Picture Time

So it's Sunday night....I think it might be the worst night of the week........the weekend comes to a close and you know you have to get up early the next day to go to work.......this week will be my super busy week at work, so at least it'll go by fast, and on top of that we have Connor's Swimming Lessons on Tuesday & Thursday, dinner over at Jim & Pat's on Wednesday, so before you know it the weekend will be here again!

Tomorrow Savannah will be 8 months old. To break up the year we decided to do 8 month pictures (Easter was at 4 months, so I didn't want to go all the way to her 1st birthday before getting them done again). We usually go to JcPenney's to get pictures taken, but I really couldn't narrow it down to 2 outfits (their limit), so we decided to go to Portrait Innovations instead. We've been there before (Mother's Day pictures), so we kind of knew what to expect. Unfortunately we got the new girl who really didn't know what she was doing, so she took longer than normal, and some of the stuff she wanted to do was just DUMB, I wont go into a lot of details, but while looking through all the pictures at the end I was definitely disappointed. Don't get me wrong there were some good pictures to choose from and we did walk away with spending quit a bunch of money, I just feel for the money we spent they could have been better. We will probably go back there for Christmas pictures, I just hope we don't get a new person!

Pass The Corn Please

Savannah is in the process of falling asleep on my bed, and Scott & Connor are over at the neighbors to see him for his birthday. The weekend is more than half over already.......this morning Scott & Connor picked up the Moore's and headed to the Christian Family Reunion. Savannah & I went over to JcPenney's to use up my coupons that expired today. Retail price = $116.02, I paid $7.28! Yes I know, I'm awesome, lol!

So this weekend is the annual St. Dennis Festival, and with that means LOTS of corn! And can I say, I don't think I've ever had such awesome corn. It's absolutely perfect this year! Most years its almost a little underdone, but with the hot weather & the rain we've had this year I knew it was going to be amazing, and I was right! I'm not going to eat nearly as many pieces as last year though (reason #1 - last year I was preggo, reason #2 - don't have as much $$ this year), but I have had 3 pieces so far this weekend and will probably have another piece or two tomorrow. Savannah loved the corn too and played with it for quit a while (on 2 different occasions). If you haven't had a chance to get out there and get some, make sure you do tomorrow, the money they make is for a good cause!

Salvation in Death

So St. Dennis Festival weekend is officially under way! We went up for about an hour and a half tonight. We probably could have stayed a little bit longer, but since none of the little kid games were opened tonight, there wasn't much more we could do other than pop toss, eat, and have Connor play on the play ground. We'll be going up tomorrow after Scott & Connor get back from the Christian family reunion.

So Wednesday night I finished reading Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). I've read several in the series, and there are still a ton to go. I really enjoy the series. It's based in the future and follows Eve Dallas into solving murder mysteries. This particular one is based upon a priest who gets murder in the middle of a funeral. But the priest is not who he seems to be and from that questions arise on who he is, why is he posing as a priest, where did the real priest go, who killed the priest? The best part of these books is that it really makes you think but it also solves all of your questions by the end of the book. I hate books (at least mystery murder ones) that seem to drop things from the ending and it leaves your questions unanswered. Now I'm going to read another Danielle Steel book.

Janelle Turns 1

We introduced online kid games to Connor this week........I'm guessing that was a bad idea because now I have to fight him to share the computer....but everyone I've talked to - their kids are playing on the computer, or video games, so I figured I'd at least introduce the computer to Connor now she he's not "behind". It's funny to realize that kids now will never know a time without computers, I remember when we got our first computer when I was in 6th grade.

So this past Sunday we celebrated Janelle's 1st Birthday. She's girl #2 out of the 4 that were born last year in the Veith family. I remember last year going to the St. Dennis Festival and her mom was all preggo and had to be induced for being overdue after the festival was done. Her party was Baby Mini Mouse Themed (my original idea for Savannah's, so now I gotta switch). She got a bunch of cute toys and some really fun looking toys. I hope her birthday was great for her, and every year gets even better!

Bread & Butter Pickles

So Monday night we realized it was a little warm in the house. Sometimes our a/c doesn't work the best, but it's been working for awhile. We had a suspicion that something was wrong though but didn't want to admit it. Unfortunately when Scott got home from work Tuesday night it was 86 degrees in the house. Thankfully Cardinal Heating & Air was able to come over right away and fix it. $160 later it's cool again in the house.........hopefully we don't have to fix it again before we sell the dhouse!

