Success!

Well, Icestorm Titan fought a good fight, but in the end, The Steg Lego Party won :)  I won't say it all went down w/o a hitch, but it went down all the same :)  YAY, YAY, YAY!  I will say when we woke up, we were worried...and debated what to do.  We didn't get hardly any snow...but we did get a fair share of ice, which is worse in my opinion.  All our church services were canceled right away.  We debated briefly on canceling the party.  Honestly it was just not an option. I had everything made and we had worked all weekend getting it planned and set up.  Redoing it another weekend and putting that time into another weekend was just not going to work for our family as it was not worth our time and energy.  I had a feeling we'd get some no-shows as far as his friends went.  I was a little worried about that b/c we had only invited a hand full of friends (on purpose...last year's party was toooooo wild!).  Anyway....so I sent an email out to the moms and told them the party was still on.  All seemed fine with it!  YAY!  They were willing to brave the elements...and Kev offered to pick up a bunch of the boys in his Yukon.  I was relieved.  It worked out well that church and all our other busy Sunday activities were canceled.  We were not scrambling to get party stuff done as usual.  It ended up at the last minute that two of the boys couldn't get here...but honestly...that was a God-send.  6 boys was pure craziness. They were wrestling and doing martial arts all in the our very small house.  We had just forgotten how rowdy boys can be.  It reminded me yet again how grateful I am that our two boys are not close in age and that we have girls to even our boy energy out.  I think God knew this was better for me and Kev! haha :)  Anyway....but the boys seemed to have great fun being Lego Loonatics :)  And Kev and I are just glad it's all done and we didn't have to do a party re-do.  Dylan will sure have a fun story to tell one day about his 8th bday.  You'd thinking planning a party on March would have been safe for sure (at least in Indiana :)).  At this point I'm not sure any month is safe, but we have vowed that for his 9th bday, we will do a bash outside in the summer!  So thankful for D's good buddies who made the effort to be at his party (one even walked with his dad from their house in the ice...that's dedication!)  And Kev was awesome to pick up/drop off half of the party-goers.  All in all...a good day. Now I can rest this week...and start gearing up for our St. Patty's Day bday :)

Go away Titan

As if this winter hasn't been hard enough....it is now March and we are waiting yet another brutal storm :(  Not only that, but our sweet D is supposed to have his lil' ol' lego party tomorrow (finally!) and it could be sleeting/icing/snowing up to 10 inches in the next few hours.  Of all days.  I really thought I was safe from weather woes planning a party in March.  At this rate I don't even think summer is safe!  Anyway...I am saying a lil' prayer tonight that by this time tomorrow night we have successfully had an 8 year old party with 8 boys.  Thankfully 7 of the 8 boys live right in or near our neighborhood so if we have to have Kev be chauffeur in his Yukon we can (he loves driving in ice and snow :))  And we could always pull out the sleds and get everyone that way! haha :)  Never a dull moment.  Please be kind to us Storm Titan!

A few old pics to pass the time...

 Lots of party planning to do still...we are last minute on that as always!  But it's been a busy day and I need to sit for a moment...so thought I'd post a few old pics.  Of Logan and his "at home" 1st bday party last month...rocket-themed...and biggest sis, Hays, my wonderful helper :) 

 Daddy-daughter girl scout square dance on Feb 8 :)  Daddy even got Shelb a lovely corsage and they had a rootin' tootin' time dancing that evening!

 Ash and her own rendition of her fav. snowman--Olaf :)

 Logan looking sporty in his new knitted hat that my mom got on an online auction from my old friend Wendi's blog.  So cute!  It'll be perfect for next winter!  Thanks, Shelley!

 These are for Pops....tell us what you think of bball Dyl and his form :)  He loves bball right now!  Two more games to go.  He shoots....

 ...he scores! Well, this doesn't show it, but he did!  Is that proper follow-through, Pops?  Looks a little girly to me?! :)

Love this shot! Lol!  Love my big boy's enthusiasm. 

Here's to another busy weekend....and some crazy weather yet again coming our way which I hope doesn't mess with party plans!  I am just thankful bday boy is feeling better!

14 months...growing so fast!

Just a quick post in honor of my boy...who is now 14 months old.  Wow, where has time gone?  He is now a big ol' walker...he walks back and forth from room to room and it's the cutest thing ever how he waddles around.  He's such a big boy.  Here's a few pics from the last couple weeks....my camera was on the wrong setting for most of them so they are grainy (but still cute :)).  We made Logan his own snowman before our snow melted.  He wasn't so excited to see his helmet on the white snowy guy :)  And no one bothered to tell me I was not grammatically correct with my 13 month sign last month! lol :)  Love this little guy so much and feel so blessed by his crazy baby ways :)

Learing the hard way

Well, the blog has been and will be post-less for awhile. 

Our sweet lil' fam is just going through some tough times.  Trying to re-evaluate what we make important and trying to balance it all.  Because it's just become too much of a rat race for us.  I just about lost my mind on Monday morning.  Lack of sleep had a ton to do with it.  Being up at 4am is not good for me (I'm a very non-morning person!).  But I am not the only one struggling right now.  It's one thing when I'm struggling, but to see my kids and hubby struggling...that's especially not good.  I hate that it has to come to us all having some mental breakdowns for us to make some changes, but I think you know us Stegs--we tend to learn the hard way :)

At any rate...I've had a couple of days to recup the mind and spirit and try to gather more rest...and now it's time to make some major changes.  I need to hold myself accountable to these things too....

