....and by 7:30 this is where she is...off to catch her shuttle bus with her bud, Baileigh, at our local high school...daddy usually is the one on "morning drive service"...and then he's off to work from there...
Once Hailey is gone we have about an hour for Shelb to get ready (and believe me...she needs this ENTIRE hour, probably more)
...soon after she catches her bus down the road (this was her first day taking the bus...she LOVED it and has gone every day since....special thanks to our neighbor/Hailey's friend, Ali, who has taken Shelby under her wing on the bus :))
This is my fav. part of the mornings....when Shelby's bus leaves Dylan always races it and waves the entire time as he skips along! He is the sweetest boy! (this day he was a little slow...turns out he was getting sick yet again!) :(

During our 2 hours of "free/down time" we try to get things done around the house....mama does laundry (I'll spare you the pictures), I've been trying out some new recipes (not a strength of mine)...and we try to do a few outdoorsy things when the weather is nice. Last week we went for our fav. trail walk. Dylan still refuses to use his big boy bike so off he goes on his trike :)
Ash love walks too :) Wouldn't this smile be even cuter with some toofers! :)
My sweet boy is in his element on walks...
Sometimes we just hang out at home and read books...and wear cool hats that we find in our brother's room (hopefully these were clean ones?) :)
Sometimes we play with our best friend, Minette, at BUGS (one of our local gymnastics places)
Open gym is fun, especially the pit of "squares" as Dylan calls it :)
Ash decides she needs to lose some poundage and is exercising daily :)
We even took a trip to Wonderlab with Minette...it was super fun!
Then at 11:45 we have to pick up our fav. Kindergartner at school...
Then home for lunch and more playtime....this is what Ash loves lately...jewelry!
and then time for homework...Ash likes to help with that too :)
then after a couple more hours it's time for Hailey's high school bus to come home....the first day we embarrassed her and went to meet her on the corner....
she tried to ignore us this first day...
Now we just wait for her at our house and she and her bud, Baileigh, walk to our house together (Bai missed the bus this day...twice...it was a bad bus day for her :))
Then it's time for homework for Hailey....she's done so well so far....as there has been A LOT more than at her old school. But, she seems to love it. Here is her first project...her "homework machine" :) And below is our Sunday routine...setting out our entire weeks' worth of clothing for both girls. An idea we tried in previous years, but never followed through on. This time it's working much better and is a great help for our early mornings!
So, there ya' go. A small glimpse into some of the happenings of our weekly routine. Like I said there will have to be a "new new routine" blog post in a couple weeks once we get in the groove of preschool, ballet and other activities. But, for now this is it. I will say that our new routine is kicking us in the rears. We are one exhausted gang. Hailey actually broke down in tears a week ago cuz she was just so tired. None of us are known for rising early so being up at 6am every day has paid its toll. And there have been a few days where this worn out mama has fallen asleep while doing homework with Shelb at 2pm. But, hopefully in time we will adjust. For now we feel like we are where God wants us to be...the girls both seem to love their schools and feel at home there. There is still adjusting to do and some missing of old friends....but for the most part we are greatly blessed by how God has lead us to the right places.

Anniv. time with my man...and kids :)

I've got my sweet hubby on the brain today so I thought I'd post a few cutesy pics of our real anniversary and our lil' celebration a week later (the REAL celebration will be in a month and half when we sail off to the Caribbean!). Hard to believe how much we've been blessed with after 11 years of marriage!
The old married couple :)
The surprise gift I received. FYI we almost NEVER do gifts...it's forbidden with the cost of raising 4 kids! But, he was sneaky and picked me out the most beautiful garnet heart/diamond/white gold necklace. I LOVE IT! :) (yes, garnet is my birthstone). Isn't it a beauty!!! I sure think so.....my mom, on the otherhand, thought it was a new mole as she spotted it around my neck on skype one day! LOL! :)
This is how we spent our real Anniv. night...at one of my least fav. places...the city pool. But, the heck with romance when your kids have a back-to-school pool party bash. At least they had a fun evening. Can you spot Kev with the two middle kids going up the slide?!
No romance on the 14th was worth it after seeing Dylan's overjoyed face on the slide!
Sweet Ash chillin' by the side of the pool...
Can you spot Hailey in the pool flirting with the boys??? :)
I love this smiley Kindergartner!
And finally...a week later the lovebirds get a night out on the town (alone) thanks to Nina and Poppy Stegs who came to babysit our crazy brood! We don't look to shabby for being old marrieds! We enjoyed a great night at Chilis with their 2 for $20 with appetizer, meal, and dessert. A great deal might I add. Below shows a better pic of our dessert....shots of delicious sweets! Yummers! And then a great movie afterwards (The Ugly Truth :)). It was great to have some peace and good food with my man. And before we know it Oct. and island hopping with be here! YAY!