So Saturday afternoon Jessica & Justin brought me some cucumbers! I didn't have a chance to do anything with them Saturday, but Sunday morning I made some pickles out of them! I found the recipe on cookes.com that I decided to try. Scott wanted Bread & Butter Pickles, so that is what I made. The portions of the recipe were kind of messed up. I used 6 large cucumbers like it says, only used 2 onions (they were huge), and it probably made enough for about 8 pints of pickles. However the liquid part of the recipe only made enough for 2.5 pints........thankfully I had some more vinegar in the house, so I was able to make 5 pints of pickles, and just tossed the remaining cucumbers & onions. I can't tell you if they're any good or not, can't eat them for at least a few weeks, but I figured I'd share my notes about this particular recipe in case anyone finds this recipe and decides to try it out.

Dane County Fair

Can you believe it is already Wednesday? This week seems to be just flying by. Next week we'll already be in August, and in 6 weeks Connor will be starting school! This coming weekend is the annual St. Dennis Festival, so you know were I'll be all weekend. Looking forward to the yummy corn, and I'm determined to win a cake on the cake walk this year!

So last weekend was the Dane County Fair. The Fair runs Wednesday-Sunday (I believe), and we usually go on Sunday, but we had a birthday party to go to on Sunday, so we went Saturday instead. So after Scott got done with work we headed over to John & Carol's house to get their free passes they gave to us! We then met up with Cody & his family and went into the fair. We walked around for a little while and looked at the animals, then headed inside to the petting zoo & all the other indoor stuff. Of course I had to hold my little ducky and chick, but I also got to hold a white bunny to! This year I purchased some cinnamon roasted Almonds, yumm! After that we headed outside and walked around the games, played the fishy game (through a ball in a fish bowl = win a fish). We ended up winning 2 fish (Scott won one, and Connor won the other....I actually won nothing, boo!), unfortunately they didn't even make it to Monday morning (not sure if it was the heat or the 3 foot drop when Connor dropped them, lol). We only spent about 2 hours at the fair, normally we would have stayed a lot longer, but it was so hot and we were all kind of miserable from walking around the little bit we did.

Pork Tenderloin & Potatoes

So yesterday we ended up going to the Dane County Fair (more on that later), and then had Cody & Amber over for a cook out. Today we're just kind of chilling. Ate a late breakfast, now I'm in the process of making pickles, and then it's off to Janelle's 1st Birthday Party. I'm hoping to get some scrap booking done tonight as well, we'll see if that happens or not!

So Friday night we had a wonderful dinner. We got 2 recipes off of allrecipes.com, the first recipe is called Easy & Elegant Pork Tenderloin, and for a side we made Lemon Parsley Potatoes. I am usually not a pork fan but this was awesome! We ended up having to cook it for 45 minutes (instead of the 35 the recipe says), and we added a little of Tastefully Simple's Onion Onion and Garlic Garlic on top. The meat was so moist, and the flavors all together were wonderful. The potatoes were really good to, but I was not nearly as impressed as I was with the pork. It was very easy to make, Scott did it all by himself while I was on my way home from work. The other great thing about this recipe is it cost us about $15 to make the meal, but we have more than enough to have it as a meal for Monday night too. So $15 for 2 meals, not a bad deal! Can't wait to eat it again on Monday!

Time To Play

So I've been pretty stressed out lately and kind of mean to Scott & Connor. I really hope this pretty low key weekend will get me some extra sleep and hopefully put me in a better mood. We've just be so busy lately there hasn't been a lot of time to just relax. There are a few things that stick out in my mind that are causing the stress, some I'll go into detail later, but some are better left unsaid. Not everything needs to be posted online, I can't be that honest with everyone who reads this.

So honestly camping last weekend was kind of boring for me. The lake was fun, the couple of activities are fun, but we just sat around way to much. To me, that's not camping. Camping when I grew up was constantly doing stuff, whether it be fishing, swimming, or eating, then repeat. I guess not everyone is into the same kind of camping, but I'd really like to do it that way again. The best part of the weekend was the mini water park that they had. It was a blast to play in with the kids, even Savannah loved the water. Savannah doesn't seem to mind getting water in her face which Connor absolutely hates (we're working on that in swimming lessons, he can't pass Preschool 1 until he puts his face under). I think we should have spent more time then we did in that area, cause it was a blast.

T-Shirt Making

It's finally Friday! I wish I could have stayed in bed longer this morning because there was a nice thunderstorm that kept me pretty sleepy on my way in to work, but oh well I guess, gotta make some money! Pretty low key night tonight, want to organize some pictures, then tomorrow Scott has to work in the morning, going to hit up the Dane County Fair (if weather permits) and then Sunday is Janelle's 1st Birthday Party!

