Sleepover b-day a succcess!

Just a quick "teaser" of the big b-day sleepover success this weekend! :) I won't go into much detail now cuz I'm still exhausted from the weekend activities and Kev has granted me early bed-time tonight (8pm!) so I am off to dreamland right now. But, I just wanted to post a few pics to show the happiness (and craziness) of our girl and her friends this past weekend....and to say how very grateful I am that the whole party/ballet conflict worked out for the best. Much more info and pics to come once I have time to revamp this post.....for now you can see: Our fondant slumber party cake complete with each of the 5 girls in it (not too shabby for a 2am creation), the cutesy slumber party cupcakes from my fav. cupcake book (Hello, Cupcake!) :)...and the craziness of Hailey and her school pals :) It was a good, good time with LOTS of fun and wildness! Who knew smart girls could be so crazy!

Feeling Run-down :(

Well, I had a feeling I was going to bottom-out soon....

It happened last night.

A crazy day of running from one activity to the next just led to extra-exhaustion and then to find out late last night that Hailey was added into yet another dance (#4!) at ballet....and that her birthday party sleepover planned for this Friday would have to be rescheduled (or canceled)....well, it just put me into overdrive (and not the good overdrive). And poor Hailey. I feel for our sweet girl. She has a gift for dance...she loves it...she has worked hard to get to where she is...she was excited to be asked to do another piece, but she knew the price that came with that....possibly not having her party this weekend....not having extra time tonight to work on her school project that is due tomorrow. It was all just a little too much for all of us to swallow last night. She was on the verge of tears. Exhausted by school and ballet and then not having her party to look forward to, well she looked very forlorn when she went to bed last night.....

But, today is a new day. Sleep did us all a tiny bit of good. We are now in re-planning mode....excited about the new dance that Hailey has been asked to do, thankful for the ballet gift she has been given and just trying to be extra prayerful today that all the parents of her friends can rearrange their schedules to make her party happen the next night (this Sat). I know God has his hand in this and there is a reason for everything....and I honestly do know this is "no big deal"...just a blip in the road of rescheduling and shuffling our lives around a bit. But, when you feel run down, common sense goes by the wayside. So.....I am trying to keep it in perspective. Trying to keep my exhaustion on the down-low, so that Hailey can truly enjoy this moment of her life where she is shining in ballet. It is definitely not a moment to be overlooked or foreshadowed by party rescheduling and homework struggles. This too shall pass and May 1 is right around the corner and we are counting down to that and the excitement that will entail, and counting down too for the arrival of Nina G. (next Friday!) who will be a great help to us during this busy time.

So, that is that....where we stand now. I have learned my lesson...we are a bit overscheduled now with softball and swim lessons...things we should not have added to our plate, but sometimes it takes a bit of "losing your mind" to know you've gotta do better at keeping your sanity next time. Plus I realized last night how much I need some "me time". I am going to take it starting this weekend. Prayer on this subject would be much appreciated as I'm not much of a "taking time for me" person! :)

Meet Madi's sidekick...

....the girls' new dresser (which matches the new bunk)!

We thought we wouldn't get her til May or June (she was backordered), but PBK called last week to say she was being delivered on Tuesday! Super YAY! Now, I know this is "just a dresser", but you have to understand that we Stegs (although we have nice/cute furniture) do not have proper drawer space in any of our dressers/bedrooms. This has been a source of contention for years. But, now things have changed. This new dresser is awesome! Shelby went right to town filling each drawer and she got EVERYTHING of hers in it with room to spare! Now if only she didn't have to share this dresser soon with "lil' sis"...then we'd be all fine. Oh well...we'll work it out. But, we love this dresser! Plus we can put baskets underneath it too. I love thinking about getting organized...now if we can just follow through with it, that'd be even better! :)

Boys will be boys?!