Great friends, Great times! :)

Well, this post is loooong overdue (like many others that I had good intentions of posting all summer)...but better late than never as they say! Here are some fun pics of our good friends, Jorge and Melissa and kiddos who visited us (from MI) a few weeks ago. I'll let the pics do the talking as I'm short on time....but we had a great time with them in town in spite of a few snafoos that occurred :) I love the above pic of our families at our fav. overlook viewing Lake Monroe. It was a beautiful day! Apparently Ash was more interested in watching the guy off to our right who was trying to catch some stray cats :)
We started off our day at the overlook with its oldy goldy park to let the kids play for a few minutes. Nothing like some good ol' swing time to make our Ash giggle to her heart's content :)
Jorge is a good ol' "get-down-n-messy" kinda dad....Dylan and Keala put him to work....dumping rocks....
...it was very cute :)
Ash didn't even mind being twisted up in the swings and left to untwirl...she's our crazy baby!
It's hard to get a good shot on the swings....but Ash slowed down for a second to look at mommy
I love this pic...Shelby is such a big helper (when she wants to be)...I love how Keala is looking up at her.
I'm not sure what kind of move this is....maybe it's ballet sliding??


Then it was off to our "beach"....betcha didn't know Indiana had beaches! Well, we have one at Lake Monroe...unfortunately it was officially flooded this weekend (which we didn't know til we arrived), so that kinda blew our Saturday plans to enjoy the beach and sand. But, we made the best of it and the kids still played in the water a little and we cooked out....I love the above shot...you can see Melissa and some of the kiddos walking by the shore and the pretty lake view...
Here's Dylan crying his way over the rocks. He chose to not use the sidewalk, but to walk through this to get to the beach area. He paid the price and fell a few times. Oh...and snafoo #2 of the day (snafoo #1 was the beach was closed)....and #2 was that Matthew got his first bee sting when we went to use the marina bathrooms. And all this happened on Nurse Kelly's watch so I felt horrible. He was a good sport though and thankfully was not allergic. But, it put a small damper on the afternoon :(
Here's Matthew (after bee sting) and his mama and sister walking by the shore....notice there is only sidewalk and no sand :( Bummer :(
But, it didn't take long for the kiddos to get in the water (it was a hot, hot day, so I couldn't blame them)...
The "babies" decided to hang out in just diapers and get messy in the sand
Ash loved the water...and mostly loved trying to eat the dirty rocks...she actually had one in her mouth for probably 20 minutes before I saw it stored in her cheek. Lovely.
The guys made us a yummy grilled hot dog dinner with all the fixins :)
The highlight of Dylan's day was eating oreos...no surprise there :)
Hailey was like a mother hen to Keala :)
And then it was time for a little more play time on the 'beach" :) Can you see Melissa walking down with the kiddos....
All Ash wanted to do was crawl around in the dirt and rocks...her knees paid the price for this, but she didn't care.
Dylan was thrilled to lose the clothes and frolic around in his CARS undies! Thank goodness he's diaper-free these days or I'd be mighty embarrassed to show this pic!
Ash has no fear of dirt...gotta love a messy baby!
a peaceful scene...
...and then...she's off! Have I mentioned she is the speediest crawler around....
I love this one of Keala with her walking stick that she found :)
Then it was time for "the boat!"...thankfully it had just gotten fixed this week and was back in the water (or I'm not sure what we would have done on our hot, beach-closed, no other plans-day). Kev's parents were nice enough to take us out so we could enjoy the water and boat toys :) Ash was wiped out (proof above)...so she slept in the cuddy for awhile....
Shelb was all smiles cuz she discovered this day that she could put her hair in a pony tail! Finally! It's the little things in life that matter the most to her :)
Poppy hangs out with the younger crowd....
Keala wasn't so sure of her first trip on the lake...or of the lifevest she had to wear :)
Hailey and Matthew wasted no time and called first dibs on the tube!
Dylan helped daddy drive...
Keala fell fast asleep....
4 of the kiddos (babies were sleeping)....all go on the tube together...and give us the thumbs up!
more thumbs up from the crazy kiddos...and check out Dylan's face! He's all about speed!
Ash awakes....
Melissa and Jorge take a romantic ride....
the kiddos are our spotters...
I think this shot is hilarious! Look at them mid-air! Go, Jorge and Melissa! What daredevils!
Sweet Keala slept almost the entire time
Ash was too rested and starting to get into trouble...
more tubing...
"I smell something funny...maybe it's me?" :)
She loves stairs...even boat stairs!
Here's Hailey saving Matthew who was floating away...
Swim time in the lake
Me and my baby girl...
Above is the best shot we have of all 6 kiddos....
Here's another one (not so good)...but trust me...it took a lot of photo tries...and I thought getting 4 kids to look nice was difficult! :)
Jorge decided to move into our extra house on the deck :) Keala looks excited about this...
Our eating arrangements for that weekend...it worked out fairly well...Hailey is apparently an offical adult since she was at our table :)
And then it was time for our wonderful friends to go home...but not before one last fight between Keala and Dylan...over the American Girl high chair :) (they butted heads a few times...I think Keala won this time :)....oh those strong-willed children :))
Hailey had to show Matthew and Jorge her ballet/pointe expertise :)...and I tried (w/o success) to get one last good-bye shot (below) of all the kids. It was apparently too sunny out :)
But it was a wonderful, fun time seeing our old MI friends. Made us realize how much we miss everyone there and how we need to make a point to reunite more often. Maybe next year we'll make it up to GR again. It's been many, many (too many!) years. But, thanks to Melissa, Jorge and kiddos for a great time. They were super easy house guests and even treated us to pizza the first night for dinner (this was after they almost drove to Louisville, KY...I guess that was snafoo #1) :). It was so great seeing you guys!!!