Boys, Boys, BOY

Today a little boy played in the dirt.

He played and played.

While he played his brothers worked.

They helped their dad trim trees, rake, and move rocks.

Boy got hungry.

Boy made a mess.

He even used the scissors.

When his very tired mommy looked at him, all he said was "I like M&M's," and walked away.

A very tired mommy had to smile. Hey, I like M&M's too. I understand. I'm just glad it isn't my stash!! Whatta boy!

I'm Not Napping!

The other day I was trying to convince Brech that he needed a nap. He stubbornly insisted he did not. I finally talked him into reading a few books with me. Usually I lay down and nurse Gianna while Brech and I read. Since Gianna has been about 3 months old she has stopped nursing while I read to see the book. I think she enjoys listening to the story and seeing the pictures as much as Brech does.

Well, this particular day reading had some rough, horrible (to a 3 year old) side effects......

SLEEP!

Poor Brech Earl took his nap after all. They slept for about 2 hours. Sneaking out of bed with one sleeping kid is easy - sneaking out of bed with two sleeping kids is not easy. Especially when, as you notice in the picture, Gianna sleeps with one hand on the person next to her. This is where little stuffed animals come in handy. You slip out and stick a stuff animal or blanket under her hand and she's fine.

They are so very sweet. I think I fall more in love with babies and little kids as I grow up. Its like you get a glimpse of heaven in their eyes. :-) And experience peace when they sleep!

Home Tour #3

UPSTAIRS BATHROOM - I finally decorated it. I was waiting for just the right rugs, which I found. I think it looks ok. I ordered a Scentsy plug-in warmer with dragonflies on it to go in here. I am hoping to find a picture with these colors and some dragonflies to go over the toilet.

THE DINING ROOM AND KITCHEN - the only things that have changed in these rooms since I took the pictures is now we have pictures on the wall and a new faucet. Maybe I will take updated pictures one of these days. That would mean I have to clean the kitchen again. ;-)

Quick Trip to South Dakota

We planned a quick trip back to South Dakota last weekend. We left Thursday evening. We were pulling our trailer, but about 30 minutes into the trip had to turn around and take it back. SO, an hour wasted and 7 hours ahead of us - we started out again. We ran into rain and some of the thickest fog I've ever seen. After driving 40 mph on the interstate - we finally made it to Watertown (2 hours from us) about 10 PM. We were going to keep heading west, but decided to get a hotel room instead. Wise choice as it would have been almost 3 AM before we would have reached our final destination - and that was without the fog.

We drove the rest of the way on Friday morning. Friday afternoon we hung out at Grandma and Grandpa Gebes' house while Daddy helped Grandpa. Gianna found plenty to do to keep herself busy.

First she checked out the toys.

Next she inspected the end table.

She got super excited about the plant.

Read up on some bulls for sale. She heard Daddy was in the market for a bull or two.

Played "Peek-a-Boo" with her mommy - after she threw the papers all over the floor.

Back to the toys again.

OH man - high centered!

Help me, Mommy! Stop taking pictures already!

We attended Grandma Margie's 100th birthday party on Saturday. Here are Bella and Gianna hanging with their daddies and listening to the men talk bulls.

From the looks on their faces, I'd say it wasn't very interesting. They were holding hands, but I missed the chance to get a picture of that.

There are new baby chicks at Grandpa and Grandma Bestgen's house. Kaylene wanted a few new pets. The boys were excited to see and hear the chicks.

It won't be long and they will be asking for some of their own.

And of course the Girls. All 30 beautiful, black cows. Twenty belong to us and ten belong to Peter and Mauri.

The first one to calf was one of Peter's - yesterday, a boy. Congrats Peter and Mauri!

They were keeping a watchful eye over Peter and Darren as they were feeding.

Hungry mommas don't wait for you to take the twine off.

We ended our Saturday with some fun games at the Mark Park. Blase and I against Stephen and Uncle Dirk. It was pretty evenly matched. None of us are good players.

March - Seriously?

Last week we were playing outside with short-sleeves and no coats. Is it really March? I can't believe it. The warm weather was calling our names so I dismissed school early for the day and told everyone to head outside for PE.

No sunny day is complete without some tree climbing. The boys are super excited that we have trees they can climb. They would have to be as tall as Paul Bunyan to climb the trees at our place in Michigan. As you can see from the picture, they need a bit more practice and whole lot of brother help to climb that tree.

Stephen did end up climbing a shorter tree.

SUCCESS!!

Give a boy a stick and he will turn it into a sword. Bad tree! Bad, bad tree!!

Little Sister does NOT want to play outside.

No one loves me....boo, hoo, hoo.

What was that Blase? You're stuck? Huh? What? Take a picture?? NO? Oh, sorry - too late I already took a picture of you trying to climb a tree, but got stuck instead.

It was not too long after this picture that I made a rule that only ONE boy in that tree at a time. They were going to try to get Cormac up there too. Poor tree.

See Gianna, someone does love you. All the boys took turns pushing Gianna and Brech around. What nice brothers.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

For St. Patrick's Day this year we did our traditional menu of corned beef and cabbage, carrots and potatoes, 7 layer jello, bread, Irish Cream Chocolate cheesecake, and green punch. We hosted the party for a wonderful family with 8 kids. Their kids were SO polite and our kids made some new friends. To get ready for the party, I cleaned the whole house. Seriously. Well, I didn't get around to cleaning the furnace room or the catch all purple room - but the rest of the house was clean. That was one of the reasons why I didn't post on the blog that week. I was just tired and simply ran out of time.

I bought the kids new St. Patrick's Day shirts this year. They wear them all year long so they had worn out the ones I bought a few years ago.

Even Gianna and I wore a bit of Irish colors for the weekend and following week. My shirt says "Irish Attitude". I think it fits me quite well - except for the pink rainbow.

We left the decorations up for another week. We didn't decorate as much as we have in previous years. It was still fun picking up all those little shamrocks after Brech Earl decided they would look better on the floor instead of the railing.

We hope your St. Patrick's Day was filled with Irish fun.

Rex's Finger

On March 16th Rex's finger found itself in a door being shut by Cormac. Rex's finger was very sad about being smashed near a door hinge. It bled. It wanted to swell - but we iced it. His fingernail didn't want to stay on anymore.

Cormac felt terrible the whole day. He tried to help Rex as much as he could.

As it turns out, Rex's finger was broken. No wonder it was sad and crying. He had to have two stitches. It was all worth it because he had ice cream afterwards.

This was taken the day after the accident.

This was taken 10 days after the accident, just before they took the stitches out.