Well, this is the reality of our son lately. One big walking injury! These pics are taken over the course of the last month and a half where he received not one, not two, but THREE head/facial injuries. Poor guy! I guess it really is true what they say, "boys will be boys!" :) He is nothing but rough and tough and rowdy and full of bumps and bruises and cuts! :)
These first two pics are of his most recent injury (last Friday) thanks to some very hard pavement (and some "new" shoes)...he took a big ol' faceplant outside our mall when we were going to find Hailey a softball glove (the people at Dick's were very hospitable though...called first aid and bandaged him all up...do you know how hard it is to find an appropriate bandage for the bridge of the nose?!). Anyway, I am sooooo thankful this wasn't the week before when we were set up to have Easter pictures taken! Phew! Cuz, this nasty bugger is gonna take a couple weeks to look normal again :(
This is injury number 2 a few weeks ago. He was jumping on something in Hailey's room and his head become a magnet to the corner of her furniture. He sliced his head open (not pretty sight as it bled all over)...in about the same spot he cut his head last year when he went to the ER. Thankfully we had Dr. Poppy examine it via i-phone :) He said to wash it off and wrap it, but that it looked ok (i.e. we didn't have to make another trek to the ER). Purple wrap was all we had....
...mean mama decided to make a headband out of it (complete with flower :)). We realized though that our boy doesn't make a very pretty girl :)
And above is injury number 1. I actually gave this to him. Long story...but he was following me too closely when I was going into preschool (around V-day) and I had a plastic bin in my hand with craft stuff in it...I backed into him and the plastic bin sliced his face. It was awful really and I felt so guilty. He still has a scar from this. It took almost a month to heal!

So, there's the proof of our little walking "boo boo" :( Poor boy. Good thing he's very resilient! :)

This and That...

I don't do this much anymore, but thought I'd give a quick run-down of misc. info:

1. The ballerina's ballet schedule is nutso lately! I admit, I love it. The busyness can wear ya' down, but it's been so fun seeing all the new dances that Hailey is learning and just seeing how beautiful she performs. She has a true gift. The big news of this week is that yet again she was chosen for another recital dance! That makes #3! She starts practice on Saturday for this new one. All I know is it's called May Day Carol and she is dancing with some other girls from her class and other classes. Wow, 3 dances for recital! So fun! Can't wait til May 1! And so excited Nina G. will be here to witness it all too! For now it's getting through about 10 hours of practice a week. 4 1/2 on Sat. alone. Phew! Good thing our ballerina is tough! And who said ballet wasn't a sport! Pish posh!

2. The ballerina is doubling as a softball player now. Try-outs were on Monday and first practice is Sat. First game next Sat. I know, I know. Crazy to add another sport to our family right now and even crazier for it to be the busy ballerina. But, she desperately wanted to try a new sport and this actually worked for our schedule. She'll play from April-July (fast pitch). She's pretty excited and given that I was a softball player in high school, I'm pretty excited too!

3. Shelb and Dyl are both doing indoor swim lessons with our local swim club now. Another "what was I thinking" thing to add to our schedule. Crazy! We are at the high school pool 3 times a week. But, I'm glad they are getting some swim time in before summer. It's great for both of them. Shelby LOVES it! Dylan does not. Only after I bribed him with Easter candy and a car did he put his head in the water on day 2.

4. In 2 weeks Dylan starts indoor soccer. So far organized team sports have been a bust for him. Will this be different? Tune in to see....

5. Shelby also wants to do soccer, but not indoor. Hmmm. We are contemplating this for summer. She rarely asks to do anything so we should probably get on the ball here. She begged to do tennis, but the city program doesn't start til age 7 and I don't think we can afford another sport at IU. Nina G. can you teach her?

6. Hailey's b-day party #2 is fast approaching. Next Friday she will have her awesome group of "new" school friends spend the night. 5 girls and lots of fun. This will be her first sleepover b-day party at our house. It should be fun complete with laser tag and fondue and more....

7. Ash has suffered from white poop this week. Ok, so it's not been white, but it's been pretty darn close...more like a combo of white and clay color. Very unnerving for me really. She's been very fussy as well and attached to my hip all week (rare for her since she's very independent). I wondered if she'd consumed some other mysterious floam-like material, but today she finally had a normal brown poop. Yay for brown poop! It's the little things....

