Okay, So The Worst Blogger Award Goes To......

I think we all know the answer to that one! I've been stressing out over how far behind I've gotten but I think I have just decided to start fresh. Of course I will give you a quick recap on what has been happening around here the last few months but then after that I am just going go with the flow and not worry about how far behind I am in anything! Hey, I've got four kids, right! But honestly, I really hate to use them for an excuse when it comes to my being unmotivated.

So here what has been going on in the Sadler Fun House!

Olivia continues to amaze me! Those of you that know her know how much she loves to talk, sing, dance, play, read books, and watch movies. She has a wonderful imagination and seems to be very smart. Or at least her mom and dad think so! Something that she really loves going to this winter is her Music Together class that the Cedar Rapids Symphony puts together. Her class meets once a week, and they sing songs, play with different instruments (this section is on drums, so we get to play with a lot of different percussion instruments), and we do lots of movement, dancing and actions to the songs. She has so much fun and gets so excited to when we tell her that it time to go to "Music Class" I'm so glad we decided to give it a try. Olivia is also starting to use the potty more. So hopefully in a couple more weeks she will be ready to kick the diapers and permanently move into "underpants".

Somethings that Hannah is doing these days is crawling, pulling her self up on things, scaling across furniture and gates, and cutting teeth. She has one top front tooth that has come in but is working on the other one. No bottom teeth yet! Hannah, can also clap her hands and loves to pose for pictures. You say cheese and she smile and poses. Too Cute.

Hayden is our daredevil. She too is crawling, pulling herself up and scaling things. She has two top teeth and is cutting one bottom front tooth as of right now. She is really starting to ham things up too now.

Jonathan, continues to grow and shows no signs of ever being 8 weeks early! He too is crawling, pulling himself up, and zooms across the gate and furniture. He is also getting very good at standing without holding on to things, and I think we will see him walking very soon! He will take a step here or there to come to mommy but then falls to the floor to crawl the rest of the way. And as exciting as that is, it also makes me very nervous for the next stage we are about to enter!!!

We have our next check up on the 10th and I am excited to see how much they have grown over the last three months! Oh, and as for talking...there is a lot of blah, blah, blah's, and screams, and a few da da da's and a couple of ma ma ma's. And when they are eating something that they find extra delicious its "mmm, mmm, mmmm!!!"

As for mom and dad...

Adam will be wrapping up his 2nd year back at Sadler Power Train and he has been very busy. He seems to have learned a great deal about their family business these past two years and to me it shows. Adam does many different things there...he works in the warehouse, behind the parts counter, and he delivers parts...he does a lot of their promotional work, creates their newsletters and fliers, and now he is starting to do some sales too! They are also launching a new website http://www.drivetrainamerica.com/ that they have been working very hard on.

Adam is also about to embark on a new adventure as well. Well, maybe not new, but he is going to be coaching the 9th grade baseball team at Prairie this summer. I know what some of you are thinking, "What? How does he have time to do that?" and "I can't believe you are going to let him do that!" But I have to tell you it was my idea. I heard that the position was open from a friend and deep down I knew that Adam probably missed coaching, so I told him about it. And maybe I am crazy for telling him to go for it, but baseball has been such a big part of his life, and it was a big part of ours too, I just felt like it was something that he might want to do. And its not a long commitment like coaching at a college is.

Some other things Adam has been up to this winter is playing basketball on Tuesday nights with the guys, and he has started the P90X workout. I believe is on week five of the workout and he is starting to see some really good results! Or at least I think so!

So, what have I been up to? Well, besides the hustle and bustle of babies and a toddler, not much. I'm completing my third year as a stay at home mom and besides the work load tripling, not a whole lot new here. Something that I really enjoyed this last winter besides watching my four beautiful children grow, was going on a nice, relaxing, wonderfully quiet vacation with my wonderful husband and our friends, Austin and Ashley Evans of Texas. We spent a whole week in Grand Cayman and it was amazing. Don't get me wrong, I did miss my babies (I called or texted at least once a day) but I so needed a little R&R! Funny thing is Adam and I never slept in that whole week. We were always up by 7:00. We would have a nice quiet breakfast on the screened in patio and then just sit there. It was wonderful! Now every once in a while when things are starting to get crazy I just take a little trip down memory lane to that very quiet vacation.

