Well, life is....busy....same ol' sad story for not blogging! (sorry to those of you who worry :)). I would love to tell you this will change soon, but I've realized the reality of our household...it is just going to continue to get busier. My goal for now is to at least post once a month. Hopefully I can at least succeed in that! :( Stinks really...since I love blogging and it's a great outlet for me...and even more important, it's sometimes the only way for my family down south to see pics of us. Shame on me for not having 10 times the amount of hours in the day! :) But, I do the best I can...and right now my family is my priority and they are busy, thus I am busy :) Anyway....all that to say that here's a few new pics of what's been going on in our busy lives the last couple weeks. I love the above pic of my littlest darlin's on one of our recent hot and humid walks on the trail. We've gotten smarter and are now taking sugary drinks and fruit roll-ups to get us through the walk w/o any (or much) whining :)
LOL...this is how Ash takes her walks lately...not in a stroller, not pushing a stroller (like most little girls do), not riding a bike or trike...she has to CARRY her lawn mower (she won't even push it most of the time)...has to carry it. What a strong, funny gal!
We've hit the ground running this week and are back in the rat race of activities...mainly ballet....Hailey is now in a new, more intense level and dances about 10 hours a week...she has been exhausted and between that and her busy school schedule there was at least one night this week of tears of exhaustion. But, she loves school and loves to dance (this pic is actually from the summer...she is very anti-photo lately so the ones I took this week aren't great). She is really excited about her new pilates, jazz and musical theater classes tomorrow....
Our miss Shelby girl is catching the activity fever like her big sis! (and she's almost so speedy I didn't get her in this pic...LOL!) She started Upward Soccer at our church this week. She LOVES it even though her coach never showed up. She started jazz last night (pics still on my camera) and LOVES it too...and soon she'll be doing art class and ice-skating. She is usually my homebody so this is a change for her! Go, Shelb!
We had a lovely Labor Day on the Lake with Nina and Poppy Stegs (and their boat). Is it me or do my "babies" look all grown up all of a sudden :( Crazy how that happens! They sure are a beautiful bunch aren't they?! I love 'em!
Hailey showed off her knee-boarding skills. This is a new thing for her...I think she had gone a couple weeks prior when Kev and I were gone for our anniversary. She caught on quickly and loves it. Kev and I were bummed we couldn't show her our awesome kneeboard skills...this board is just for kids :) Hailey was the only one who even ventured on this past Monday...it was soooo windy and rough on the lake this day :( (though it doesn't look like it from this pic)
Nina and Pops and their grandkids chillin' in the boat :) What a day it was...so windy and kinda cold and then the boat motor kept stalling and they could barely get it parked at the dock. Phew...sometimes boating isn't as relaxing as it looks! But, it was still a fun day and Nina made us a very yummy lunch! :) Thanks Nina and Poppy!
Shelb's fav part of Labor Day....swimming in the resort pool (where the boat is docked). She LOVES to show off her swimming skills which improved tremendously this summer! :) Go Shelba girl!
We switched the girls' rooms around this past weekend. I LOVE Ash and Shelb's room....the bed looks so much better here, I think. But, mainly I just like change...I love to move furniture around much to my husband's dismay...and I think my girls' inherited this lovely trait as well :) We also decided to take the rail off Ashley's bed so now she is officially a big girl and not even 2 yet! We even got rid of the baby monitor (first time in 10 years w/o them!) Things are changing here in the Steg house. We are saying bye bye to baby stuff!
Seeing her lil' sisters' room changed around motivated Hailey to do the same...so she came up with a plan for her own room and had daddy help her move it. Now she's just waiting 'til she can get rid of the baby girlish bedding and move on to her fav. colors of hot pink, bright green and bright blue (we said she could maybe redo he room when turns 12...in 1.5 years). She's waiting patiently (more or less)........
And next room redo will be Dylan's. He needs a total boy (cars) overhaul. Hopefully I can tackle that before the craziness of the holidays!
This past weekend the Stegs did a monumental thing! We camped out (in a tent) for the first time ever!!! And better yet...we survived! And even better yet we did it all with the help of our bestest buds, Dave and Heather and kiddos! Thanks guys for inviting us. We had a blast.
The old marrieds chillin' at the camp sight. Don't we look like natural campers?! haha :) Ok, not really...but it was a TON of fun and we would love to get a tent and camp more often with our bestest buds! And isn't this campsite the bomb?! It was on a little lake...in Starve Hallow (Brownstown?) about an hour away from Bloomy. So pretty and soooo relaxing!
Our borrowed tent (thanks Dave and Heather!)...notice who is napping inside! Kev and I slept in here with Dylan and Ash. It would have been great aside from our air mattress popping that night. But, Ash and Dylan slept great. Hailey and Shelby slept in the camper with the more experienced campers :)
Daddy and his lil' girl chillin' in the camp chairs. Ash claimed this darling chair even though it wasn't hers :) You know how she is...Miss Take Charge!