8. It finally happened--Shelby lost her beloved lil' pink bunny blanket. The one she has in her hand constantly since birth and that (usually) never leaves her sight (except when she goes to school/church). It somehow mysteriously vanished the day after Easter. It's been a rough week w/o it. She has cried A LOT! (mama has almost cried a lot too!) I know it's here somewhere, but it's very good at hide-n-seek. Please come back to us soon, lil' pink blankie. Shelby has been extra grumpy this week w/o you!

9. I am worn out, tired, exhausted and very scatter-brained lately. So, don't take it personal if I don't seem myself. I am not. I am feeling the weight of so many thing...silly things, I know....but I've got VBX crafts looming over me yet again (the second week in June will be here before we know it!). We started ordering this week and thinking about the 500+ kids we'll be entertaining has got me a little nervous. My heart is just not in it this year. So, prayer on that subject would be great. And any "Jesus is my Rock" craft ideas would be welcome (it's a Rock Hero theme). Lately I feel I am just giving of myself to too many people/things. This is not a pat on the back for me...actually it's a bad thing. I am worn out from doing too much for schools and church and in turn exhausted at home. Not the best mom, not the best wife, not the best person. I need prayer here and some serious strength issues on "saying no". I am looking forward to summer to regroup, slow down and declutter my mind (and house!)

10. Kev--he's extra-exhausted too. Between lots of work on the job and taxes and home stuff...well, he's got the most reason to complain of all of us, but he's the one that never does....bless him for that!

Ok, so that's all I've got for now. Actually I have more to say, but all the kids are home and it's time to buckle down and do homework. Adios!

A Wonderful Easter Day!

I'm a few days late in actually publishing this post...but better late than never (like most of my posts lately! :)). So w/o further ado here's our wonderful and blessed Resurrection Day! The above is the kids all snuggled up in their pj's in the a.m. after their egg hunt around our house.
And rewind to a little while earlier...Ash was first to jump into the egg hunt. She didn't see any obvious eggs laying around like at the egg hunt the day before...so she decided to hunt for milk--her fav thing!
After watching her siblings for a bit she figured out the eggs were hidden...and she took off to fill her basket...
Dylan was most enthused about the MONEY! He's no dummy!
Ash was pretty excited about all the coins too...and the mardi gras beads (who knew the E.B. spent time in New Orleans?!) :)
Shelby is the first to find her "bigger" gift. The E.B. usually leaves big wrapped baskets of goodies for the kids..full of toys and clothes, etc...this year b/c of the economy he too had to make some cut-backs. The kids each got one smaller gift and a bubble wand. Hailey was the first to make note that she thought she "got jipped" this year! :) (though she was super-excited about her gift of i-pod speakers!) Shelby was especially happy with her new "real" scooby movie!
Dylan showing off his loot! He's not the fastest egg finder, but he's so happy with just the little things...like candy!
He was the last to find his gift...a matchbox race track! He was in heaven with that and the new car it came with!
Ash finds her gift...a new, bright summer outfit. Big sis helps her sort her eggs....or honestly it was more of Hailey trying to keep Ash from eating all the candy...
One of Ash's fav. new Easter goodies...a punch balloon! She loves "boons"!
Daddy forcing Ash to give up "the candy goods"...I actually think all he got here was wrappers...Ash was too quick to stuff her face!
Our Easter breakfast...cinnamon rolls and sausage. yummers!
Dylan doing our jelly bean prayer (that he learned at preschool...thanx, Miss Kim!) :)
The girls helping daddy do the resurrection eggs (also from Dylan's preschool). They have such creative Easter ideas.
then after a filling b-fast it was time for bubble fun on the deck with the new bubble wands.
and time to try out the new racetrack! Very cool!
And then time to get ready for Easter in Indy with the Steg. fam. We got all dressed up again ...even though we had done church already the night before. Kev wasn't too happy to have to put on pants again...but no worries, he changed into shorts soon after this quick pic. It was a HOT day...almost 85, I think! Crazy for us in April. Usually Easters are cold and dreary! It was an awesome day!
The best Easter shot I could get of the bright-colored gang! Ash is really pondering something, huh?! Actually she was concentrating really hard on the jelly bean I had just given her :)
Ash giving mama a scornful "where is my jelly bean for this pic" face! :)
Here's the "after the jelly bean is inserted in the mouth" face :)
Here is "I think I could use another jelly bean" face.
And finally...a big ol' smile! :) That's my Ash!
My Handsome preppy boy!
My sweet Shelba girl!
My "not wanting a picture taken", Hailey :)
At Aunt Jan and Uncle Steve's the kiddos went outside immediately...it was soooo nice out! Dylan was sulking in the garden...he does this a lot when he doesn't get his way. It's sorta sweet in a sad kinda way...
Ash and Averey play frisbee. I do believe this is Ashley's first time playing this sport. She didn't do too shabby!
haha...check out Ash. It's like she's washing her hands of Dylan and throwing those hands up in the air in dismay...he is probably getting on her nerves here and she's letting him know!
He takes pity on lil' sis and they have a special moment of sharing (this is rare)
LOL...check out Dylan's mopey face...frisbee was not going his way, me thinks :)
Finally he gets to take his turn and he gives it ALL he's got!
All Ash wanted to do was play with the screen door and walk in and out a million times. I think this is something I used to do as a toddler. It didn't take long for her fingers to get stuck a few times. Then (below) it was time to eat lunch! Here's the kid table (minus Ash and Aubrey who were inside in high chairs at the "parent" table)...and later Harrison was at the kid table too). Special thanks to Aunt Jan for the cool cups and straws. The kids loved those! :)
Then it was time for the "guys" to hide the eggs for the egg hunt outside. Ash wanted to help Poppy. I don't think he wanted her help, but she is very persuasive!