Something new I have started doing is going to some Bible study classes at the church we have been attending. The first one I went to was a study from the book, For Women Only, which talked about why guys are the way they. I'm sure a lot of you have read books on that topic, but for me it was the first time it made real sense. It wasn't just about why guys are guys, it was more about why God made men the way they are and how to deal with it as a wife. It was a good study and I totally recommend it! And now I am reading a book called Heaven by Randy Alcorn. It too has really opened my eyes to what the bible says Heaven is going to be like. I think it is really going to be amazing! The book itself can be a little hard to read at times and repetitive, but I think he does that for a reason. So this too I would recommend!

So I guess that is all for now!

Stay tuned to see how the babies 1st Birthday went! Hopefully it won't take me another five months to post about it!

Our First Family Trip and the Babies Baptism

Our first big (well big for us) trip with all four kiddos. We started our travels to Des Moines, Iowa. Friday night we stayed downtown at the Holiday Inn and went to the Blank Park Zoo. It was Olivia's first trip to a zoo and she loved it! She is very into animals so it was right up her alley! We also got to visit my cousin, Keenan, her husband, Korey, and their new little baby boy, Hudson.

On Saturday we headed back home to Renwick. That night Adam and I went to the races in Algona to watch our friend Justin Zimmerman race. It was very exciting! Justin and I grew up together since we were tiny little babies so I was very nervous, probably more then he was!

Then Sunday was the big day. That was the day we got Hannah, Hayden and Jonathan baptized. It was a very nice service and everyone did a very good job. After the service we had cake and ice cream downstairs at the church.

Then we packed up and left for home. We all made it back in one piece, but I do believe that is the last time we have done a weekend trip. I think we might just stick to day trips from now on. It's a lot of work to pack everything up for a whole weekend! Our Suburban was completely jammed pack from front to back! It was craziness!

Thankfully the hotel had THREE pack-n-plays. So we didn't have to bring ours. And no, the babies do not like to sleep together. They aren't very good sharers. I think it has something to do with all the sharing they had to do in the womb!

Time for breakfast! I think this was one of the first times that I propped bottles, and while I know that "they" say you shouldn't do that, I wished I would have started doing it sooner! It was so much easier and they ate so much faster because they weren't so distracted with other things!

After bottles its time for cereal so here they are on the bed getting ready to eat. Happy campers so far!

The Blank Park Zoo. We went on family night so it was really nice. There wasn't very many people there and those that were had kids too so we didn't get too many stares!

Here Olivia is admiring the giraffes.

Amazed by the lions! Roarrr!

Watching the sea otters. They were silly!

Here are the babies being very good and patient while sister looks at all the animals.


Olivia and daddy watching the seal do tricks!

Saturday night after the races.
Adam next to the Sadler Power Train decal on Justin's car.

Sunday!
Olivia fell asleep on our way to the church and through half the service! She had been playing very hard the night before.

My sister Paula is Hannah's Godmother, and standing next to her is Pastor Lynn Noel.

My sister Crystal is Hayden's Godmother.

My sister Theresa is Jonathan's Godmother.

Here is the delicious cake we had afterwards to celebrate.

What a blessed day!

Liv's Big Birthday Party!

We celebrated Olivia's 2nd birthday with friends and family the weekend after her actual birthday. It was quite the celebration too, let me tell you! There was a bounce house, sprinkler, slides and swings, bubbles, pizza, presents, cake, and ice cream.

To get the party started we had pizza and bread sticks

from Godfathers.

Above is Aunt Theresa and Olivia.

Then we kicked everyone outside to play.

Here is Mabry, Olivia and Owen in the ball pit part of the bounce house.

Cousins Madison and Jaxen getting all wet while they play in the flower water sprinkler.

Madison going down one of the slides while Sarah helps Jordan go down the other one.
Jordan really had a good time going down the slides!

Left to right is Ella, Jordan, Liv, and Jaxen making lots of bubbles.

Then it was time to come inside and open presents!

A new favorite thing to do for Olivia!

Here she is trying on her sleeping bag/back pack

from Aunt Debbie.

And once the presents were finished it was time for

cake and ice cream.

