My limit

I reached the limit of what I am able to do today. I will never attempt this again as it was pure HELL! I had to take all four kids to a very long swim meet (where obviously only one child is swimming), by myself. First I had to wake everyone up early to get there on time (that put some in a bad mood, not to mention they were very late getting their naps). Then keeping the three youngest entertained for 7 hours between Skylar's events had me pulling my hair out.

However, Skylar had a phenomenal day at her meet. I think she is really starting to understand that you are supposed to go as fast as you can at a meet. It is not like practice. Anyway, she dropped 20 sec. in her 100IM, and 3-5 sec in all of her 25's. I was really proud of her! She is only a couple of seconds away from Tri-State times, which is very good for a 6 year old.

About halfway through the meet James found a "best friend" and they played well together. But, it was hard keeping an eye on where the two of them were off to. He was so annoyed that I wanted to make sure I could see him. He wanted me to just leave him alone to play.

After Kellen had escaped from me for about the 100th time and ran down the two flights of stairs, he hit the railing going around the corner and has quite the black eye to show for it. Did that stop him from running away? NOOO!

Lucky for me, some of the swim team moms love babies and were fighting over who got to hold Brennen. It is a good thing he is such a happy, calm, sweet-natured baby or I would have never made it through today alive!

To end a great day, Skylar lost another tooth!

Crafting can be dangerous

Finally, an afternoon with no agenda. So the kids break out some painting supplies to make Valentine Cards.

Who knew that painting could be so harmful?!

Kellen decided to forgo the painting to have more time with his favorite possession, Blankie!

We made Banana Bread!

While Kellen and I made banana bread, James took care of Brennen.

Brennen's not sure if he wants to laugh or cry! If you listen in the background, you can hear Kellen asking for more batter!

Of course, James did get a taste of the batter!

It's lunch duty day!

On the last Wednesday of the month, I volunteer for lunch duty at Skylar's school. It is always so fun to see her surrounded by her friends and interacting with other people. She is not embarrassed by me yet, so we always have a good time. Skylar was smarter than me today. She brought her lunch and I had to stomach the chicken noodle soup!

The Brenne-man is back!

He is finally feeling better today! Got lots of smiles and giggles today. He has been so miserable the past couple of days, I really missed his smile!

Best Friends or Mortal Enemies

The Story of the Grapefruit

These two can be best friends one minute and mortal enemies the next. Today, these two were going at it over a grapefruit. James has always loved grapefruit, but I did not know that Kellen liked it. So, I cut a grapefruit up for James this morning. Kellen then threw a fit because he wanted one too. Since he had enough food on his plate, I didn't get him one (I also thought he just wanted it because James had it). Well, James only ate a few pieces this morning, but then he wanted it again for lunch. Kellen and James had been playing so nice all morning, laughing and running all over the house. Then came lunch. James was eating his grapefruit, but when James left the table to go to the bathroom, Kellen snatched it and shoved it as quick as he could into his mouth. When James came back he said, "Hey, what happened to my grapefruit?!" One look at Kellen gave him the answer and then World War Three broke out! I guess I will have to buy more grapefruit!

A rough night to start a rough week!

Well, just because I don't want to make things too easy for my mommy, I decided to stay up until 3 in the morning last night crying. She tried everything to calm me down, but nothing seemed to work. All I can say is that my belly really hurt. Finally after about an hour of burping me, she got an enormous burp out. It was so much air and with such force that mommy was surprised that my stomach had not popped. I felt much better after that and finally fell asleep. But, all day long, my stomach has been filling up with a lot of air and it has been hurting me. Mommy thinks I have some kind of stomach virus that is producing a lot of gas in my intestines, as I am having a lot of tummy pain and as soon as I burp or toot, I feel so much better. I hope this goes away soon. I would much rather be smiling (I think my mommy likes it better that way too)! Mommy is not so happy with me because she has this whole next week without Papa (he is working in Atlanta) and she didn't want to start the week out exhausted. I'm so sorry Mama!

A sad bunch of kids, missing their papa so!

All right kids, I think you are overacting just a little!

Skylar's 100th day of school

Skylar had her 100th day of school today and they had a party for it. Lots of yummy treats and a cool 100 crown.

Lena plays Wii Fit

While Lena and Big James were here for the weekend, we played their new game, Wii Fit. We all think Lena should get 10 points for style!

They're engaged!

I held out as long as I could, but I finally caught what everyone else had. I do not like having a fever. It puts me in a very bad mood!

Lena and Big James came up for the weekend to babysit the kids because we have a poker tournament that we play in every year and guess what?! They are engaged!! Beautiful ring!