Since nobody wanted her help, she grabbed her basket and started the hunt early (before the other kids were outside)...she was getting LOTS of eggs....
...until she took a faceplant....
But, she didn't complain...she just picked up all those eggs....
...and wondered why mama wasn't helping her...
Here's the ultimate "egg hunting diva" pose! :)
Brian helps Harrison get his egg way up high. I think it had an i-tunes gift card in it, thus why it was so important to get.
Shelb stops briefly for a pose!
My sweet boy filling his basket.
ballet pose from the egg hunting ballerina
Me and my baby in our matching pinks :)
A Steg fam. picture. I don't think we've had all of us together in a long time. We're still missing all our CO family, but this was the most we've had in a Steg pic in a long while (I think I count 25??) Too bad half of us were hidden in the shade....but still not a shabby pic)
Danielle, Grandpa Stegs and Ash (with confetti stuck to her forehead..ha!) chillin' on the couch after the exhausting/hot easter egg hunt.
I love this pic. Harrison is so sweet and patient and Dylan loves phones where he can play games...so he huddled up next to Harrison and learned a new game on his i-pod thingy.....and since Harrison was so kind, Dylan recipricated and rubbed his head for him :) He has a thing for people's hair and heads :)
The kids having egg-spinning contests.
Then it was time to hit the road and head to Nina and Poppy Stegs for Easter Basket fun! Ash got hers first...she tried to carry it all by herself (she is very independent if you didn't know)
finally she let daddy help. She was very excited by her new bunny quilt and her new bunny dress (but not so crazy about the matching hat)
Shelby digging into her loot!
Ashley trying to give away her hat to Poppy!
Poppy tries to give it back, but Ash was not having it!
A nice pic of Nina and Poppy and the crazy grand-kiddos :)
And finally back home....here's the new bunny quilt from Nina and Poppy. It's very true what is says "Family is one of life's greatest blessings" AMEN! :)
Ash helping mama sort eggs from candy. She did more eating that sorting :) Isn't her new dress cute?! We got lots of compliments on it after Easter! And I even got her to wear the hat w/o crying (for 1 second!) :)
So, there ya' go. A blessed day full of fun, sun and family! Nothing better than that! I love Easter!