LETS...GO...HAWKS!

Getting ready for football season!


Jonathan, Hannah, and Hayden

Lets...Go...Hannah!
Hawks newest Cheerleader!

Hayden thinks Hannah is going to be pretty good!

Hayden and Jonathan looking out the window watching mommy mow the lawn.

"Where's Liv?" you ask. She was spending the day with Nana.

Bever Park and the Bever Park Zoo

Cedar Rapids has a small, small, small place where they keep a few ducks, pigs, chickens, and things of that nature for kids to come see. (Basically, it's for the kids that have never seen a farm before.) Anyways, since I had never been to the Bever Park Zoo, Nicole, our nanny, and I thought it would be something fun and different to do. So I picked a day when I had extra hands to help to go check it out. My mom was in town and had brought my niece Madison with her, and then my other niece Rachel also came. We decided to have a little picnic at the park first, and then move on to the zoo. I thought they had a splash pad there but it turns out that it was way old and no longer in use. It was really hot that day so I was actually looking forward to getting my feet wet a little. Although, they did have a pool nearby that Olivia begged me to take her to, lucky for me, "Next time we come," actually worked! (and in case your wondering, "next time," has not come yet.)

So below are some picture of our adventure at Bever Park!

Here we are trying to have a picnic. Nicole brought her roommates little dog. He was supper cute, and I use to have one just like him when I was a little girl, but the kids had never been around a puppy before so it was all very exciting for them (and nerve wracking for mommy)!

Here are my kids taking up all the little baby swings! Sorry folks, your kids are just going to have to wait their turn! :)

Jonathan.
I love this picture. He was having so much fun flying through the air! Somehow I forgot his hat, so he had to wear one of sisters! Still looks pretty cute though, if you ask me!

Liv playing on the play ground.

Checking out the geese.

Hayden, Hannah, and Jonathan wondering when this hot tour is ever going to end!

The kids did really well, and we will probably come back again next year. And who knows, maybe we will even go to the pool! ;)

Kids First Corn on the Cob!

Living in the mid-west there are some things that we get to enjoy that not everyone else does. And one of those things is fresh picked corn on the cob. It's amazing! And let me tell you, once you have had real corn, you will never want to go back to anything else. In Iowa you grow it, pick it, cook it up fresh, and then freeze what you can't eat so that you can have the sweet, yummy, deliciousness all year round. When Adam and I lived in Texas and South Carolina it was something that we truly missed. On a side note I will tell you this though, Schwan's frozen Super Sweet Cut Corn #773 is about the closest thing you will ever get. Anyways, back to the point! Here are some pictures of Hannah, Hayden, and Jonathan getting their first bites of the real deal!

At first they all started by gnawing at the very end of it.

Then Jonathan figured it out.

And it wasn't much later that the girls figured it out too!

The finished product! My camera isn't loving closeups right now, but you can still tell that they were really digging into it.

A Glimpse Into the Future

As most of you know Adam has been coaching the 9th grade baseball team at Prairie. Tonight they had a their end of the season party AT OUR HOUSE! It was actually a lot of fun to see all these kids here. They watched the Home Run Derby, had a soccer tournament in our backyard, and played old school RBI Baseball on Nintendo (that's right, NINTENDO). We got 8 pizzas and 4 orders of bread sticks from Little Caesar's. I made a batch of cookies, and I kid you not that they were gone in less then a minute. 20 cookies, gone in less then 60 seconds! Thanks, Betty Crocker! The only part that I didn't like is when they would call me, "Mrs. Sadler." There is nothing like adding a few years to your age then being called Mrs! (That is unless you are a teacher.)

A few of the boys watching the derby.

Playing soccer

 

Playing RBI

Watching "the boys" and eating a cookie. Liv was just as fast to grab a cookie as "the boys" were. She had a lot of fun and kept calling them "the boys." Too cute! 

Look at all these shoes! I couldn't believe all the big shoes that suddenly resigned at every door.

More shoes at the garage door.

Shoes at front door.

Liv standing next to dad as they watch the Home Run Derby.

So when it was all said and done I felt like we got a little glimpse into the future. When Nicole and I were putting the babies to bed she said that she thinks our house will be the house were everyone will want to hang out. My first thought was that I'm going to have to get a job just so we have enough food. Then, my second thought was that it would actually be pretty cool if we were that house. I mean, having the never ending flow of kids running through your house all the time would get annoying, but being able to keep an eye on what is going on with our kids and being in the know, definitely worth it. So I guess if this was a glimpse, I don't think it will be all that bad. Unless, they keep calling me Mrs. Sadler!

A Happy Fourth of July for Everyone

Okay, after my last post I almost immediately started feeling better. So with that being said here are some pictures of us enjoying the day. Everyone had a great day!

Olivia had spent the night at Nana and Papa's so Adam and I got to take the kids out for a walk, and they each got to sit in the wagon without having to take turns. 

She is so funny! Always ready to have a good time!

With dad pulling, Hannah felt the need to hang on to the bolt so Jonathan and Hayden wouldn't come unhitched. He can be a pretty crazy driver.
 