Her birthday cake was Minnie and Mickey Mouse.
We couldn't really decide want kind of a party we wanted so we had her two favorite things, Mickey and the Little Mermaid.


Olivia enjoying her cake!

She is such a big girl!

After the cake and ice cream it was nap time for EVERYONE!

Olivia Turns Two!

For Liv's birthday we kind of celebrated it like Christmas. When she woke up she got her favorite drink, chocolate milk, and then Adam made her some special Birthday Pancakes. One with chocolate chips and the other shaped as Mickey Mouse with two candles in it's ears. "Happy Birthday" was sang and then it was time to open presents, which she is really getting into these days! She got a BIG coloring book, a Little Mermaid puzzle, Little Mermaid Barbie, and a t-ball set. My mom was also here so she got to open up her presents from grandma too, which was some cutie PJ's and a bar that hangs on her swing set so she can hang on them like at Somersaults. After all the presents where opened we went outside and Adam showed her how to hit a ball and then he put up her new monkey bar.

A BIG coloring book with Pooh Bear.

She loves her little mermaid! Ariel and Flounder never miss a bath tub or shower!

PJ's from Grandma. Jonathan approves!

Looking pretty good Liv!

Swinging on her new bars from Grandma!

In the afternoon I took her to see Adam's baseball game in Williamsburg. She loves to watch her daddy play baseball!

After the win all the dad's took their kids on the field.

Then that night I took her to her very first movie, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. She did so well, I couldn't believe it. Once we got home she was exhausted and was ready for nite-nite time. It was a perfect day!

Well almost perfect! Olivia also encountered her very first baby mouse or should I say mice! I was getting ready for the movie and she starts yelling out, "Mommy, squeaky squishy!" I'm not quite sure if she picked one up but the way she was moving her hands and saying squeaky squishy I'm guessing she did. Needless to say Olivia was completely sanitized very soon after we figured out what she was talking about!

Loves to Watch Her Daddy Play Baseball!

This summer Adam played baseball for Red Top. He played one night a week usually on Wednesday or Thursdays. At the beginning of the season I always stayed home with the kids and somebody would graciously volunteer to help me at home, but towards the end of the season I started to get a little braver and things started to get a little more consistent so I think we ended up going to the last 3 out of 4 games with the whole family! And of course there was always plenty of helping hands; Cari, Cathy, Liz, Tom, Julie, Muffy, Nana and Papa!

Olivia loves to watch her daddy play baseball! And he had a really great season! His batting average was .333, he had 5 doubles and 10 RBI's. He played 2nd base and catched, and also DH'd! I know Adam really enjoys going out and playing and it ended up being a great way for me and the kids to get out of the house and spend some time outdoors. I can't believe I'm saying this...but I'm looking forward to next year!

In the pictures above Olivia is enjoying the game and her popcorn, or as she likes to call it sometimes, "cocorn"!

On her birthday in Williamsburg. If they win they go on to the tournament in Davenport.
Here she is showing daddy how her new friend Kal's piggy bank works.

After the game on the field celebrating their win!

On the way home. Stole daddy's hat and heart and now is off to dream land!

Suburban Landscape

We finally got our house re-landscaped this week! Yeah!!
My brother-in-law, Jack Blong, and his friend , Troy Ostwinkle, run Suburban Landscape out of North Liberty, IA. They are supper busy this summer so I was very excited to find out that they would be able to come to do our landscaping. We had some stuff before but it was the regular Ole' builders special from some other company, needless to say it was nothing special. We also just had a fence put up (got to keep those kids in somehow!) so our back yard needed something special. So for Olivia's birthday uncle Jack came through and was able to squeeze us in. The guys on the crew did an excellent job and we are really happy with the results. I wish I had some before pictures!

Fun With Rachel!

While our nanny was gone this week my niece, Rachel, stepped in to help out. We were even brave enough to go to the park one morning! She came here every day Monday through Thursday and her help was very much appreciated. Olivia absolutely loves "My Rachie!" and the babies love her too!

Olivia stuffing in Potato O'Lays with Rachel by her side.

Hayden giving Rachel a big grin!

Hannah thinks she is pretty funny too.

Jonathan thinks she is hilarious!

Got to love the fresh air!

Rachel and Olivia running from the splash pad to the slides!

Thanks Rachel! Your the BEST!