So last weekend we went camping. We went to Pride of American outside of Pardeeville. The theme for the weekend was Christmas in July, which fits us perfectly (Christmas freaks here, I will admit I already have presents wrapped for Christmas, lol, yes I know, I'm a freak). The campgrounds had some great activities planned for the kids, meet with Santa (boy boys chickened out), candy bar bingo (wish we could have done that, but we didn't get to it), and tye dye t-shirt making! We made both boys (Buddy & Connor) a shirt! Scott was in charge of helping Connor make his shirt, and I was in charge of making Buddy's shirt for him. It was a lot of fun, and for $5 it wasn't a bad price. After the fact I wish we would have added more color to them, there's still a lot of white, but they still turned out good considering it was our first time ever doing it!

Camp Fire

Ugh....there's so much that needs to be done around the house. I need a week off of work and kids just to get the house organized, but since that'll never happen........I guess my house will just always be a mess........I just wish I had more motivation after work to get some of this stuff done, but I just don't..........I really wish Savannah would start sleeping through the night...........

So this past weekend we went camping at Pride of America Campgrounds in Pardeeville, WI. The first night we just spent time getting everything set up (thanks John & Carol for letting us use the camper!), eat some dinner & then spend some time around the fire. We had some time to make some smores, yum! But shortly after night came the mosquito's came out like mad crazy and we had to call it an early night and head to bed.

Lightning

So every one's complaining about the heat............well you know what? I'd take this heat over a snow storm! At least driving home I didn't feel like I was going to crash and die because I couldn't see 2 feet in front of me! I will say one thing, I wish I didn't have to work because I'd be at Noah's Ark all week, this is perfect weather for a water park day!

So last Thursday night I finished reading Lightning by Danielle Steel. The story was about a women who is going through a difficult time trying to become pregnant when she is sent for an annual physical and ends up being diagnosed with breast cancer. The book goes through her emotional and physical struggles with surgery, chemo, a husband who can't tolerate seeing her this way so he ends up cheating on her instead of being there for her, to a new friend/lover in someone she wouldn't have imagined, to her husbands work scandal who could land him in jail and into the ending........I wont give the whole ending to the book. I will say I do not like the ending, but I liked the whole story up to that point and would recommend it to anyone who likes Danielle Steel type of books.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Just got back from Aunt Missy's for dinner. We had some pizza, cheese bread & some wings. Yum! Called it an early night. Connor kept asking to go home, which is unusual....he fell asleep in the car.......guess he was tired, lol. Going to call it a night pretty soon here, gotta work in the morning (Scott's lucky he took the day off)

So last week we made Spaghetti & Meatballs for dinner, and so we decided to stick to the true meaning of Baby Led Weaning (when appropriate...obviously if we were having stuff with nuts, Savannah cant have that) and serve her what we were eating. She loved it! We gave her exactly what we had, the only difference is we put hers in the freezer for about 2 minutes to cool the meatball down so she wouldn't burn herself. We made sure to get her naked beforehand cause we knew it was going to be messy and it was! She went straight into the bath tub afterwards!

My Big 4 Year Old

So our camping weekend is over (will post more later about that), thank goodness cause the heat has rolled in. This week is going to be super warm, mid to upper 90's, with the heat index well over 100. This is going to be a week that I'll be glad to be at work where I'll be in the AC all day! Gotta make sure to keep my garden nice and watered also!

So last Monday Connor had his annual check-up, other than the shots that he had to have (at least he's done until he's 11 now), everything went well. He's growing amazing and getting so big so fast! The Dr. is even amazed by the fact he can do everything with both hands (could come in handy later on if he decides he likes baseball!). At 3 years old, Connor was 33lbs and 39 inches, well in the next year he grew 4lbs12oz (37lbs12oz) and 2.75 inches (41.75 inches). He is officially 65.68% for weight and 81.18% for height!

Donovan's 4

So we're in the process of getting everything ready for camping this weekend. Got the cookies made, got the chicken in the fridge with their sauces soaking, and got the kids bags packed. Still have to pack my bag and get all the blankets and pillows together, but we're only working 8-12 tomorrow, so we'll have time then to do it.

So today Donovan is officially 4 years old! He is exactly 2 weeks younger than Connor, even though Michelle was due before me! Last Saturday we celebrated his birthday out at his grandma Carol's house and they decorated using a Sponge Bob Theme (another option we had thought about for Connor's 4th birthday). We had some yummy food on the grill and then some cake & ice cream. We had gotten him some Car themed items (pens, dry erase board, etc) and a pair of shorts.