JT got 6th in the poker tournament and won a Garmin navigation system. I got a lousy 60th place.

Kellen just being cute!

A long night and a long day

Last night James woke up screaming in pain from his ear. By the time I got him settled down, I hear Kellen screaming next door. He had fallen out of bed and hit his head against the wall. After getting him settled down, Brennen decides he is ready for a early morning snack. Skylar was coughing all night long. When she woke up this morning, she told me, "I am not going to school today." She seemed fine (a little tired, maybe), so I told her she was going to school. She really seems to think she makes the decisions. After she was off, we were off to get James' ear checked out. He did have an ear infection. Then it was back home for naps. Then Skylar came home and was off to swim practice. Ice skating was immediately following. In all the rush, I forgot the camera for skating. I keep telling her she is doing too much, but she doesn't want to give either of those up. So for the next couple of weeks, Thursdays are going to be a bit rough.

Happiness and Joy

Brennen loves his changing table. Nothing makes him more happy than to lay here and get his diaper changed or get tickled or just smile at his mama.

Skylar and James start gymnastics




Skylar and James both love Gymnastics! The winter session has started, so for the next 8 Wednesdays, they will be at the gym. The teachers tell me that James is surprisingly good. He has amazing balance and seems to be able to do some tricky moves with good form.

Brennen Rolls Over!

"Mom, I will roll over when I am good and ready! Stop trying to make me do things I don't want to do!


I have been telling people that I think Brennen is never going to roll over. I have been forcing him to lay on him stomach (which he hates). I have been practicing going from back to front with him, with no success. Finally, today, during tummy time he rolled over from his front to his back! Yeah, Brenne!


Today, Kellen decided HE wanted to read Brennen some stories. So he threw the books in the crib on top of Brennen and got caught trying to crawl in the crib. Only problem, Brennen was asleep (until the books landed on his face).


Skylar got 8/8 on her spelling test. Skylar has a hard time writing her p's and d's the right way, and she got those right! Way to go!

A Sad Day for Brennen

Brennen is so sad today. James and Kellen are both sick and Skylar is at school, so he has no one to play with.


One sick boy...

Two sick boys!

Krazy Kellen hair

Kellen always has really crazy hair because he has three cowlicks. Today, after nap, was particularly crazy!

It's Saturday!

It was a lazy morning with Mama and Papa. Skylar, James and Kellen spent the night at the hotel with grandma and grandpa last night, so we had a nice quiet calm morning. The rest of the day was back to an insane amount of chaos.

Skylar had a friend over. Boy do they giggle a lot. It is really hard to sleep when there is more than one girl in the house. I did not get my nap!!

Then James had a friend over, but they did not want their pictures taken.

Kellen was just so happy to be included in everything.

Baby it's cold outside

Another freezing cold day in Iowa (-11F). Good thing I am part polar bear so that I can stay warm. James on the other hand....







He thinks this is all he needs to wear outside. "But mom, I have boots on!"















At least I can wear a diaper and don't have to go to the bathroom outside like some other poor unfortunate creature!!













I guess I'll just be happy that I have a roof over my head and lots of siblings to play with!!!

Look Who's talking

I am finding my voice and I love to use it!

The Missing Cucumber

Last Sunday, I went to make a salad for lunch and I could not find the cucumber that I had just bought a couple of days ago. I knew that I had put it away. So, I went to ask JT if he ate a whole cucumber recently (which would be very out of character). He said he had not touched it. I could not find it anywhere and eventually gave up, but it really bothered me. Cucumbers just don't disappear. Anyway, as I am putting away the dishes today, I knock the lid off of this green pot by accident and , WOW, there is my cucumber! Last Friday, James and Kellen were playing Chef. I did not know that they were playing with real food. When I was cleaning up after them, I just put the pots away without looking under the lids. Now today, I find the food (I did not realize a pepper was missing as well) in a much altered state. Thank goodness I found the food now or it would have really started to smell bad!

Another 2 hour late start

We got a couple more inches of snow last night (like we need it), so school was delayed for 2 hours again. Yes, this is the snow pile outside of my house. Usually, we love to play on it, but today it is soooo cold (-4 F) and with the wind blowing, it is too cold to have any skin exposed. So to pass the time before the bus came, we decided to....











Play some Wii


James and I love to play Wii together, especially Tennis. James is unusually good at Tennis and he usually beats me (which makes me very angry). However, this time I got him! (Do you like the effects of the camera work? Mama and Papa got a new camera and are playing with the new settings)










I can't believe she beat me!