1.  Very few (or no more!) playdates for the kids for the next two months.  This doesn't include two parties that I know we will have in the very near future.  But all other playdates at our house are no-go.  And as much as I love to help friends out when they need help with kids, that will also include this.  I hate this, but I have got to have more "me" time and more time with just Ash and Logan during the days.  Ash will be in Kinder in just 5 months...eek!  Plus I have learned recently she is also very much needing some quiet time in the afternoons after her busy mornings.

2.  Less activity on the weekends.  This has got to happen and it's going to be tough saying "no" to good things like church activities and some parties, but this dropping kids off here and there sounds like it's simple, but it's just sucking up our weekends.  If only we had an extra chauffeur in town (like a Nina or Pops). Sigh.

3.  We have got to take more "me" time. I am not just talking about me. Though some time sitting in bed watching movies or napping or soaking in the tub...that sounds lovely!  I'm also talking about Kev.  He needs some more down time. I fear this craziness will put him in an early grave.  And the kids need their down time too.  To just play in their rooms or read or anything....

I know there are many more things to add to this list, but this is where I'm starting.  It's all gonna really have to start with some prayer, because I am so not good at doing all three of these things....and I'm also a people pleaser so I want to help those out who need it and give my kids every opportunity to play with friends and go to activities.  But, being this worn down from all of this is going to put us all in the loony bin.  Praying we can be strong and make some changes b/c ultimately I know a happier/more rested family is a better family :)

Non-stop

Feeling so exhausted on this Sunday night.  We are realizing quickly that this non-stop scheduling has to stop.  We are just getting too old for this...poor Kev and I :)  The kids are wearing down too. It was Shelby's violin concert today and honestly I didn't think she'd make it through it.  She was struggling today.  None of us can shut our brains down at night so we get a good night's sleep and we pay for it the next day.  She is just as bad as us.  We probably could have used a whole day to do nothing today.  Not in the cards.  We need to make some great strides in March to cut back.  I am certainly glad our spring break is in 3 weeks b/c we are doing NOTHING then!

Anyway...no pics today and no deep post....

It was a fun weekend in some respects...

1.  We got to see both our ballerinas dance at parent visitation week.  Hays was over the moon to have us fawning over her and taking pics :)  Ash was as cute as always hamming it up in her creative movement class.  I think she might be the youngest in the class of 20, but she was the tallest.  She's gonna be a big girl!

2.  D had a great bball game.  He's a little hustler out there.  Love to see his energy channeled in the right direction. 

3.  D finally saw the lego movie with daddy.  This was originally going to be his bday party (take some friends to see it), but he didn't love this idea.  Sure would have been easier than a party at home like we're having next weekend.  Oh well.  He had fun going to see the big movie with daddy. 

4.  Finally planned out D's lego party for next Sunday.  Nothing like last minute.  He planned out most of the games himself and wants to make it a Lego Olympics.  Should be fun...and crazy with a bunch of boys in the house.  Thankfully we cut the number of boys down to a handful so it won't be as crazy as year's past (fingers crossed!).  We did get invites out on Sat.  Daddy made them...and they are pretty cool :)

5.  Shelby did beautifully for her violin concert today.  She played "Quirk"--a fun piece.  It was standing-room only in that concert hall. Crazy.  Poor Nina and Poppy Stegs were about 5 minutes too late and missed her part.  They were bummed...but they were good sports for being there. And so sweet to take us out to Steak and Shake after for shakes and food :)  It was great to see them in their week back from AZ. 

6.  We made the trek to Indy for the afternoon for our 2nd cousin's 1st bday.  It was a fun lil' Hungry Caterpillar theme for Rylee.  She was so cute too being very tidy with eating her apple cake :)  It was great to see most of the Steg fam.  Logan toddled all around.  He can now walk across whole rooms and even from one room back to another.  I think his helmet makes him top heavy so he's often off balance...it's funny to watch.

7.  Hailey's ballet article was actually published in the paper 812 magazine that just came out.  Our family stumbled upon it and was shocked to see her photo and name in print like that.  Very cool for our "famous" ballerina :) 

Lots of fun things in a full weekend....but a large part of me is wanting things to be a little dull and boring and not so "full".  I know this is our problem to solve.  We'll figure it out.  Now it's off to bed to finish watching the closing ceremonies.  Love that there is more ballet in it.  Not a common thing for Olympics, but it's a great part of Russian culture.

Nighty Night...

Saturday Smiles :)

 Just a few misc. Sat. smiles to brighten the day :)  Dylan and his lego man cake on his bday last month...

 Ash having a snack...can you guess what? :)

 Sweet Sis Shelb reading to her little bro :)

 Someone learned to brush his teeth for the first time....yes, he thought the toothbrush was for his hair :)  But what a good invention...a hair/tooth brush!  Genius!

 I am realizing I have very few pics of Hays...I might have to fix this problem...beware, Hays :)  This is all I got of Hays this month...at D's derby race...

My sweet girl scout before her father-daugher square dance :)

Hope you all are having a super Sat.  Ours was busy but good!