Swimming at Lake Mills

So I really should be working on Connor's thank yous from his birthday party but I keep getting distracted. The computer is calling my name and then it doesn't help that Scott's sitting here yelling at the TV and all the guys trying to hit home runs.......

So this past Saturday Gary invited us all (Scott's parents, his sister/family, Betty and Vera) out to Lake Mills to go swimming at Sandy Beach. So we packed up the coolers and the kids and headed out. We did a bunch of swimming and ate some good lunch (Subway and some other odds and ends), and the kids played on the play set there as well. It was a perfect day to be out in the sun and play, but it had to come to an end only 4 hours after we got there because we had to head to a birthday party.

4th of July

So I know I'm a little behind, well okay.......at lot behind, a week, but whatever, life happens, right? Life's been busy, it always is in the summer. We're in the process of getting things ready to go camping this weekend. It's suppose to be in the 90's all weekend and sunny, so great for swimming! I'm just glad we're borrowing John & Carol's camper so we can get some escape from the heat!

Last Monday was the 4th of July. And like the last few years we headed to DeForest to meet up with Kari, Lori & John to watch the parade. The parade had a weird huge gap in the beginning, so that kind of sucked, we were also at the end of the parade so Connor got barley any candy, so that stunk as well, but I guess we really didn't need all the candy. They usually just throw bubble gum anyways, and that stuff is nasty. Afterwards we headed to John & Carol's for lunch so we could get out of the sun for awhile, then headed back to Deforest to get a snack and have Connor play on an inflatable slide.

A Scooby Party

About to go read Connor a story so he can go to bed, then I think I'm going to go to bed myself. There is so many things that need to get done around the house, but I'm just plan to tired to do any of it. I really wish Savannah would sleep better at night.......but nope..........she's still getting up usually 2 times every night.......

So Sunday we celebrated Connor's 4th Birthday with a Scooby Doo Party! It was a great party, most of the important family was there (there were a few I wish that would have come but didn't....but life is busy, and I understand not everyone can make it). Connor got a lot of awesome stuff including a Pirate Ship from Uncle Steve, a kitchen from Grandma & Grandpa, some PJ's, games, movies, and of course his awesome swing set from us. And don't forget about the awesome cake that Patsy made for the party too! Couldn't ask for much better (well maybe if the breeze stayed consistent cause it was a pretty warm day), I think Connor had an excellent day with awesome people!

Lily's 2

Well I was suppose to start the 30 Day Shred again today........but this weekend kicked my butt, and I'm so tired tonight......instead we're all sitting around watching The Lion King 2, I've seen parts of it, but I'm not sure I've ever seen it all.

So Saturday after putting together the swing set we headed over to Aunt Missy's house for Lily's 2nd Birthday Party! Connor & Lily played in the pool, we ate some great food, Lily opened her presents (we got her a cupcake full of fake food & some clothes), then we had cake. Patsy made Lily an awesome looking Barbie cake. I think it was a pretty fun little birthday party for Lily!

7 Months Old

So I'm starting to get a little mad at Scott. He supposedly wanted to watch a movie tonight, but he's over drinking at the neighbors house.......I text him 45 minutes ago, and he said he would be home soon........I waited 30 more minutes........then another 15 minutes.........come on already! Both kids are passed out, so I don't want to go outside and get him (nervous freak I am), he better not be getting drunk..........Mike can be a bad influence on Scott!

So today marks the day Savannah has been in this world for 7 months. Can you believe it? I can't. This past week she's learned a lot of new things it seems. She has mastered sitting (before she would only do it once and awhile, and for some reason or another only usually outside), and she has also mastered getting cheerios in her mouth (which I guess is a 10 month milestone). My baby is growing up so fast! Thankfully she hasn't started crawling yet. Connor was 12.5 months before he was crawling, so she can wait till closer till then. Connor also got his first tooth at 7.5 months old, so I'm assuming we should be seeing one in Savannah's mouth anytime (well maybe, I guess every kid is different).

Cake Time

OMG - Work..........ugh! I had to do a TON of billing (not typically my job) and I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off........the joys of having new people at work......not her fault, just a bad time to try and train someone, so it was just easier to do most of it myself........hopefully next month she'll be more comfortable and know more about what she's doing so I don't feel like I need a very strong drink after work.......

So after going to the Zoo yesterday we came home and I took a nap while the boys watched Lion King. Afterwards we headed to swimming lessons and then McDonald's for dinner. After that we came back to the house for cake, yumm! He also got a few small presents from the Moore's, some toys for the pool, that he got to open. I think overall his birthday was great for him, but mad me sad. After tucking him in last night I just watched him for awhile and cried a little bit.....what can i say.........my baby is growing up to fast!