Ok, I can't get this above pic to post horizontally to save my life, but the craziness of the picture goes along with it posting sideways. Here's the crazy 6 year olds at bedtime in the camper. They are a nutty couple aren't they?!
And last week ALL the kids had eye appts. It was a long 5 hour ordeal (no joke)....I'm not complaining since it was all free (we do eye studies for Indiana University and our payback is free eye exams...nice for someone as cheap as me!)...anyway....I post this not b/c it's super exciting but to sadly say that poor Shelb's eye turn is back with a vengence :( We are not going to do surgery again at the moment (since I don't even think it worked this last time and it was quite traumatic), but we might try doing some eye muscle therapy. We'll revisit this in the New Year when she goes for her next visit. I'm bummed to say the least though :( In happier news, Dylan was chosen to go in their upcoming new pamphlet so he had his picture taken for that. They really, really wanted Ash to be in it cuz they thought she was so cute (especially in her adorable outfit from Nina G), but if you know our girl you know she is very stubborn and she just wouldn't allow any acceptable pics be taken of her. Poo on Ash!
Last week Monday our little 4 year old started his final year of preschool (pre-K). He was super excited and now goes 3 days a week (M, W, F). We were super excited he has Shelby's old teachers, Miss LeaAnne and Miss Angela (who was also Hailey's teacher soooo many years ago!). This is his first official day (last Wed.) of school....
Here is last Monday (orientation day) with mommy and daddy and Ash in tow :)
And soon our busy, energetic boy will start soccer, t-ball and basketball....we have some VERY busy Saturdays ahead of us with all three in sports those days....I can't even imagine when we add Ash in the mix, who we think might be a prima ballerina like Hailey :)
My baby! Is she not the sweetest??!! I am really enjoying my few days a week with just her and I chillin' out! Before too long she'll be in school (thankfully 2 more years to go) and I'll be all alone at home :( But, for now I am loving my almost 2 year old. It's crazy that her b-day is less than 2 weeks away. And even crazier (sadder) that I have nothing planned :( I am so busy lately and so not motivated to plan a party. Poor girl. Good thing she's only 2 and won't notice. I love this crazy, funny toddler!
Our last-minute late anniversary trip to Cincinnati 2 weeks ago was super-fab! I hope to post more about it later, but for now here's a couple teaser pics....of my and my handsome hubby....we saw a very cool castle (Kev loves castles) the one day built all by one man when he was like 80....
...and then we saw lots of sights in the downtown area. Very fun and very restful.
We REALLY loved our half-day adventure at the Cincinnati IKEA! It was our first time experiencing this store and boy does it make me want to reorganize and refurnish my entire house! What an awesome place! Thanks Cor for this idea!
So, that's a quick lil' run down of the going ons in our lil' household. Busy, busy, busy is the life we lead, but blessed, blessed, blessed we are by all of it. I wouldn't have it any other way. The kids are lovin' school and doing so well (Shelby is the "hot girl" in class apparently...she has two boys in the class who are in love with her (one even told me he has a crush on her)...they play kissy games on the playground...lovely!). On the homefront Kev has been busy getting us refinanced...we had our house reappraised (which went great!) and can't wait for lower payments, especially considering we are in need of a new vehicle (our van basically bit the dust a couple weeks ago). It's always something.....
Well, friends/family...thanks for checkin' in. I know some of you have mostly given up my lil' blog, but please don't lose all hope in me. I have great intentions, just very few extra minutes in a day.....
A few more pics of the family princess party....Ash LOVED her castle cake, which made the busy baking mommy and daddy very happy as we spent almost all day Saturday making it! :)
Telling us how much she really, really likes her lil' princess Ash cupcake :) She was fascinated by this...too bad I only had time to make one in about 5 minutes time before we left for the party...
A close-up of the cake very early that morning...we were proud we finished right after midnight instead of 2am with previous fondant creations (yes, we (or more like me) are crazy!) :)
A crazy lil' gang before the whole Steg family arrived...at Nina and Poppy Stegs house...we were so grateful they hosted so the family didn't have to drive far...
A sweet pic of my girl playing outside...it was a gorgeous day!
Playing in Nina and Poppy's new rock fountain...her fav. part of the day...until she got yelled at (by Poppy!) for drinking the water :)
Above is the best pic I could get of our busy girl in her darling outfit from my parents and Sharon (our gifted craft lady!) :) Sharon again, made two more beautiful shirts for Ash (both of which she wore this day since she got watermelon all over the first one). I love them! Love the coloring and just everything about them. They went perfect with the darling skirt from Nina and Pops in FL. She looked as cute as a princess should! And below is Ash with one of her fav. presents...a new pink princess stroller (and doll). She was all smiles over this...she LOVES babies! :)