After the babies went to bed Olivia got to light some sparklers for the first time ever! She really liked them, and I think next year we will have to get another couple packages. Six were definitely not enough!

She is getting so big! I can't believe she is going to be three in less then a month! Whaahhhh!

Our neighbors up the street were lighting off their own fireworks so we got our own little show right there in our driveway.

Hope all of you had a happy and safe Fourth of July!

I Know I Shouldn't Complain....

But I'm going to anyways. For those of you that know me, you know that I try to stay pretty upbeat about things. When I'm having a bad day, I can usually turn it around. But this week has been killing me! It's not that we have been crazy busy, but just that my kids have been driving me crazy! I think part of it is because I haven't been able to get to sleep, or stay asleep very well for the last couple of weeks. I'm seriously thinking about trying some over-the-counter sleep aids, or something, because it is getting that bad! For me it goes like this: Sleep = Energy. There is not enough caffeine in this world right now that could do for me what one good night of sleep could. For those of you that have, had, or deal with small children, imagine your over tired child when you try to put them down for a nap or at night time. Now imagine how crabby and cranky they are during the day when they don't get enough sleep. That is ME! I am a grown adult who is over tired, crabby, cranky, and has to take take of one two year old that won't eat, and three one year olds that think throwing food and sippy cups from their trays is absolutely hilarious! AAHHHH!

Then today in the shower (at 4:30pm, not by choice) I was dreaming of vacations and quietness. When it dawned on me...I have not been alone in my house for over a year. It has probably been about 15 months to be exact. Think about that. Think about the last time you were alone in your very own house? No kids, no husband, OK your husband can stay, but you're ALONE. When was the last time? Please let me know. I want to know if I am just being stupid about this, or if this is something normal for people with kids. I know, I know, our situation is different. Trust me, I get that. But really a whole YEAR! My OWN house! I don't know why I am complaining about it though. I don't even know what I would do if I had the whole house to myself. I would probably end up cleaning, and right now I'm not a big fan of that! I am so sick of picking up I could puke! But if you let it go, even for a day, it's just not worth it.

Let's see what else can I complain about while I'm at it? Hmm...OH! Why do I feel like a freakin' chef all the sudden?! These kids eat so much it is unreal. I feel like I'm cooking up five course meals three times a day! Well, except for Olivia, all she will eat is cereal, cottage cheese, string cheese, celery, chippy's, cookies, and ice cream. And that is exactly why I am cooking them up all these crazy meals that I, myself, would probably never eat, because I am trying to keep their taste buds open to other things other then what Olivia eats. And you know, I don't know if I would mind so much if I knew how much was going to go into their mouths, and not the floor. I've been noticing too that Jonathan is getting more and more picky these days. He is already so much like Olivia I wonder if I will be dealing with meal time drama with him in the near future. Seriously, this girl would rather go take a nap then try a bite of mac-n-cheese (which she use to love)! It is maddening! I've tried begging, bribing, and yelling, and all it ends up doing is leaving one of us in tears. Usually her, but sometimes me.

Okay, since writing all this out I'm thinking of a new plan. First, find some sleeping pills until I can get in a weekend trip to Chicago for shopping and some serious spa time. Second, have Nicole worry about the meals and mess when she is working. And Third, pawn ALL the kids off on friends and relatives for a night! Hey, a girl can dream can't she! :) Wow, just dreaming about it is making me feel better already!

Seriously though, think about when the last time you had your house all to yourself and for how long, and let me know by posting a comment down below. I'd love to see the results!

Here is a picture of the kids in their new boosters. I got new ones because our old ones wouldn't slide under the table. And I hoping that someday we can get rid of the trays!

Look at Hayden's belly. Covered in food, so gross!

Olivia actually eating something for once.

Oh, Big Boy, it's going to be okay!

My favorite meal of the day, supper. The girls keep pulling off their bibs so we go shirtless, and then it's straight to the tub afterwards for bath time. It's my favorite because it's the last time I have to make and clean up a meal, clean up the kids, and their trays, and the seats, and the floors for the day! :)

Mice or Moles? What are these things?!!

Last week I was mowing the lawn and ran across a loose pile of dead grass. I finally got brave enough and gently kicked it up to see what was under it was what looked like a bunch of baby mice. I couldn't kill them because they looked to much like an ultrasound I'd seen before of three human babies about 10 weeks old. That being said, I did leave them uncovered and hoped for nature to take its place, or for mama mouse to come back and move them somewhere else (preferably not back in the lawn). I did check back in on them later in the day and they were gone.

Now, fast forward to today. I'm out doing my pre-lawn-mowing check to make sure that the gutter things are up, the gates are open, and that there are no toys hiding in the lawn. That's when I find another clump of dead grass. So I uncover it and low and behold there are some slightly bigger babies. This time I gently pick them up (with a rake, not my hands!) and put them in a bucket with their clump of grass they had been living under.

So now after looking at them (from a safe distance) I am wondering if they are moles. I googled both baby mice and baby moles and they look a lot alike.

What do you think? Mice or Moles?